-
iPhone 4 to dvd workflow
After way too many issues with vegas 10 (on 2 different systems – one about 5 years old and one brand new), I’m re-thinking my workflow to produce dvd’s from my iphone 4 videos (along with stills from various sources). I would like to be able to work on either system, though I suppose I can use the more powerful computer to prepare/transcode material to work well on the older system. I am creating several flavors of video on the iphone – it’s native video (720p- up to 30fps… and that number is seriously all over the place depending on available light), 720p video run through an app called “Super 8”, which renders a retro 8mm look to the video and saves at 720p, and another app called “8mm” which does the same thing but saves the video down to 480×360 at somewhere around 20fps. I’m not exactly sure what these two apps really do in terms of fps, because they both seem to vary depending on light levels, and the “Super 8” app even has a selector for 12 or 18fps, though it’s video files seem to end up at 30fps, so I guess it creates with a 12 or 18 fps look?
In any case, at this point, my goal is to produce the best quality dvd material from my HD iphone 4 videos and high resolution stills taken with either the phone itself or my Canon dslr’s. I’m able to work with the iphone’s native “.mov” files ok on either system, but the older system does start to bog down very quickly once more than a few clips have been added or any effects or transitions are added and the new machine is also having issues once I’ve added a bunch of clips to the timeline… so that is what I’ve been trying to do – start with a 720p project, edit in that, then “render-as” to the appropriate widescreen Mainconcept template. I really don’t intend to produce anything HD – I just figured this workflow would re-encode the least and create the best quality in the final dvd. However, this workflow gets unusable after a point and I’m now wondering if I should somehow be working in an SD project and creating intermediate files from the original iphone files first, just so Vegas won’t bomb out on me…
What seems to be the best workflow, given that I want to be able to edit on the older machine too? Will Vegas do better with uncompressed avi files, rendered first from the original MOV files? SonyYUV? Lagarith? 720p or 720×480 uncompressed sd? I’ve searched the forums like crazy and there is plenty of info on similar subjects, but not quite what I need to know… and there are so many different combinations of formats and settings I can choose once in the “Custom Settings” dialogs… Any help?
Oh, and I guess while I’m asking… what’s the real deal with 30p vs 24p and dvd’s? You really CAN choose 30p (or 29.970 or others) in the DVD Architect widescreen template… I’ve read so many times that it’s not available, but it is! So, since my material is originating at 30p (when the iphone gets enough light and chooses to use it), should I set the render settings to that to format my files for DVD Architect? Will DVD Architect have to re-encode the video if I choose the wrong setting? (I don’t want that stutter 24p look.. I get enough of that from the 8mm effects…) What will the dvd player and tv try to do with these dvd’s? What’s the best common denominator method?
Sorry for the long question, but I just can’t find the info out there. -
3 Replies
-
[John Sieber] “I really don’t intend to produce anything HD – I just figured this workflow would re-encode the least and create the best quality in the final dvd. However, this workflow gets unusable after a point and I’m now wondering if I should somehow be working in an SD project and creating intermediate files from the original iphone files first, just so Vegas won’t bomb out on me… “
You might want to edit with DV Widescreen proxies using a tool like VASST GearShift to create them. GearShift allows to yo edit in SD and then switch back to HD before you render. You can even render with the DV Widescreen footage of your not making HD output. There is a free 15-day trial so download it and see if you like the workflow.
[John Sieber] ” what’s the real deal with 30p vs 24p and dvd’s? You really CAN choose 30p (or 29.970 or others) in the DVD Architect widescreen template… I’ve read so many times that it’s not available, but it is! “
Yes you can change the template but that doesn’t mean you should. The DVD spec was written many, many years ago in the 1990’s and it supports 60i, 50i, and 24p. If DVD Architect allows you to burn 25p or 30p without re-encoding them, then I’m not sure how some DVD players will handle it if they weren’t expecting it. It’s not part of the spec so it may not be supported by DVD players.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
You might want to edit with DV Widescreen proxies using a tool like VASST GearShift to create them. GearShift allows to yo edit in SD and then switch back to HD before you render. You can even render with the DV Widescreen footage of your not making HD output. There is a free 15-day trial so download it and see if you like the workflow.
Thanks John. I’ve seen quite a few posts mention Gearshift in this regard… what format of files does it create as the SD proxies? Are they compressed, uncompressed, etc? And they get along well with Vegas? The only format I’ve found that plays nice in Vegas is the Sony YUV. I’ve rendered the native 720p MOV files to NTSC widescreen 720×480 using the Sony YUV Codec and they play back great and edit easy at the full fps. Any other format seems to get Vegas stuttering. Well, the standard DV format works ok, but loses a ton of quality (due to compression I assume).
Yes you can change the template but that doesn’t mean you should. The DVD spec was written many, many years ago in the 1990’s and it supports 60i, 50i, and 24p. If DVD Architect allows you to burn 25p or 30p without re-encoding them, then I’m not sure how some DVD players will handle it if they weren’t expecting it. It’s not part of the spec so it may not be supported by DVD players
So when I choose the MainConcept NTSC widescreen template (not the 24p one), I’m presented with the 29.970 frame rate and interlaced (lower field first) settings… so what then is eventually getting coded to the dvd in DVD Architect? Is it converting that 29.970 into 60i to conform with the DVD specs? Since my material is originating as progressive video, shouldn’t I somehow stick to a final format that is progressive? Is the 24p option the only way for me to have dvd’s that play as progressive on our dvd player (and blueray player and other peoples dvd players, etc)?
-
[John Sieber] “…what format of files does it create as the SD proxies? Are they compressed, uncompressed, etc? And they get along well with Vegas?
DV Widescreen AVI files. Yes DV is compressed but they are just proxies for reference. You don’t have to render with them. GearShift can swap them out for the HD media before you render.
[John Sieber] The only format I’ve found that plays nice in Vegas is the Sony YUV. I’ve rendered the native 720p MOV files to NTSC widescreen 720×480 using the Sony YUV Codec and they play back great and edit easy at the full fps. Any other format seems to get Vegas stuttering.”
GearShift will also allow you to render Sony YUV intermediaries so if you like editing with that, GearShift can do it for you. You can render directly from Sony YUV and not loose any quality.
[John Sieber] “So when I choose the MainConcept NTSC widescreen template (not the 24p one), I’m presented with the 29.970 frame rate and interlaced (lower field first) settings… so what then is eventually getting coded to the dvd in DVD Architect? Is it converting that 29.970 into 60i to conform with the DVD specs?”
Yes, it’s creating a 60i stream that is compatible with NTSC TV sets and DVD players. Each field will contain part of your progressive frame. Your video will still appear to be progressive. Both fields of the 60i frame will have the same temporal information of the original progressive footage. There won’t be any combing or other interlaced artifacts associated with video that is captured interlaced. It will just be progressive media in a 60i stream.
Even if you render to 24p… if the DVD player senses that the TV is interlaced (which most are) it will add interlacing on-the-fly! This is because you can only feed an interlaced signal to an interlaced TV. So just to recap… you will only get progressive footage if your DVD player supports progressive output and your TV supports progressive input! Otherwise the DVD player will interlace your footage before outputting it regardless of the format you placed on the disc.
[John Sieber] “Is the 24p option the only way for me to have dvd’s that play as progressive on our dvd player (and blueray player and other peoples dvd players, etc)?”
The only valid progressive format for DVD is 24p. You can try rendering as 30p and see if DVD Architect will write it to the disc without re-encoding. Then see if the DVD will play in your DVD player. The has no bearing one whether it will play in other peoples DVD players or the next DVD player you buy.
I’m just telling you what the DVD spec says and what DVD players are expected to support. I know there are new DVD players that support all sorts of non-standard stuff. It doesn’t mean every DVD player will.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up