from dv to dvd – best flow for best quality?

[Rafael Amador]

Hi Louis,
Your questions have been answered few thousands of times in the COW. Please make a little search and you will find everything.
Cheers,
Rafael

Mac OX 10.5.2-FC 6.02-QT 7.4.1
G5 2x2Gh 4GbRAM-BlackMagic Extreme
PMBP 17″Core2Duo 4GbRAM-AJA ioHD
JVC DTV-17″
SONY EX-1 . SONY PD170
..and always a big mess on top of the table.

[Louis Anajjar]

haha, you are right!

so i found 4 posts. Please tell me if I have this right…
…import as DV/NTSC using DV codec. This keeps the compression of my film to the original 5:1 that occurs in camera to get the info onto the tape. Next, put it into a sequence using DV as the codec. HOWEVER, if I am going to do a lot of Color Correction then set the codec to 8-bit Uncompressed inside my final cut sequence so that when I render I am not compressing *Does this hold true even when sending my sequence to COLOR for major correcting and stylizing and spending it back to FCP*? If not doing a lot of Color Correction just leave the codec DV.
The next step is all about getting the best m2v I can to put onto the DVD I burn in Toast! This means encoding- which can be handled two ways it appears: by Compressor or by DVD Studio Pro. If handled through Compressor it looks to be very beneficial to use the plug-in for Compressor 3, Cinema Craft MP, having exported from FCP. Using DVD Studio Pro to encode, I export from FCP as a Quicktime Movie (not self contained) and import it as an asset into DVD Studio Pro and let it encode it before burning it in Toast.

Is that right? ! ?

POSTS:
1) Re: DV for cinema
by rafalaos on Feb 28, 2007 at 12:01:00 am
If you go to make CC set the sequence to 8b MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.
Cheers, rafael

2) If your final output is DV, stay in the DV codec all the way.
If you stay in the DV codec all the way you should not lose anything.
If you output to the Uncompressed Codec, and then come back into FCP to a DV timeline, you recompress everything 5:1 again. So you’re doubling the DV compression.
Or if you come back to an Uncompressed timeline in FCP but then lay off to a DV deck. Again. you’re recompressing everything 5:1 again.
Always best to stay in one codec for the entire workflow where possible.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.

3)It’s very easy to let DVD Studio Pro do the encoding for you. I’ve had good luck setting the DSP encoding preferences to 2 pass VBR, minimum 6, maximum 7. A one-pass CBR at a high setting I’d expect would be fine also. Export a QT movie from the FCP timeline but don’t make it self-contained. Import that proxy file as an asset into DSP.

Rick

4) Howdy, Good news and bad news. Good news, the company that makes cinemacraft encoder is finally coming out with a mac version! Bad news I have no idea when it will be available. I wrote them an email and have not heard back yet. What is really nice is that it will be a plugin in compressor. Check out the site.

https://www.omni-cinemacraft.com/products_cinemacraft_encodermp.shtml

This should finally allow us to make good looking mpeg2 video.

[Rafael Amador]

[Louis Anajjar] “*Does this hold true even when sending my sequence to COLOR for major correcting and stylizing and spending it back to FCP*? If not doing a lot of Color Correction just leave the codec DV. “
Then, keep in DV and when in Color, render to 8 or 10b (Apple Unc or Proress). If you do your CC in FC, you can make all your editing in DV and just before rendering everything, change the sequence setting to a better codec (DV50, or one of the mentioned above).

[Louis Anajjar] “The next step is all about getting the best m2v I can to put onto the DVD I burn in Toast! This means encoding- which can be handled two ways it appears: by Compressor or by DVD Studio Pro. If handled through Compressor it looks to be very beneficial to use the plug-in for Compressor 3, Cinema Craft MP, having exported from FCP. Using DVD Studio Pro to encode, I export from FCP as a Quicktime Movie (not self contained) and import it as an asset into DVD Studio Pro and let it encode it before burning it in Toast.
Is that right? ! ? “
Everything right. Just if you send a Reference Movie to Compressor, make sure that everything is rendered.
Just to add, as Biscardi wrote, if you would go to DV tape would be no much point to go 8/10b, but going DVD (although both of them are 420, they have different 420 compression structure) it will be beneficial for your picture.
And to finish: Wherever you CC (FC or Color) use the Nattress “Chroma Smooth/Sharpen). Your DV footage wont look as DV at all. Magic.

Mac OX 10.5.2-FC 6.02-QT 7.4.1
G5 2x2Gh 4GbRAM-BlackMagic Extreme
PMBP 17″Core2Duo 4GbRAM-AJA ioHD
JVC DTV-17″
SONY EX-1 . SONY PD170
..and always a big mess on top of the table.

[Louis Anajjar]

thanks so much!
to wrap up:

(1) I’m going to go ProRess in COLOR for sure cause I do have a lot of sweet correcting and stylizing to do… (ProRess DV/NTSC right)????

(2) I don’t know what you mean by they are both 420…do mean 720, as in 720 by 480 for my 4:3 footage???? and yep, i will be going to DVD though I understand what you mean about going back to DV being a waste and a repeat of 5:1

“Just to add, as Biscardi wrote, if you would go to DV tape would be no much point to go 8/10b, but going DVD (although both of them are 420, they have different 420 compression structure) it will be beneficial for your picture.

(3) is “Natress a standard effect in Final Cut Studio 2 or part of a separate effects plug-in suite????suite or an And to finish: Wherever you CC (FC or Color) use the Nattress “Chroma Smooth/Sharpen). Your DV footage wont look as DV at all. Magic.”

(4) the source footage is pretty beautiful, will Cinema Craft MP make that large of a difference compared to using DVD Studio Pro to encode if I set well placed Compression markers in FCP before exporting it for encoding???

THANKS AGAIN!!!!

[Rafael Amador]

1) Right. DV to Proress.
2) I was thinkng you were working in PAL. PAL DV is 420 the same than DVD. Many people think that going PAL DV to DVD is a waist of time to render in 422. Is not like that.
3) You have the Nattresse Film Effects for FC and the effects for Color (formerly FinalTouch). You need to purchase them. There is a demo to download. Those filters try to re-build the Chroma as it was before color down-sampling and compression. Works incredibly well with DV footage. Eliminates all the blockiness and makes the objects sharper. Colors, like the red, that tends to spread to the pixels around, get back to it place. Just to point, when using this filter in FC you must do it in a 8/10b sequence. If you use it with DV footage in a DV sequence, you get nothing. All the benefit of the filter disappear when you compress again to DV.
4) I wish I could..:-)

Mac OX 10.5.2-FC 6.02-QT 7.4.1
G5 2x2Gh 4GbRAM-BlackMagic Extreme
PMBP 17″Core2Duo 4GbRAM-AJA ioHD
JVC DTV-17″
SONY EX-1 . SONY PD170
..and always a big mess on top of the table.

[Ed Dooley]

As for the CinemaCraft plug-in. It’s pretty expensive. I would first compress in Compressor, build the DVD in DVDSP and burn it in Toast. If you don’t like the quality of Compressor, then spend the money on CinemaCraft or BitVice, both of which will look better than Compressor.
Ed

[Louis Anajjar]

So we have come to the end of the workflow on this one,
Thanks soooooo much.
I’m gonna take Ed’s advice and run it through Compressor first, see what it looks like, and then make a decision about CC MP or BitVice.
Have a great day!
Louis

[Louis Anajjar]

Ed,

Hi, I’ll do that- no need to spend all that money if it holds up without those expense encoders in the first place.
Louis

[Louis Anajjar]

Ed,
Hi, one last question: since BitVice is a standalone application, what is the best way to get my sequence from FCP 6 to it- via exporting as QT mov (not self contained and in the ProRess codec I will be using for my color correction) or something else???
Just wanna make sure I know how to properly use the big gun if I need to use it.

Merci Muchisimo,
Louis Anajjar

[Ed Dooley]

Just like that, drag it into Bitvice. I personally usually do a self-contained QT, which I keep for the archives, but occasionally do a reference file if I don’t have the time to wait for a full self-contained file. And some folks swear by reference files instead of self-contained.
Ed