best way to burn a DVD from an HDV 720p24 project

[Todd Reid]

Create an SD project (can use easy setup – dv-ntsc), and import your quicktime.
Drag it into an SD timeline. You can leave the ratio as is and have letterboxing OR size it and do a “pan and scan” type thing to follow action.
Of course, what you are doing is downconverting to standard definition, so that your movie will play on regular dvd players. Export as QT again, then DSP should recognize.
Unless you have an hd/dvd burner your going to have to stick to sd.
I have heard that as long as your file size fits, you can put hd content on a regular dvd. Of course you would need an hd/dvd player to view it. I would bet that at almost 2 hours, you are well over the size limit.

I haven’t yet made any HDDVDs so I’m not sure, but I would guess that your version of DSP doesn’t have the capability.

I hope this makes sense. Most of my projects now are shot & created in 1080i, exported in AVID DNx 720p codec, then I do the SD project thing and deliver the same video in sorensen3 (yeah, I know. But thats how client wants it). So my client has 2 versions of the same video, one to show in HD, the other for the stores that haven’t upgraded to HD yet.

[Matt Devino]

You could also use compressor to spit out an mpeg version which will speed up the DVD encoding process, just use one of the presets for DVD high quality included in it. Or you can go the route of downconverting to SD and letting DVD Studio do the compression, however this is an extra step and may introduce more compression artifacts along the way. If you do it this way make sure your SD timeline is at 23.98, there is no need to convert to 29.97 as DVD can support the 23.98 frame rate, and it will play back better that just trying to render 23.98 in a 29.97 timeline in Final Cut.
-Matt

[Rich Riedel]

thanks Todd and Matt, i’ll give them both a shot. thanks again for your really prompt replies

rich

[Ian Webb]

I’ll just add another vote for the Compressor route. Exported a 1080i50 short yesterday to PAL HQ DVD and Dolby Stereo and was very impressed with the encode. Drag and drop into DVD Studio and you’re good to go.

[Rich Riedel]

thanks, ian. will do. Tweaking the cut a bit today, will attempt another export/DVD burn tomorrow.

Would appreciate it if you guys check in another day or so, just in case I’m shrieking for help over something or other.

thanks so much
rich

[Rich Riedel]

OK, here’s the update.

I created a new DV/NTSC project (working in FCP 5.1.4), imported the QT file of my film that I exported from the original 720p24 project.

I created a new sequence in the DV/NTSC project with the following settings:
Aspect Ratio HDTV 720p (16:9)
Pixel Aspect Ratio – Square (should I have chosen NTSC?)
Anamorphic – unchecked
editing timebase 23.98
Compressor – MPEG 4 Video (should I have chosen another MPEG format or left the setting on HDV 720p24?)

Then, as suggested, I tried to export via compressor, choosing DVD 120 16:9 and best quality in my settings. Unfamiliar with compressor, but assume a “batch” is the sequence I’m exporting, and that “submit” is the export command.

PROBLEM: Came back several hours later to find that the estimated time remaining was 45 hours and growing, so I canceled.

Next decided to export using Quick Time with the following settings:
DV NTSC 48 kHz – 23.98
Audio & Video
Made movie self-contained.

PROBLEM: the file played fine but the image was squeezed.

Assumed I should have checked the anamorphic box in my sequence settings? So I created a new sequence and did so, then dropped in my original imported QT file.

PROBLEM: the image in the canvas is a small letterboxed image in a large black window. Will this be the way that the exported file appears?

Any suggestions or advice on where I have gone wrong in my procedures would be greatly appreciated. Again, just trying to get a file on my desktop with the proper 16:9 aspect ratio from a 23.98 project that i can burn via DVD Studio Pro.

thanks very much
Rich