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DVD burn speed and quality question
I know this has been asked a hundred times, but thought I’d drop this one anyway. I’m getting playback digital blocking once in a great while on DVDs that I burn.
My process is to master a FCP QT sel-contained master to my HD. Then use Compressor 2.01 to create the mpeg 2 (DVD Best 4:3 – 90 minutes). Then DVDSP 4 to author the DVD. I then Format as a Disk Image to my HD. From there I use Toast to burn it to disk from the image file at 4x speed using Tao Yuden media.
It plays back okay on my Mac G5 dual 2.7, but it has the digital blocking when played back via my home DVD player. The problem doesn’t come up too often when the DVD only has one short (2-5 minute) video. The latest one I’m referring to has five short videos on it. The disk space taken up is only 576 MB.
Any suggestions?
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3 Replies
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Compressor’s presets are ok, but you should take more control on it. Take any preset and make the adjustments yourself: CBR/VBR, bitrate, fields, framerate, etc. Blocking often happens with fast motion video (Or quick movement), so try different settings to see what can match your video.
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yeah, I’m still getting the hang of compression settings. Does that cause the blocking in playback from the DVD though? The digital blocking is intermittant for the most part. In other words, it doesn’t show up when you preview the mpeg2 file. Everything looks great in the process until you play back the DVD in a player. I can also play it back on my Mac G5 without any blocking, however the video does skip ever so slightly once in a while. I’m assuming that is a normal playback issue with a DVD player in a computer.
Is it a burn speed issue? I tried creating a Disk Image from DVDSPro and buring with Toast at 4x, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. Should I go to 1x or 2x?
Caveat – Most content I have been producing are 2-5 minute video features where only one is on each DVD. I havn’t noticed the blocking issue since I went to Tao Yuden disks. The recent issue this is in referenc to involves a compilation DVD of five short video features. Is this relevant?
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[brian] “Is it a burn speed issue?”
Probably not. I burn Taiyo Yuden discs at 8X and haven’t had a problem. I use the same workpath as you i.e. export a self contained QT movie, then convert that to MPEG2, create the DVD in DVDSP then make a disc image. The difference is I don’t use Toast but burn using Apple’s Disc Utility. I think the problem you’re having may be within Compressor 2.01. There’s a bug in that version’s VBR setting that creates pixelization and compression artifacts. Avoid the VBR settings and stay with the CBR presets or create your own custom CBR settings.
Another hint is to make sure you export your QT movie from FCP with compression markers. They tell Compressor to pay more attention to every fade and transistion in your timeline.
You might want to consider upgrading to Compressor 2.1 where the VBR bug has apparently been fixed. It’ll only cost you 49 bucks to find out. I haven’t done that yet because before the upgrade was available I stopped using Compressor 2.01 and bought Bit Vise. Pricey but definitely worth it.
Hope this helps.
– Don
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