Choosing format

[Steve Roberts]

The size issue is not wnat the videos play on, but what plays them. DVD? Hard drive?

If they will play on DVD, you have to make the videos at DVD resolution — use the DV preset in AE. You have NO choice in the matter.

The ugliness may be due to the MPEG-2 compression. You were right to start with the Animation codec, but it’s best to compress that Animation movie to MPEG-2 (for DVD) using a compressor that allows VBR, or variable-bitrate encoding. Squeeze or Compressor would be my choice.

[Brendan Coots]

As was mentioned, when making media for DVDs you must use 720×480, because this is the only frame size the DVD spec will allow. If the media is widescreen, you would still use 720×480, but with a widescreen pixel aspect ratio (there is a template setting for widescreen DV in After Effects’ comp settings).

There are several possible reasons your video looks so bad, one of which is that the DVD is spitting out a 720×480 image and it is being blown up to nearly twice its size on your big LCD TV. To minimize the ill effects of this, you will need to maintain top quality throughout your entire production process. Rendering to Animation codec out of AE is a great start, but you should look at your DVD compression settings. Regardless of the application used to encode your file for DVD (MPEG-2), here’s the best settings to use where possible:

2-pass VBR (variable bit rate)
6500kbps minimum bitrate
7000kbps maximum bitrate

Most apps, when set to VBR, will ask for minimum and maximum bitrate settings so that’s what the settings above are all about. If your app doesn’t offer VBR, set the bitrate to 7000kbps. In either case, DO NOT set the max bitrate above 7000, as most DVD players will choke and skip on the DVD.

[Chimo]

Many thanks for the help, this is a great forum! So now of course I

[Chimo]

Thanks for the reply, it

[Steve Roberts]

[Chimo] “Do I understand everything correctly that I just have to choose the DV widescreen preset in After Effects, and that the important thing is to get the compression right when burning the DVD? “

Yes. “Compressing”, not “burning”, actually. After you make your High-quality movie in AE, it goes “Compressing, then Authoring, then Burning” … technically.

… Unless they’re playing it on an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player. If that’s the case, you might want to ask how to author that kind of DVD in the DVD Authoring COW.

“Since the resolution of the TV is about twice of that of the DVD, what

[Chimo]

Thanks again, this has been a great help and has saved me a lot of hours and frustration! /Joakim

[Esther Casas]

Hi Dave or whoever can answer my question!!

Dave, I was reading what you wrote at this last post regarding DVD formats…and you seem to know a lot of it.

I kind of have a similar question than Chimo:

I am shooting a short film at NTSC 720X480 pixel aspect ratio 1:16. I want to submit a final product in a DVD in NTSC DV Widescreen (1.33) I was told that in order to do that I have to adjust the whole movie to 864X486… (?) That will change my film and I will loose some image…and that is bad news..

So, as you said before, there is a standard dimension for NTSC to burn into a DVD, right, can I continue with 720X480? or it has to be 864X486???

The key here is that I want my pixel aspect ratio to be as it is when I shoot at 720X480..so then It will be ok to be watch on big widescreens or TV?

Thank you very much in advance, i am a bit frustrated after hearing sooo many dimensions and ratios and……

Thank you!
Esther

[Esther Casas]

Hi Dave,
thanks a lot for your quick answer.

Understanding what you said I will keep my animation in 720X480 so I don’t lose image.
That means I can burn the final product into a DVD with this size and it will be seen on a Widescreen with black edges,right?

Just want to make sure..
Thank you very much!!!
Esther