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How Does One Achieve The Highest Possible Quality SD DVD
Hello All,
This is my first post EVER because after many years of reading your posts (which alway give me new direction), I’ve decided it’s time to get a complete answer to my long time quest… achieving the highest quality SD DV video DVD possible.
I own a small production company that specializes in creating DVDs of theatrical events. The extreme lighting conditions are challenging to say the least and the backgrounds in my final DVDs are always full of artifacts I’d rather not see with the subjects never quite as clear as they are in the original footage.
I shoot with 2 Canon GL2s and have recently hired a camera man who uses a new professional grade Sony HD camera. He uses the SD setting for my jobs, and we both shoot using the 16:9 setting (the one that makes the footage look squashed/compressed when viewed on a 3:4 monitor). I edit using FCP, always send the resulting sequence to Apple Compressor (which I know how to use very well at this point), and author the DVDs in DVDSP.
Until I added this third camera, I hadn’t even thought about using Apple Color, but due to the color disparity I’d been experiencing between the two types of cameras, I decided it might be worth some investigation. But now that I’ve read the entire Apple Color manual, I find myself, once again, back at the capturing stage, wondering if there might be something I’ve been missing all this time; some setting that might help my final output be rid of the annoying artifacts that continue to annoy my eye and who’s fix eludes me!
I’ve been capturing via firewire using the FCP preset DV NTSC 48 kHz Anamorphic. Is there a better way or setting? If so…
What should my Frame Size and Aspect Ratio settings be? And my QuickTime Video Settings… What should I choose for my digitizer, compressor, quality, and FPS settings? Is there anything under the advanced menu that I should be changing? Do I check “Remove Advanced Pulldown and/or Duplicate Frames…” and “High Quality Play Through”?
OR…
Could the problem be with my sequence settings?
Again, what are the best settings for Frame Size, Aspect Ratio, Filed Dominance, Editing Timebase, and Timecode Rate? And the Quick Time Settings for Compressor, and Quality? Anything I should be aware of in the Advanced tab? And what about under the Video Processing Tab?
OR…
Is Apple Color the answer to all my problems?
I edit using the multi clip feature in FCP which I understand from reading here on CC can cause some issues in Color. After reading several posts, however, it seems that if I collapse the sequence and use Media Manager to send it to Color, I should be in good shape.
I guess I’m just tired of working so hard on a project, doing a great job on the edit, only to have the video quality be less than adequate on the final DVD. Of course the parents don’t mind, they are just glad to have a decent quality memento of their child’s performance. But I am positive there must be something I can do to improve the final quality of my product.
Geez! I guess I shouldn’t have waited so long to post… Seems I had quite a bit to ask after all!!
Thanks for any help you can send my way.
I look forward to your words of wisdom!
Lisa Laughbaum
Laughing Tree Productions
http://www.LaughingTreeProductions.com -
22 Replies
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Hi,
I think you answered the main question yourself.
The first thing you need to get the best quality DVD, is to start with the best quality source material. This is a lot easier than “fix it in post”.Lots of reasons it is best to plan out your productions completely from finish to beginning, as you are finding out.
While you have included quite a bit of detail in your post, it’s hard to make suggestions without knowing your exact workflow, and the specific camera settings. You may want to consider spending some time in with another editor to help you get your workflow dialed in. IMHO it seems like you may have a bunch of little things that could be adding up causing workflow slowdowns, and quality loss. I can’t point to anything specific, but I get that vibe from what you wrote.
One thing I can say is that Color is a great program, but introduces its own set of challenges. You didn’t mention any attempt to color match your footage with the 3WCC. If you haven’t done this yet, you might want to bone up on it before you jump into learning a separate ap like Color. You also didn’t say how much time your budget allows you to spend on your project, which Color will add to if you use it.Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
Use the DV Animorphic easy setup. If you have a lot of Grfx I would change ur sequence settings to DV 50 and re-render after the edit is locked. This will not make the DV footage better but the gfrx will be.
Output timeline “current setting” reference file is fine. No need for “self contained”.
Drop into compressor. Choose 16X9 Lower fields
Choose a setting that matches your program length.
Adjust your bitrate for best quality and still fit on disc. Select 2 pass VBR Motion “Best”
Change “Frame control” to custom and the best on all 3 options.
Audio compression to NONE
Normalize set to -31 for audio
Your video should look fine.
If you have almost 2 hours in length or Longer….then you’re probably going to have to live with some artifacts on a dark background on a DVD from DV footage.Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta -
Thanks Chris…
That really helps.[Chris Tompkins] If you have a lot of Grfx I would change ur sequence settings to DV 50 and re-render after the edit is locked
What are your thoughts on changing them to 8-bit or 10-bit uncompressed or even “none”?
[Chris Tompkins] Output timeline “current setting” reference file is fine. No need for “self contained”.
Once I change the sequence settings on my final edit, I tend to export it to Compressor through FCP without rendering… Is this a poor choice?
Thanks for your help! 🙂
Lisa Laughbaum
Laughing Tree Productions
http://www.LaughingTreeProductions.com -
[Scott Sheriff] Lots of reasons it is best to plan out your productions completely from finish to beginning
I wish I did have control over the lighting or more input about the theatrical productions I shoot, but I just have to capture what they present.
[Scott Sheriff] it’s hard to make suggestions without knowing your exact workflow, and the specific camera settings
I currently run my GL2s in manual mode with the shutter speed at 60, the gain at 6db, and I ride the aperture constantly throughout the production. I also shoot in the 16:9 mode I mentioned in my first post.
The term “workflow” confuses me a bit… I capture using the DV NTSC 48 kHz Anamorphic settings below:
The Advanced Tab in Quicktime Video Settings in Capture:
Then I edit my sequence with the following settings:
The Advanced Tab in Quicktime Video Settings in Sequence:
The Video Processing Tab in Sequence Settings: (should this be RGB instead?)
I also always get this funky message the first time I add a clip to my timeline. I always say yes, but when I check to see what changes occurred in the sequence settings tab, I see nothing different.
Once I’m done with my edit, I change the sequence settings to the following:
and the compression settings tab during export looks like this:
I then send the sequence to the Compressor, without rendering it first as I’ve been told this is redundant. I use the highest possible settings I can depending on the length of the production which can range anywhere from 1 hour to 2 1/2 hours.
Finally, I author my DVD in DVDSP. I tend not to mess with these settings too much and often wonder if this may be where I lose quality, but that’s a different forum! 🙂
Thank you for taking the time to answer my post. I hope that’s what you meant by workflow!! 🙂
Lisa Laughbaum
Laughing Tree Productions
http://www.LaughingTreeProductions.com -
Chris…
When I change to the easy setup you suggest, the dimensions during capture are 680×459.
The dimensions for sequences are 720×486.
I’ve been advised that both should be 720×480.
What are your thoughts about this?
Lisa Laughbaum
Laughing Tree Productions
http://www.LaughingTreeProductions.com -
Oops! Sorry… Double post! Still getting use to this forum stuff. 🙂
Lisa Laughbaum
Laughing Tree Productions
http://www.LaughingTreeProductions.com -
Do not adjust the Quality slider in the Advanced tab. It has no effect on DV. DV is a constant bit rate and is always the same quality.
Do not change your render settings to RGB. DV is not an RGB format.
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Lisa
“I wish I did have control over the lighting or more input about the theatrical productions I shoot, but I just have to capture what they present.”You do have control over the cameras you use, how they are operated and captured, sequence settings, and how long your DVD project is. These can have an effect on overall quality.
So if your firm on mixing cameras that are shooting in different aspect ratios, have poor low light performance, and you have to compress your footage a lot due to program length to get it all on the DVD, you have to expect a reduction in quality.Have you ever asked the theater LD to give you more base light in the scenes?
How far back are you? The less focal length you use, the more available light the lens can put on the sensor.
Are there multiple performances of the play? If so, shoot each performance with matching cameras only, and change your camera locations each performance to get multiple angles. Then edit that together into a single show.
If the production is more than 90 minutes, do some editing and cut it down. The longer it is, the more compressed it will have to be. You as the producer and editor have to find the balance between picture quality and what has to be in the show. Editing for length is done all the time on shows that “need to have it all in”, and if done well goes unnoticed by the audience.
Lisa
“The term “workflow” confuses me a bit… I capture using the DV NTSC 48 kHz Anamorphic settings below: “Workflow. A standard industry term used to describe the organization, execution, and technical specs of the materials used in a project.
In your case I would include everything from the camera specs to the length of the finished DVD. It is almost always best to work backwards from the desired output, and make all decisions to get the best output, in your case a DVD.Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
If you load ur footage in via firewire then you should be 720X480 NOT 486
Create a new Sequence after you have set your easy setup.
As for 8bit or 10 bit, you won’t gain anything on the video side. (as for gfx) If ur going to DVD I don’t see the need to go above DV50 in your situation.
Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta -
Lots of good advice.
But realize also that you are shooting NTSC DV which records with 4:1:1 color sampling, i.e. 75% of the color information is eliminated.
Then when you render to a DVD, which uses 4:2:0 color sampling, you keep only the overlapping color pixels. That leaves 12.5% of the color, which leads to the video looking mushy.
There can be some “chroma smoothing” done to improve the result slightly beyond the 4:1:0 that remains, either during rendering or before with plug-ins, which you could try to see if it helps your footage.
Broadcast video is 4:2:2, which does make quite a difference (if it is full resolution!).
I spent a long time trying to get a $12,000 NTSC DV camera (with a $4,000 lens) produce footage that looked good on DVD, but never got it to meet my standards.
Started shooting D5 (tethered) instead, that worked.
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