iDVD, resolution, M-PEG 2 issues

[Tom Wolsky]

How are you converting your DV material to uncompressed, and why are you doing that?

iDVD will take your exported DV file and compress it into MPEG-2 for DVD encoding. The material has to be compressed to fit on the DVD disc and to be able to playback off the relatively low throughout of DVD disc performance.

Yes, it will look different on a television than it does on a computer monitor.

Yes, it will be interlaced. The interlacing will be apparent on motion on the computer screen. The format will display correctly on a video monitor or television set.

All the best,

Tom

Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 2 Editing Workshop” Class on Demand “Complete Training for FCP5” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy” DVDs

[Dunwoody Lampton]

Client requested an uncompressed, full-resolution Quicktime file on a DVD.

My only tools were FCE HD 3.5.1 and iDVD.

One month after mailing the DVD, the client (public relations expertise, not video production) said the DVD wasn’t QT and was very low resolution.

I re-checked my project and files and found them to be unchanged – 13gb movie which looked great with QT player, great in iDVD, and great on NTSC.

My only guess was that the client confused the DVD with an earlier approval file which was (clearly) a low-res, WMV file.

When I rendered the QT movie, I chose QT conversion and selected “none” in the settings menu, as well as 720×480 in the size menu. As I said, the file was over 13gb when finished rendering. I’m now wondering if I should have checked 8- or 10-bit uncompressed instead of “none,” if that would have made any difference?

I also advised the client that using one of my company’s FTP sites might be a better choice for delivering the file instead of a DVD.

Thanks again, Tom.

[Tom Wolsky]

Then you don’t use iDVD. That’s for authoring a DVD that will play on a set-top box or a computer DVD player.

Your client doesn’t know what he or she is talking about. A seven minute uncompressed video file will not fit on a DVD. It’s about 13G. That doesn’t fit on a DVD that’s 4.3G. If you put it through iDVD it will compress it to MPEG-2 so that it can fit on the disc and can play back off a DVD player.

Even an 8-bit file won’t fit on the disc. However, you do realize that your material is already heavily compressed. It was compressed to DV at 3.6MB/sec when it was recorded in the camera. Exporting your output to an uncompressed format is not going to make it any better at this stage, only bigger.

All the best,

Tom

Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 2 Editing Workshop” Class on Demand “Complete Training for FCP5” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy” DVDs

[Dunwoody Lampton]

Thanks again, Tom!

I kind of had a feeling before I read your answer that what you said was reality.
I informed my producer of the items you brought up, so she can hash it out with the client.

Have a good week.