DVD Resolution

[Eric Pautsch]

How do you know we are confusing her? She’s learning so I believe giver her as much info as possible would be a positive?

Most folks dont know DVD support those half D1 resolutions.

[Sue Black]

Thank you Slowe, Brame, Pautsch, for responding to my questions, to be honest I was confused way before I turned to this site for help. I have been using different compression settings to see what I get. I used HDV 1080i, DVDPROHD1080i, ProRes422, Mpeg2 as my input videos and I burned a DVD with each of them. DVDPROHD1080i, ProRes422 inputed into my DVD Studio Pro Software gives me a good quality DVD output. I am assuming from what all of you say that my “output” format is a SD Mpeg2? The input ProRes422 is 20G, the input DVDPROHD 1080i is about 17G. They both fit/burn on my DVD which is a DVD-R. My DVD says its hold 4.7G. My original video was filmed with a Sony HD Camera in 1080i which I put in my Final Cut Pro Academic Version Software to edit and produce a 14 minutes video. As part of my software I have DVDStudio Pro which is the only software I have to burn DVDs with. Compression is the software that comes with my FCP software. I have tested the DVDs on various computers i.e. Mac, Dell, Hewlett Packard at our local Best Buy Store. The problem I am having is that the video output on my DVD looks really good and sharp (almost like HD) BUT on certain frames it has these lines in it which looks something like the heat steaming up in those Western Movies you see. From what everyone has said I am thinking that the input video resolution is just too much for the DVD Mpeg2 SD output to handle.

QUESTION: Is that the problem?

I don’t know there are no real settings on my DVD Studio Pro other than 3/4 Ratio 16/9 Ratio, first play, etc. my software says it can produce a HD DVD but my computer can not. I am on the latest version of IMAC.

I would love to be able to burn blueray but I am a graduate student and I just barely purchased my FCP software. I cannot afford the equipment needed to do so. Not to many people even have blueray players here as of yet.

Final point I played both my DVDs on Sony HD1080i TV’s with a Sony DVD player at Best Buy Store. I have also studied the on-line tutorial on Lyndia and some of the other sites which have DVD tutorials for FCP but it seems that they are “basis” tutorials I have figured out pretty much what they are saying on my own. Does anyone know of more advanced DVD tutorials which I can study?
Thank you all again.

[Michael Slowe]

Sue, we all get this problem when there are sharp edges and the camera moves. It’s a characteristic of MPEG 2 I’m afraid and the sharper detail there is in the picture the worse it sometimes is. That is why I mentioned Blu-Ray because this almost entirely disappears when HD is encoded to a BD. However you do seem to be very much on the right track with all your research and experimentation. Don’t drive yourself mad, accept the limitations of DVD’s provided you can put up with the slight disadvantages, the key is in correct encoding.

Michael Slowe

[Eric Pautsch]

Your issue could have alot to do with the down conversions you are getting. (ie: the conversion from HD to SD). Many people use Compressor for this FIRST and some export directly out of a 1080i timeline to Encode. I use tools called AVIsynth and Virtual Dub with some custom scripts when doing down and cross conversion. There are many tools which do down conversion and some are better than others. Ive always heard compressor is good but I cant say for sure since Ive never used it for that.

Here are some basic steps:

1. MOST DVDs are 720×480 (NTSC) 576×480 (PAL). Basically you need to take whatever frame size you’re shooting/editing with and convert it to this first. This is where Compressor comes in. Export out of Compressor an uncompressed or lossless 720×480 16×9 anamorphic QT. This is the down conversion step.

2. Now that you have a down converted 720×480 16×9 anamorphic QT, you need to find out what bitrate you need to use for your disc. this is where a bitbudget Calculator comes in.

https://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm

It will tell you what bitrate is best based on the RT of your piece. Forget the file size because it does not matter… Only runtime. Remember encoding parameters are explained in mb per SECOND (as in time). So if your piece is 10 secs long and your bitrtae is 6mb/s, then your final encoded MPEG 2 file will be 60 mb— 6×10=60

3. Now you can Encode with the correct bitrate. Also be sure to use AC3 audio. It takes of less bandwidth than uncompressed audio (.192 vs 1.5 mb/sec- roughly)

4. Bring your MPEG 2 into DVDSP and your done

There should be a sticky on this forum since Ive seen this same question weekly for the past 8 years or so. DVD authoring and encoding is super simple once you know the correct steps and which tools do the best job for you.

[Sue Black]

Thank you, your absolutely right my PRORES422 version has more heat like waves in it than my DVDPRO 1060I. Theres something I wanted to ask you since you are such an expert and tutorials don’t talk about the type of DVD used for burning. I have been using Ritek Ridata White Inkjet Hub Printable 8X DVD-R because I am printing labels on my DVDs with an Epson printer. Is the speed (8X) the correct speed to use? I saw where they have other DVD speeds i.e. 16x. Also, is DVD-R the correct DVD or should I be using DVD+R? Someone at the store told me that DVD-R is the industry standard which can be played by most computers and DVD players is that correct?

I have learned a lot just by going back and reading your posts to other people on other topics, thank you.

[Sue Black]

Yes, I will definitely try your steps. Would I accomplish the same thing (get the video into SD 720 x480 16×9) for my DVD burning by compressing it to SD converted 720×480 16×9 anamorphic QT, in my Compressor to BEGIN with?
That way when I input the video into DVDStudio Pro to burn a DVD it will “aready” be in SD 720×480 16×9 anamorphic QT format and I will not be burning a DVDPROHD 1080i movie but the SD 720×480. I thought of that but someone told me that you have to input the “best” quality possible video to get the best DVD output. Thats why I have been so intent on compressing and putting my video into DVDStudio Pro in the format it was filmed on HD1080i 16×9.

I’ve tried some SD coversions and played them back on my computer but they weren’t that great and I thought that inputting a “semi-good” version into DVDStudio Pro to burn would only give me an even worst output.

[Michael Slowe]

Sue, the brand you use is important and personally I use Verbatim DVD -R discs but I don’t know the brand you mention. I use the printable ones which have a nice matt white surface on which I print my covers as do you, on the Epsom Photo P50.

As to write speeds it is better I’m told to burn at a slow speed and I do mine at 2X but doubtless others may disagree. Eric referred to the downscaling and he is right, that is the crux of the matter. I always recommend the BitVice encoding software because it does the downscale and the Dolby ac3 audio file within its programme. The BitVice downscale is the best I’ve seen other than an expensive hardware downscale. I don’t therefore need to use Compressor at all which I prefer because I don’t like it for encoding DVD’s – but that’s just my preference. I just use Studio Pro to actually format the audio and video files once BitVice has prepared them and then I burn the disc in Toast.

Michael Slowe