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Exporting movie using FCP
Hey,
I’m trying to export a movie for DVD in FCP (DV PAL)
I first tried to export as a Quicktime movie (current settings) but it gave me a file size 5.7GB which is too big for my DVD.
I’ve tried to export a few in Quicktime conversion with the latest being at best quality compression 3.2GB but on each the quality doesnt look that great because of the interlace lines showing with camera movements.I’m wondering whether i can go back to just exporting as a Quicktime movie and adjusting the settings so it’ll fit under the 4.7GB size (minus extra for iDVD content)? If so where would i start?
Do i export it as a DV PAL 720 x 576 file or as a H.264? or do i bring the quality bar down a little? Which keeps it looking best??Thanks for your help
Ro beE
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5 Replies
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[Rob Henry] “Do i export it as a DV PAL 720 x 576 file or as a H.264? or do i bring the quality bar down a little? Which keeps it looking best??”
Just export a DV PAL self-contained QT movie using current settings and also choose to export with DVD Studio Pro markers. Bring that into Compressor and adjust your target bit rate until the final output estimation is within the DVD size specification. Encode your audio to the industry standard AC3 file format and don’t use a video encoding peak bit rate that exceeds 6.5 for the best compatability with the most consumer set top DVD players.
– Don
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Hey Don,
Thanks for the response…
I did look at doing it in Compressor but i read that the files dont work in iDVD (dont have Studio Pro). Is that true or is there away around that?Why does exporting with Studio Pro Markers help?
Ro beE
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[Rob Henry] “Why does exporting with Studio Pro Markers help?”
It helps if you’re using DVD Studio Pro. The markers that get exported are compression markers that will be automatically inserted in the FCP timeline at the beginning and end of every fade and transition. If you’re using iDVD don’t worry about it. Just export your QT movie, drop that into iDVD and that prgram will enocde to fit everything onto your DVD-R.
– Don
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Oh really, i didnt know that
Great, thanks Don -
Neither iDVD nor DVD Studio use DV files anyway. You need to compress it as an MPEG2 file, which you can’t to my knowledge do using FCP. It has to go into Compressor. Then all you do is select one of the ‘DVD: Best Quality’ presets. You’ll need to export the audio separately, and the best way to do that is again by using Compressor. Just select the ‘Dolby Digital Professional’ setting.
Once that’s done, import both those files into iDVD.
That said, I expect that if you import your original DV file straight into iDVD, iDVD will compress it to an MPEG 2 file anyway. That’s what DVD Studio does, although I’ve never used iDVD to do this so I could be mistaken. The difference between the two is that you have more control over your settings when using Compressor, so you generally get better quality video.
Don’t worry about the interlacing issue. DV always looks that way when viewing it on a computer monitor. It won’t look that way on the DVD.
Hope that helps,
Alex
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