How to burn a very long timeline to DVD?

[Rafael Amador]

[Daniel Grixti] “Should I export it in 4 parts for optimum quality?”
The length of the clips won’t be a factor on the quality of the picture.

Export a Self-contained movie and if you can chop it, the best.
With all the chops, I would make a Reference movie and import to any application to make the MPEG-2.
For a 3 hours movie, I would try something better than Compressor.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Daniel Grixti]

What do you mean by reference movie? Can you recommend a program that will convert my video to MPEG 2?

[Chris Babbitt]

You might want to consider burning to a dual-layer DVD.

[Rafael Amador]

[Daniel Grixti] “What do you mean by reference movie?”
Is a movie that do not contains video or audio. It points to other movies. Is like a play list but works like any other QT movie. The size is very small.
You should know all this by now. basic question.

The option of making a double side DVD pointed by Daniel is very interesting. You can try it with Compressor.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Rafael Amador]

Sorry, I meant your double side DVD was your idea.
Cheers,
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Joey Burnham]

File > Export > Quicktime Movie. Uncheck the “Make Self-Contained” checkbox.

Bring this file into compressor and use the 120 min best quality preset.
In the summary panel it will give you an estimated file size. Make sure it’s small enough to fit on a dvd including your audio. If it’s over reduce your bit rate in the quality controls.

Best,
Joey

[Miodrag Ristic]

I know you mentioned DVD Studio Pro, but considering your level of proficiency with exporting video and DVD authoring, you might consider using iDVD.
There is less chance to go wrong way and 3 hrs movies on Dual Layer DVD (DVD+R DL) look pretty good,
I’ve done it many times.

Once you are confident with this process, you can proceed to DVD Studio Pro.

I’d kindly suggest to you to read the manual, or grab a book or a tutorial. There might be some even on the You Tube. A book covering iLife wouldn’t harm you at this stage.

So, in FCP after you made your chapter markers and rendered whole sequence, export your movie to Quick Time (if you’ve got enough space on your hard drive you can even go with self contained movie,
3hrs in I presume DV would give you a 36 GB file).
Open iDVD and in Preferences window change the setting to DVD Dual Layer then go File > Import > Video and navigate to your exported file (36 GB one if you exported as self contained).
The menu will show with title of your file.
Adjust any setting you need (font, menu duration, menu song etc.) then press Burn button.

Mio

[Daniel Grixti]

Hi there,

I have another question. It seems that when I export (file > export > quicktime movie…), the quality isn’t very good. I have tried self contained and reference (at 1024×576 because I am at 16:9) and the resulting .mov is soft and blurry.

When I export with no compression the quality is excellent, but the file size is obviously huge (200mb for 4 sconds)! I’m sure I couldn’t even fit 3 hours of that on my external hard drive.

Then I tried exporting with PRORES (HQ) and the quality is significantly better then the standard, self contained .mov file. Even though the file size is 30mb for 4 seconds.

Is it a good idea to use PRORES (HQ) for the final DVD?

I find it hard to believe that people use [file > export > quicktime movie…] for their DVDs as the quality seems so poor. Just so you know I am exporting the self contained / reference .movs with all highest settings.

[Kylee Pena]

When you go to File > Export > Quicktime Movie, it exports a reference movie of your timeline based on the editing codec you chose. It should look just fine. You aren’t adding any additional compression, you’re basically making a file with pointers to your footage. What were your sequence settings and source footage type?

You should not use ProRes for DVD stuff, and especially not ProRes HQ.

You’ll also probably want to use a dual layer DVD. If this is something you want to turn out really well, or something you’re going to be doing a lot of, I would highly recommend getting the Apple Pro Training Series DVD Studio Pro book and working through it. It explains the process of getting your videos from FCP to DVD SP and every aspect of building a great DVD, plus advanced stuff like adding break points which will be important for a dual layer disc.

[Daniel Grixti]

Hi there, thanks for your reply.

The project settings are HD 1920×1080 (because that’s what the original footage is) but I only want a standard definition DVD.

When I export a quicktime movie i choose custom settings and set resolution to PAL 16:9 etc. I have also just noticed the box that says “Quicktime Video Settings” and underneath is an option for compressor and quality. My quality has always been set to best but the compressor had been set to DV PAL.

When I export the quicktime REFERENCE movie with these custom settings and DV PAL compression under the Quicktime Video Settings section the quality is very poor and the filesize is 50 meg for just over 10 seconds.

Then if I do the same settings but choose no compression in the Quicktime Video Settings section the quality is great but filesize is 500mb for the same length clip!

I am having a lot of trouble here and need to deliver the footage tomorrow :S

I don’t want to begin exporting my 3 hour timeline until I know the optimal settings (or this will be a day of wasted rendering).

HELP!!!