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H.264 vs DV-PAL
Dear fellow editors,
I have noticed for the first time how much superior the H.264 is as a format than the DV-PAL format….(visually on my computer apple mac lap top screen.)
What I am having trouble wrapping my head around is how can a format IMPROVE on what is what shot on?That is: I shot it on a PD 150 Sony DV CAM on its 16/9 setting (although its not true 16/9 )
I then import the footage at highest quality DV-PAL 48 Khz Anamorphic and all through teh settings and preferences highest quality and best is all ticked.I do my work in a Sequence that is set to
CCIR 601 / DV PAL 5:4 for the aspect ratio
Anamorphic
DV PAL compression at BEST and 100%
then export using Export/Quicktime movieand its shit compared to
Export/Using Quicktime conversion – this by default it seems goes to H.264
which is brilliant …(highest quality and best are ticked all the way through this setting too)As it turns out for this one my clients want a file to put on their website and another file for DVD production. The H.264 is not supported by DVD Studio Pro 4.0.0 so I use the Final Cut Movie File (which is DV – PAL compressed) and the DVD is poorer quality then the H.264. the clients who have to date been quite difficult will notice this and ask why the DVD’z don’t look as good as their internet file and i would love to be armed with an answer – but more so than that – i would love to give them higher qualities DVD’s.
Any suggestions please…
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4 Replies
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The main difference is that DV (PAL or NTSC) is not made for computer viewing, it is a for TV codec. The is so much hardware and software that is developed to handle H264 because that is meant to be delivered on and for computers. Computers handle the codec better. To see DV quality it really needs to be going out to a monitor/TV.
When going to DVD you do not want to use the H264 for the m2v, too much compression of a difference sort going on. But the idea of doing different conversion for different needs is something that everyone needs to come to terms on. You would encode a H264 for the web (and even at different resolutions) and a m2v for DVD from the same source file. Same thing DVDs are meant for TVs and not for computers. It is not that DVDSP goes support H264, DVD spec doesn’t support it.
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well done Michael, that makes purrrrrfect sense.
thank you. -
Hi Michael,
I have a quick question for you. I am converting old VHS family tapes to digital. Would it be better to make a h264 file or a dv file. I know a dv file would be bigger. I just want a master file that I can use to convert everthing else to such as dvd, tv etc. I was thinking that going this way would give me more options.
I just don’t understand how I can use h264 for dvd or tv.Thanks,
Steve
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For the the highest quality “master file” possible, you should capture your footage in either uncompressed or prores422. DV is already a lossy codec, so when you compress and convert to mpeg2 for dvd burning you will lose even more quality. h264 provides better quality video at smaller file sizes but it is still highly compressed and not ideal for a master file.
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