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Comp Settings for 1920×1080 footage to SD DVD Output
For Titles/Credits in After Effects
I have a sequence that was shot on a Canon 5D 1920×1080. Editing in FCP ProRes 4444 23.98 outputting to an SD DVD which leads to many questions:
1) The camera file says 23.98, not 23.976 should I stay with this frame rate for both FCP and After Effects? This is new to the firmware so I don’t have any experience with this.
2) What are the correct settings for my AE Comps so that they don’t look fat when played on a television? Normally I design in a larger size for square pixels then squeeze it in a second comp to compensate. But in this case, the camera also shoots in square pixels, so I thought I could create just a straight 1920×1080 comp and pull it into FCP. But on a tv, the text is thin.
3) I normally output using Animation compression but was going to use ProRes 4444 because it contains an alpha channel. Any thoughts on this for text? I seem to loose a lot of the soft edges in ProRes.
4) Can anyone tell me the best settings through Compressor to output for DVD? I’ve been using “Best Quality DVD” and it looks ok, but is there something else I can do and is there any way to get more out of the edges of the picture, as often, characters faces are getting cropped left and right.
Thank you so much for any help. I have to finish this project for a presentation Monday.
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6 Replies
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1. Use 23.976. That is correct: 29.97 x 24/30. The other is not correct, but Apple seems to ignore us AE people because they keep calling it 23.98. It’s 23.976 no matter what Apple says.
2. For SD DVD you have two choices NTSC DV 720×480 preset, NTSC DV 720×480 widescreen preset. Do not use square pixels. T o make it look normal on the computer as you work, turn on Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction — check the Help.
3. If you like it, use it.
4. In compressor, I use the 90-minute DVD MPEG-2 preset. The cropping is not a compressor issue, it may be a DVD authoring issue. If it’s widescreen, your DVD should be authored for 16:9.
5. Make a DVD and test it on a TV with set-top DVD player, or whatever the DVD playback device is (set-top or computer).
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Thanks very much for your answer. I will try those things you suggested and see how it turns out.
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A thing to bear in mind is whether you should/need to keep an HD master of the sequence for archive/future use/internet. If so you should make a 1920×1080 comp in AE and export an HD master, then use Compressor to make the DVD. That leaves options in the future for recompression to different formats without going back into After Effects.
As for DVD compression, if your sequence is shorter than 60mins you can compress using single pass constant bit rate which is much faster to compress and should also be slightly better quality.
I usually go with 8.0-8.5 Mbps if the DVD is to be glass mastered, or about 7.5 if it’s for DVD-R.————–
Jon Bagge
Editor – London, UK
Avid – FCP – After Effects -
… or you could work in an HD comp, then drag that into an SD comp, render that, then compress.
Jon, is the purpose of VBR to lower the bitrate below the CBR bitrate whenever it can for space concerns? So on a DVD where there are no space concerns, go with CBR?
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Jon, is the purpose of VBR to lower the bitrate below the CBR bitrate whenever it can for space concerns? So on a DVD where there are no space concerns, go with CBR?
Yes
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Jon Bagge
Editor – London, UK
Avid – FCP – After Effects -
Thanks.
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