HDV 1080i50 to DVD workflow?

[Brian Alexander]

[Chris Grose] ” I exported an uncompressed QT out of FCP 6″

Did you export uncompressed or with your current sequence settings?

[Chris Grose] “there is a significant drop in quality from the uncompressed HDV 1080i50 video”

You do know that you’re comparing your HDV (HD 1440 x 1080) to MPEG 2 (PAL SD 720 x 576). The DVD will never look the same as the original using this current workflow.

[Chris Grose] “There is some pixelation, colour loss”

Are you viewing your uncompressed file, your m2v file and your DVD all on the same monitor? What steps have you taken for troubleshooting image quality changes?

Pixelation? Are you seeing macroblocks or pixels breaking up in fast motion? Make sure you view your DVD unscaled or Actual Size. A screen shot of your video would help.

[Chris Grose] “the video has a peculiar look at times that almost seems like it has been sped-up in places.”

Is DVD Studio Pro set up for PAL or NTSC?

Alternate Workflow

When I downscale for DVD I use an intermediate codec for resizing before using MPEG 2 to create the m2v file. I use ProRes because it will keep your quality intact and it’s relatively quick compared to other intermediate codecs.

Hope this helps.

—
Brian Alexander
Sr Video Engineer
Freeman AVS

[Daniel Low]

The following has worked for everybody suffering from the same issues as you:

https://www.produxion.net/2008/04/08/hd-to-sd-conversion-the-holy-grail/

__________________________________________________________________
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”

Steve Ballmer To USA Today

[Chris Grose]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for your response.

My answers to some of your questions below.

Did you export uncompressed or with your current sequence settings?
Upon review I realised I’ve actually exported the video with the current sequence settings. When I view this in QT player the info that appears in the inspector window is as follows: PAL QT movie, Format: HDV1080i50 1440×1080 (1888×1062) Millions 16-bit Integer (Little Endian), Stereo, 48.000kHz, Data rate: 26 mbits/s, Normal size: 1920×1080.

Are you viewing your uncompressed file, your m2v file and your DVD all on the same monitor? What steps have you taken for troubleshooting image quality changes?
I’m viewing all files on my iMac monitor (24″ 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo). It is on this monitor that I notice the difference in image quality. In terms of steps taken, none apart form looking into better encoding workflows.

Pixelation? Are you seeing macroblocks or pixels breaking up in fast motion? Make sure you view your DVD unscaled or Actual Size. A screen shot of your video would help.
The picture seems more pixelated than being macroblocks issue, admittedly this is when I view the SD DVD full screen on the 24″ monitor.

Is DVD Studio Pro set up for PAL or NTSC?
DVDSP project, FCP output & compressed m2v are all PAL.

Alternate workflow.
Can you explain the process you go through a little more? Are you saying that once you’ve finishing cutting in HDV you copy all your edit to a ProRes timeline and then export?

Any further help would be greatly appreciated!

Chris.

[Daniel Low]

Just incase you missed my post:

The following has worked for everybody suffering from the same issues as you:

https://www.produxion.net/2008/04/08/hd-to-sd-conversion-the-holy-grail/

__________________________________________________________________
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”

Steve Ballmer To USA Today