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PLEASE HELP!!!
Yesterday i came onto creative cow asking some qustions about exporting my film from FCP. I was told that i would have to convert to MPEG2 in compressor and make my DVD in DVD SP.
I have spent the last two days teaching myself compressor and have made some MPEG 2 files but they wont open.
I am a student and i dont have a copy of DVD SP so i have to make do with iDVD, compressor has been driving me crazy for the last two days and now i get the feeling that its not even compaible with iDVD because in the Compressor help there is no mention of iDVD.
I find it hard to believe that there is no way of taking my film straight from FCP to iDVD. The thing is Im very much stuck for time as i am trying to get my documentaries sent away to festivals.
I have leafed through every aspect of compressor and when i make a file it wont open as a quick time movie or allow to be imported into i DVD
Before i was exporting using quicktime conversion but i was told not to do this because the film needs to be in MPEG2 to go onto DVD. So what i dont understand is, if iDVD doesnt accept my compressor MPEG2 files then how does anyone make a DVD on it. Keep in mind that i am not trying to make some fancy dvd, just something people can watch at the viewings for festivals.please help!!
Thanks!
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13 Replies
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Easy Easy!
First, you will not be able to simply open an MPEG2 file in QT unless you have the Mpeg2 component in your Library/Quicktime folder. It is available here:
https://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/
It’s $20, which is a ripoff since I think it should “come with” when you get QT Pro, but in the end it will be worth it.
Second, iDVD sucks. Run away, run away! I have had nothing but trouble with burn hangs and other Fisher-Price style problems. I’m a snob. sorry.
Do not export out of the FCP timeline to MPEG2 — export a reference movie, then do the reference movie in Compressor. It’s more reliable and allows for you to do multiple compressions simultaneously, such as making an MPEG4 in MPEG Streamclip and a WMV in Sorenson Squeeze or Episode Pro or Cleaner 6.5, etc.
Learn DVDSP basics and your life will be eased. it’s a clunky interface, and the selection latency is a real annoyance, but it works well enough for roughs, etc. For me, I do the authoring, select the Build button to create the Video and Audio_TS folders, then do the actual burning in Toast.
In Toast, select Data, then select DVD-ROM (UDF), click the New Disc button and name the disc, then drag/drop your Video_TS and Audio_TS folders into the window. Insert a blank and burn away. the advantage to this method, IMO, is two-fold. First I believe that Toast is a more reliable burning method than DVDSP’s, meaning you will rarely hang. Second, once you have done your burn, simply save the Toast file in the same folder as your build folders, and you can open the Toast file to make another burn at any time without having to go back into DVDSP.
Some notes about burning in Toast: do not connect or disconnect any USB or FW devices, or do anything that is processor intensive or else you might get a “connection is unstable” error, thus creating another coaster. Stick to maybe internet stuff.
Last, I have created a custom preset for Compressor that can make the highest quality “workable” NTSC MPEG2 compression for DVD which I will be glad to share if you hit me back at weevie833 (at) yahoo.com. It is good for spots or short programs, but not necessarily longform stuff since it creates larger files.
PS – there is a term among my colleagues and myself called “The DVD Sweats”, which is what we all go through when dealing with this God-forsaken format. I hate DVD and hope it whimpers into anonymity like Panasonic MII format.
steve covello
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If you’re going to iDVD you should not use Compressor. iDVD does its own compression. Make sure you have sufficient drive space for the media, the disk image and the encoded material. Usually 25G is safe.
All the best,
Tom
Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP6,” “Basic Training for FCS2” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 3.5 HD Editing Workshop” -
Hi Tom
thank you so much for your quick responce. I just want to make something clear in my head. If i have a quicktime movie which i exported using quicktime conversion and it is lets say
10 – 35GB (i have a few different conversions done), and i drag it into iDVD then iDVD will compress it for me and i wont need to worry about the size for the DVD. Am i right here? and what about the fact that it wont be MPEG2. or does iDVD convert it to MPEG2 aswell??Sorry for the multiple questions, this is all quite technical for me, takes a while to learn.
Aine
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Hi Steve,
Thank you so much for all the advise. my big problem is that i dont have DVD SP and i cant seem to get my hands on it at the moment, although if i pull a few strings im sure i could get it within a month, the thing is I dont have a month. need to get this done right now so i have proceed with using the shitty iDVD.
After i get this prblem sorted i will be looking into getting DVD SP and Toast to make my life a little easier. Im not terrible on the computer but im not exactly a tech head either, so its alot to take in all at once. Is toast a programme you have to pay for, or can you get it for free. And as for the customised compressor you were telling me about, is that only for NTSC because i would be PAL only.
Aine -
Aine,
You obviously have not read the iDVD manual. Search preparing your FCP movie to work in iDVD.
We are here to help you but you have to do your research. It is the only way to learn.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Director-At-Large
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group -
Don’t export using QT conversion. Export using QT Movie. either self-contained or reference if you’re using iDVD on the same computer.
All the best,
Tom
Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP6,” “Basic Training for FCS2” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 3.5 HD Editing Workshop” -
Thats great, thanks again for the help Tom!
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How would you have FCP and NOT have DVDSP? what kind of installation is that? Weird.
The preset I mentioned could be adapted for PAL. I only changed the GOP length and a couple other things.
Toast is commercial ware. Worth it. It’s by Roxio.
steve
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Hi Steve,
I have one more question for you. Im trying to take a completly ifferent approach, so, Im trying to export my film as a quicktime movie and import it into iDVD. trouble is everytime i do it the film turns up 4:3 instead of 16:9. I have made sure that everything from the beginning was anamorphic so there shouldnt be any problem there. I think the problem may lye in the sequence sttings but im not sure.
Under sequence settings – general the default frame size is 720×576 and aspect ratio is ccir 601/ dv pal (5:4)
the pixel aspect ratio is PAl – ccir 601 and beside this the anamorphic 16:9 box is ticked. This is a little confusing, shouldnt the aspect ratio be 16:9 and not 5:4. When i changed this in the drop down menue to DVCPRO HD 1080i60 16:9 it just made the picture really weird.Do you have any ideas as to why my film would be turning out 4:3??
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iDVD does not support anamorphic material. It only supports native widescreen formats, i.e. HD formats in widescreen.
https://www.fcpbook.com/Video9.html
All the best,
Tom
Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP6,” “Basic Training for FCS2” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 3.5 HD Editing Workshop”
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