EX1 to SD DVD

[Ryan Pratzel]

Jason-

Welcome to Mac. It may seem daunting, but this is actually a fairly simple process.

1) Put all of your footage into a FCP sequence. (ProRes or XDCAM codec is fine)
2) Add *chapter* markers in your timeline. (“M” on the keyboad) Then right click on the marker to bring up the marker edit window. Make sure you choose Chapter marker and you can even label it. This way when you export your footage all of your markers are already in the sequence. **If this process gets to be confusing skip it, you can add markers in DVD SP.
3) Export using COMPRESSOR — Compressor has all of the correct settings to down convert your footage and make it looks its best on DVD
4) In compressor go through the Compressor settings. This should be a window in the bottom left hand side of the Compressor screen. If has several folders with different types of settings. Choose the DVD folder.
**When picking the correct setting I would recommend 120minute Fast Encode. This will still give you a good quality DVD it just won’t multi-pass. To use the compressor settings just click and drag both the Video and Audio settings to your File. (This will be above the settings window)
5) Make sure you set your destination on your file. Right click on the word “Source” and choose your destination.
6) Click Submit

For 90 minutes of footage is will take a while. Sit back, relax and watch TV. (You can click on the batch monitor to watch the progress)

7) When compressor is finished open up DVD SP. If you want a menu, just choose one of the templates and delete everything except for a title and one of the buttons.
8) In your DVD SP Pallet (Right side) you will see a Video and Audio tab. You need to go to each tab, click the “+” and add your compressed video.
9) Drag your video to the menu button and select “Add Track” when it prompts you. Do the same thing with the audio.
That’s all you need to do.

**If you need to add or move markers in DVD SP click on your video track timeline. You can move the playhead and click “M” to create markers wherever you want them. You can test your DVD by clicking the “Simulate” button. This will play and allow you to test your chapters and menu.

Hope this helps. I’m sitting here watching video render, so I thought I’d at least share some wisdom.

Ryan Pratzel
Executive Producer
Creative Liquid Productions
http://www.CreativeLiquid.com

[Jason Johnson]

Wow thanks so much Ryan. Your help is greatly, greatly appreciated. After I read my own post I halfway didnt expect anyone to reply because of all the questions I asked but you totally came through and saved me!

I was getting a little restless last night (before your reply) so I exported the whole thing to a QT movie because I read elsewhere its not good to directly export using compressor within FCP? So anyway I exported to a .mov using applepro res and the NTSC preset I read from another thread. I’m taking that mov file (26 gigs for 1 hour 22 minutes of footage) and throwing that into compressor with the settings/advice you gave. Is this ok to do it this way? FCP->QT mov -> compressor? Or should I go strait from FCP to Compressor like you sugguested?

I’m still getting used to my way around Mac apps, for example when I hit submit in compressor I expected something to happen, like a little window with a progress bar but nothing happened hahah..Then I read what you said about the batch monitor..I don’t get why this is but I probably would have hit submit multiple times until I saw something happen..hahaha. Is this so you can still use compressor for other jobs while something is uh, whats the correct term “compressing” ? in the batch monitor?

Anyway, compressor is just about done..Took about 25 minutes. Not to bad. Now Im about to go in DVDSP for the first time, wish me luck!

[Jason Johnson]

Hey Ryan, I just finished burning the DVD and testing it out on my dvd player. Great success! Thank you so much for your time and answering my questions. All the info you gave me lead to new discoveries and I know my way around the mac and its apps just that much better. Everything came great. Now I just need to get the organization of files and assets going better. Once I burn the dvd, what files/folders can I delete? I’m pretty meticulous about having unnecessary files lying around my HDD. Like what is this PAR folder it created? Can I delete that?

Anyway, I cant express enough how much of a help you’ve been. Thanks again Ryan!

[Ryan Pratzel]

You’re welcome. What’s great about the Final Cut Studio is that there is more than one way to do things. Different people have different preferences in how to go about workflow.

You can go straight from FCP to Compressor. In fact, Apple has improved the output from FCP to Compressor in the latest upgrade. Compressor can now work in the background while you continue to work in FCP.

Good luck with your project.

Ryan Pratzel
Executive Producer
Creative Liquid Productions
http://www.CreativeLiquid.com

[Jason Johnson]

Hey Ryan one last question..

Why does it matter what codec or settings you set your sequence up in if you’re eventually going to use compressor to compress it.. For example I have 720p24 footage…Would it matter if I dropped it into a Sequence that was setup for DV (480) or its native XD 720p24? would it make any difference? its all going to be outputted using compressor to make a DVD anyway? is there any advantage to setting up your sequence with higher or lower settings?