FCP 10801 to DVD not good quality images

[Alexander Gao]

what is it exactly that doesn’t look good? Is there artifacting, or…

Alexander Gao

“When the revolution happens, I’ll be leading it.”

[Alexander Gao]

and, do you mean the MPEG2 or the final dvd?

Alexander Gao

“When the revolution happens, I’ll be leading it.”

[Jeff Hutchins]

After compressing, the out put (mpeg or DVD), is not as sharp as in FCP, the edges of any graphic are very jagged, the outlines of the people or anything else is slightly jagged and slightly blurry looking. I downloaded a demo copy of Media100 SW, exported from FCP using the media100 SD 720 X 480 codec, imported into compressor. selected the best quality DVD 90 minute preset(even though my program is only 23.5 minutes) and the results look much much better, but there must be a better way. I have used Media100 in the past, no HD, but with great picture quality, that’s way I tried this. It works but is a real pain.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks
Jeff

[Jonathan Green]

Try this and let me know if its any better. I am also continuing to look for the best workflow.

I have had good luck with the following HDV to DVD workflow. Export the HDV via QT Conversion using the H.264 codec. Set the resize here to 720×480 and use the best quality. Then bring this QT into Compressor 2 with GOP set to IP. Just drag into Compressor 2, don’t go back to FCP. I used 60 minute high quality encode widescreen. Make sure to resize in QT rather than Compressor, you will get better quality and a much shorter compression time. My HDV piece had many freeze frames and slow motion. This procedure was much smoother and sharper than others I tried that needed to be deinterlaced to get rid of artifacts.

[Jeff Hutchins]

I tried this, the still images looked much better but the motion video did not look as good. Any other suggestions?
Thanks
jlhutchins@headfirstmeda.com

[Jonathan Green]

JL,

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