HD to SD to DVD

[Jeff Pulera]

Quote – “I am also finding the Color Correction in FCP is causing trails and blurs, and I don’t think it’s the LSD.”

Hi Andrew,

I Googled “effects of LSD”, and that might indeed be the problem –

“The experience…most commonly consists of visual disturbances such as seeing false motion on the edges of the field of vision, bright or colored flashes, and halos or trails attached to moving objects.”

Unless you meant “LCD”, then never mind

Jeff

[Dave Friend]

Andrew,

A couple points of info might be helpful for those who would be helpful.

Which HDV flavor 1080 or 720. What frame rate? Also, details of the settings you have tried.

Dave (who would be helpful)

[Andrew Moore]

Hi Dave,
Thanks for your response. I shot the video in 1080 60i. So far I have tried rendering it to SD in FCP then sending to DVD Studio, which creates a lot of pixel noise. I then tried exporting the 1080 60i to compressor set to 4×3 DVD Best, then into DVD Studio and still got noise. Then I tried exporting to Compressor and set it to 16×9 Letterbox and then to DVD studio set to 16×9 letterbox Pan and Scan and here I got trails and lines. The trails and lines were mostly on the white karate gee as the host of the video moved around. Any tips you have will be helpful.
Thanks for your time,
Andrew

Any idea how this is done with Films. I have seen video’s shot on DV that look great when rented on DVD,(Buena Vista Social Club) and how do they fit so much info on the DVD?

[Dave Friend]

[Andrew Moore] “I have tried rendering it to SD in FCP then sending to DVD Studio, which creates a lot of pixel noise”

I don’t understand what you mean by “pixel noise.” Please elaborate if you can.

Most of the time I will export from HD to SD before encoding for DVD. The two main reasons for this are: 1. The SD file serves as the “master” instead of a videotape. A disc or hard drive goes to the library instead of a tape. And, 2. I prefer to use a different mpeg encoder than Compressor. Specifically, Cinema Craft which is a Windows application.

I try to always use the highest quality codec for the SD output. Uncompressed or Animation are frequently used. I avoid the DV codec especially with HDV source material as the repeated compression is quite noticeable. If your going with compressor for the mpeg2 then Apple ProRez HQ seems a good compromise between file size and quality for the SD file.

You might be happier with the results if you use the frame controls found in compressor. Use the “best” methods especially for the resize option. These dramatically increase the processing time but often noticeably improve the results. Make sure you are using the same field order as the 1080i source footage for the SD output. Keep this field order for the mpeg2 also.

I always make the SD file anamorphic so as to leave the letterboxing to the DVD player.

Finally, remember that you are down converting and it’s just not going to look as good as HD. If it did we wouldn’t need HD then would we? Seeing what you’ve come to enjoy viewing in it’s high def splendor at standard def is a bitter pill and a constant source of sorrow.

It only gets worse when you go to mpeg2 for the DVD. The bit rate of a DVD is minuscule compared to the original footage. All that compression is going to manifest somehow.

Hope this is helpful.

Dave