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I want to take the next step in DVD authoring and improve quality
My business does a lot of corporate videos, commercials, infomercials, and occasionally a fictional or documentary short. I’m starting the HD convergence with the purchase of 2 HVX200s and a new editing system that I havent decided on yet.
When my work was strictly SD I did the standard small-time DVD setup where I created my DVDs with Adobe Encore and did my encoding there as well. I burn to DVD-Rs and use a automated duplicator for duplication. That was fine for SD work being played back on SDTVs.
Now, with so many people owning HDTVs I want to try and create better quality SD DVDs so that they don’t look like complete garbage when played back on a modern television. For example, I own a 50 inch DLP HDTV and mainstream hollywood DVDs look pretty good on it. Of course, my DVD-R projects encoded with Encore look terrible. I obviously don’t have the money to buy the hollywood encoders, but I was hoping there is a middle ground somewhere.
Here are my questions:
What is the next logical step up from simple software encoding in Encore that will give me acceptable playback of HD projects downconverted to SD DVD?
Does this even exist?
Are there some hardware encoding options that don’t cost tens of thousands of dollars?
Even if I have better quality encoding, will it even matter if I’m still authoring in Encore, or should I step up to better software as well, like Scenarist?
How much of the quality of the video is product of encoding versus authoring?
Wow, that’s a lot of questions! I really don’t know anything about DVD authoring past the simple stuff I’ve been doing so far. Enlighten me! Thanks!
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4 Replies
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[FischTale] “How much of the quality of the video is product of encoding versus authoring?”
100%[FischTale] “What is the next logical step up from simple software encoding in Encore that will give me acceptable playback of HD projects downconverted to SD DVD?”
Many high-end shops use the Cinemacraft software encoder.[FischTale] “Are there some hardware encoding options that don’t cost tens of thousands of dollars?”
Sonic SD500 encoder.[FischTale] “Even if I have better quality encoding, will it even matter if I’m still authoring in Encore, or should I step up to better software as well, like Scenarist?”
Depends on how complex your authoring needs to be and how deep your pockets are. Also don’t consider Scenarist unless you are willing to get professional training, because full-spec DVD authoring systems are highly complex. Plus you need to know the limits of the DVD Spec.Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City -
Thanks, that’s a lot of great info! After reading your answers and going through this forum I realized I have a lot to learn about higher end DVD creation. Does anyone know any good sources on the internet that may offer tutorials or classes or listings of live classes, etc? This is an area I want to learn about and rather than ask one question at a time here, maybe I can pay for some training.
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Cinemacraft Encoder SP2 costs about $2,000 but will give you the results your looking for in your picture quality.
http://www.cinemacraft.com
Good support, good guys, good product, amazing picture quality bang for the buck.
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