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DVD optimized for playback on pc?
I recently created an interactive DVD for our reel here at the office. My ceo complains that the graphics look blurry on his pc and that the main target which will receive these dvd’s will also view them on a pc. Now, on an NTSC monitor, they look perfect. I have tried to explain to him that the reason it looks blurry is that there is a difference between the computer monitor’s progressive fields and a monitor’s interlaced fields and that a dvd is created as interlaced. Also, that when he goes full screen mode, he is over scaling the image past is 720 by 480 frame. Thus said, is there a solution to this, maybe to deinterlace all the video before encoding it? Or is there any explanation as to why he is not getting the sharpest image on his pc that I can give him to help him understand the issue. Thanks.
Twirl down, twirl up.
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12 Replies
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You would need to create two versions- one for computer that’s deinterlaced and one that isn’t for TV. You could create a menu that allows the user to choose one or the other for their playback.
Noah
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I’ll defer to Noah, but my understanding is that most good software DVD players will automatically de-interlace the video. I use Sonics Cineplayer, and it looks great with NTSC video. It also interpolates the video for displaying larger than 720 x 480.
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Thanks. So if I understand the process correctly, I will de-interlace the video files, via AE or whatever preferred program, but what do I need to do in my authoring program? I’m using DVD Studio Pro 3, is there anything in that program which will allow the disc to reflect that it is de-interlaced, or will it be by default because the files I had already encoded had gone through the deinterlace process?
Twirl down, twirl up.
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The thing with the player is that we do not know what kind of player the prospective client will be using when they view it. So we have to consider the fact that the person receiving the disc is using the lowest common denominator as far as a player goes. Thanks for your input.
Twirl down, twirl up.
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This is one of those customer is always right scenarios.
Noah
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And what happens when the customer puts the progressive scan DVD into a player hooked up to a TV set?
It will probably look a lot worse than the interlaced video looks on the computer screen. (We have to assume the client does not have a progressive scan DVD player – lowest common denominator strikes again.)
Dave
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Hmm – I hear you, but I’m not sure interlaced video is your problem. As a test, I’ve played several of my DVDs I’ve authored with interlaced footage on various players: Cineplayer, Cyberlink PowerDVD and DVD Express (one of the worst and oldest players out there) and all of them displayed the video with no interlacing artifacts.
However, I did notice a diffrence in how the players handled stretched (or full screen) video – in my case stretched to 1280 x 1024. Sonic looked great, DVD express looked horrible, especially displaying fast motion – lots of artifacting – blockyness etc.
If this is happening to your clients DVD, providing a non-interlaced version may not be the solution. IT could simply be a matter of scaling the image too large.
Don’t mean to be a dog with a bone on this, but I’ve never had anyone complain about interlaced footage probs while watching one of my DVD on their computer – I have heard interlaced complaints on raw MPEG streams and AVIs (usually when sending a test clips to a client) but these always went away when watching the finished DVD with a SW player.
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De-interlacing has always looked worse to my eyes. and like another person said, you’ll have issues if it goes into a set top player.
What nobody has addressed (and your boss complained about) is the soft picture.
DVD Video uses non-square pixels which looks great on a TV but lousy
on a computer monitor which is square pixels.This problem will be solved shortly though. The High-Definition content of Blu-Ray / HD-DVD is square pixel based and thus will produce an incredibly sharp image on your pc monitor. WMV-HD files demonstrate this.
So tell him just to what a few more months lol.
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Cool, I was thinking that the scaling was the real issue, because once you pass 720 by 480, the thing is bound to fall apart. He did note that the image looked fine when the player launched at it’s regular size, but got ‘blurry’ at the point he went full screen. I just want to find a way to explain it to him because he has no knowledge of any of the technical aspects of video, so when I explain it to him in technical terms to prove my point, he dismisses it. Plus, he always thinks he’s right. I just want to be able to tell him that it’s the nature of the beast, and that it’s what we have to deal with. At the same time, I don’t want something to pop up and bite me in the ass proving me wrong. So I guess I wait for the HD tech to develop.
Twirl down, twirl up.
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I the meantime – use a disclaimer: This DVD is optimized for Television Viewing using a 16:9 (or 4:3) display. CYA!
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