hd to dv from fcp into dvd studio pro

[Jerry Alto]

Finbar- In compressor drag your preferred DVD settings preset into your project. The Inspector window should show your 16×9 dimensions. If not select the ‘Geometry Pane’ and set your dimensions there. Oh, and if your picture is looking funky on the Macs trashy DVD player and your COMPUTER monitor walk that disk out to your home DVD player thats connected to your 50 in. LCD TV monitor and see how it looks. Remember it is not HD.

MacPro 2.93 Quad
FCP7
Sony Z-1
GV-HD700

[Finbar Taub]

Thanks so much

But… I was using my TV for the testing – i actually forgot that the mac could display dvd’s! It looks bad – even for sd.

Also, when i go to geometry tab in compressor, the dimensions are grayed out at 720×480. just lets me crop or pad. Any other suggestions, especially on making it look better? thanks –

[Jerry Hofmann]

Try setting the compression to be CBR. A single pass constant bit rate many times improves the look of the down conversion to SD from HD. The higher the bit rate, the better the picture usually, and there’s a calculator to help you get to the highest bit rate you can and still hold as much as you need to hold on a single DVD. MIght consider dual sided DVD’s for that 1.5 hours… higher bit rate possible that way.

Jerry

Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann

Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup

8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.

[Finbar Taub]

thanks so much!

I tried cbr, one pass, but the final looked identical to the others – bummer – thought that would be the trick – grrrr.

thanks for your time anyway!

[Finbar Taub]

thanks so much!

I tried cbr, one pass, but the final looked identical to the others – bummer – thought that would be the trick – grrrr.

thanks for your time anyway!

ps – i really thought downgrading would be such a no-brainer. Seems like everyone shoots in HD now – like youre crazy if you dont. So many professionals shooting weddings, for instance, who need to make dvd’s for their clients – what are all these people doing?

[Jerry Hofmann]

The CBR suggestion really does work when the video has a lot of detail in it. LIke exteriors of forests and grass, etc. Really makes a difference there I’ve found. It also renders in half the time. I use it until I have to cram too much video on a single DVD. I love the way CBR at about 8Mbs looks on stuff under 1 hour long. It’s what Ii’ve used for years now.

Compressor isn’t the best compressing software out there, but it’s still competent I’d say. It’s what most people are using who run the studio.

The pro compression software all does a nicer job of compression in general. Look at Sorenson Squeeze and Episode Pro…

If you search the forum here, there are likely less expensive and free software out there that folks like better than what they get from Compressor.

But make no mistake. SD is a HUGE signal loss from HD. HD is four times the resolution for starters… I’ve used compressor for years, and have used both softwares above, and have been underwhelmed with all compression from HD to SD other than those done with capture cards and other hardware converters. But the pro stuff sure is noticeably better.

And quite frankly, content trumps picture quality every single time. Never the less, Pro Software matters to sharp eyes.

Jerry