Rendering out to DVD from HDV – I want to preserve black bars – but DVD in encore?

[Markschneg]

I am going to be making some assumptions here on your desired output, but here goes. I apologize in advance if you already know some of this (since you’re working with HDV, I assume you’re not a total n00b, but someone else could benefit from a little walkthrough too).

Encore is going to be looking for a DVD standard file @ 720×480. You can’t burn native HDV to a DVD and have it play in a standard set-top DVD player.

Your mileage may vary, but try these settings if you’re going to use Encore to author the disc:

File > Render As.. > Save As Type, set to MainConcept MPEG2, and also set the Template to DVD NTSC. Then click on “Custom” to tweak some of the finer settings, since you want a mastering quality MPEG2 output.

NOTE: You may want to save each iteration of the encoding settings you make! Type in a new name in the box at the top, and give it a unique and informative name. That way if you find a batch of encoding settings that worked awesomely, you won’t have to try to recreate it all from memory.

Now, inside the “Custom” option:
On the video tab you can select whether your material is 4:3 (standard) or 16:9 (widescreen) in the Aspect Ratio dropdown box. Also, you may acheive best results if you also make the Field Order: None (progressive). For the best potential quality, choose Variable Bit Rate and check the Two-pass box. Set the max to 8,000,000, average to 6,000,000 and minimum to 4,200,000. This is going to give you a slightly larger filesize, but isn’t going to skimp on encoding where it counts. Setting the Max bitrate to 9,800,000 is possible, but I’ve had trouble with such files not playing back on all set-top DVD players. Some players just can’t handle the maximum throughput bitrate without barfing on themselves, locking up, or clipping like crazy. Experiment though and see what your results are. Some will argue it’s overkill to set the minimum bitrate so high, but I’m also assuming here that your project isn’t that big, and you don’t need every available bit just to fit your project onto a DVD.

In the Advanced Video tab, I wouldn’t bother anything unless you have a really good reason to.

I’ve had better results feeding Encore two separate audio and video streams, so try checking the box for “Save as separate elementary streams.” in the “System” tab. This’ll give you an .M2V file (the video alone) and an .MPA file (the audio). Import those into Encore, and drag them onto the sequence you’re making for that particular clip. It should sync them automagically.

You can simulate the disc and make sure you’re getting the widescreen aspect ratio you desire. If it’s still not right, make sure your Encore project has the correct project settings.

I’ve found that it’s still easier to get HDV to a DVD by exporting it as 4:3 MPEG2 WITH the letterboxing – that way, the client’s going to be pretty much forced to view it in the correct aspect ratio, and their TV or player will be much less likely to scrunch or stretch things abnormally.
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So, with all those assumptions made, I hope I’ve helped at least a little bit. Best luck.

[David Del]

Thank you for the comprehensive information, I will try it tonight. Much appreciated!

[David Del]

BTW, is it easier to render right to DVD architech (if I ever get it working)? Same settings?

[Doug Graham]

No, you have a lot more control over the settings by rendering the MPEG2 file from Vegas, rather than importing an .avi and letting DVDA do the render.

Regards,
Doug Graham

[David Del]

Ran into a snag. I cannot change the custom settings on my DVD NTSC, when I click it, it doesn’t do anything. This isn’t the case for others like avi, wmv etc. Is it my MPEG2 codec? I have been having some codec problems of late. Should I reinstall?

[Markschneg]

Gah. Power surge just stole my entire reply to you..

Anyway, it would appear your install is hosed. If you can’t customise the export though, even the standard settings may not be all that bad for your purposes.

Remember that you can “Repair” your installation also. You don’t necessarily have to do a full uninstall/reinstall. Run the installer from your original disc or download, and it should give you the option to repair the current install.

[David Del]

Well, I think I am going to try again with DVD architect by Sony. I guess it will be trial and error.
Another thing, when I render out with DVD, it only renders the video stream…

[Markschneg]

Repair the install or start with a fresh Vegas install. There’s no reason to torture yourself with workarounds when you should focus on getting your system working like it should!

Just my $0.02 worth.

-Mark

[David Del]

Well, just tried a repair and a clean install, still no go. I guess I am going to have to render out with settings as-is until I can figure this out.
1) Any suggestions on which way to go now that I can’t change settings, knowing that I want to render with black bar and SD quality?

2) hy is the DVD widescreen mode for rendering just video? IT doesn’t contain the audio – how is DVD architect supposed to get the audio for it?

[Mike Kujbida]

For your lack of custom options, try this tip from Edward Troxel’s Vegas FAQ:

***************************************************************
Look in your registry, and make sure it only has these entries, and nothing else.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Sony Media Software\MC MPEG Plug-In\1.0\License]
“CurrentKey”=”XX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX”
“InstFlags”=dword:00000010

(you shoud see letters and digits instead of the Xs here…)

If it is not “CurrentKey” or “InstFlags”, get rid of it.
***************************************************************

For #2, you’ll need to render the audio using the AC-3 template. As long as you put it in the same folder as the mpeg-2 file, DVDA will automatically load the audio as soon as you select the video stream.