best setting to use in compressor for SD 16:9 DVD

[Ryan Archer]

Tried all the settings and it still looks a bit fuzzy in 16:9.

Can’t really seem to shake that. It actually looks crisper when it’s squeezed into 4:3!

Perhaps I simply don’t have enough pixels to play with in SD (which does not really make much sense)

[John Fishback]

It’s not clear if you followed Michael’s suggestion to export a QuickTime from FCP and not use Send to Compressor. If you’ve set your sequence setting to ProRes (422 or LT should be good), then Export a QT using Current Settings. Then, use that file in Compressor. BTW how are you monitoring?

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.8 QT7.6.4 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.2, Motion 4.0.2, Comp 3.5.2, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.2)

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec Monitors, PrimaLT ISDN

[Ralph Parker]

I know this is a three month old thread, but I’ve got a somewhat related question.
My FCP sequence is set to 1440×1080, pixel ratio is set to HD 1440×1080. The 16:9 Anamororphic box is NOT checked. Upper Field Dominance Odd, 29.97 fps.
The media (consisting of jpegs, HDV and Motion clips) is transcoded to ProRes 422 on import.

The video looks fine in the Canvas (with the adjustment for pixel ratio setting turned on).

Questions: What can I expect with regard to quality if I change my sequence setting to 1440×1080 progressive and then burn in DVDSP?
And, when I do change the sequence with the 16:9 Anamorphic box checked, the image in the canvas still looks fine, but has black bars on both sides with what appears to be a much wider “viewing” area. Which is preferred for final output to 16:9?

Thanks.

Ralph Parker
2×2.4 Quad Core Xeon, 8GB
Final Cut Pro 7, Motion 4, Etc.