Will burning to a dual layer DVD stop the poor quality issues?

[Paul Jay]

DVD is Standard defintion. So you will loose quality anyway.

The main problem is your downscaling.

Copy paste your final edit in a ProRes Standard def timeline.
Edit sequence settings , Render high precision.
Then export a Quicktime movie.

Then use compressor to create your M2v and Ac3 file.

[Michael Sacci]

[Ronan Feely] “Or do I need to change settings elsewhere?”
You have not listed your compression settings for the m2v so it is hard to say.

But a couple of things never work with PR(HQ) you are just wasting space, use standard ProRes. Then if you are exporting as NOT self-contained it is by passing the compressor setting for all but the parts that have been rendered.

I don’t work with a lot of HDV footage (and I transcode it to ProRes before I edit if I do) but I did some test a few years ago for a friend and we found that send the timeline to compressor within FCP gave us the best quality with HDV footage. Be advise that this is a slow process.

Before doing your full movie I recommend trying a 5 min piece of the timeline, make sure it is the most challenging part. When I do this I make sure nothing is rendered, yeap nothing. Send to Compressor (FCP7) or Export with Compressor (FCP6). In Compressor drop on any of the DVD presets (along with ac3 audio.

Things to check and change.
ENCODER tab
Video Format: <29.97> <16:9> Make sure the field Dom, is set to do not leave it on Auto.
Quality: Mode to Average Bitrate to 6, max is grayed out, motion doesn’t matter
leave the rest as is

FRAME CONTROL tab
Turn it on. Set resize filter to make sure output fields is set to same as source.

You are good to go. This is not the recommended workflow for most people on the Cow so I’m grazing by myself, but it is worth a try and it has worked wonders for me.

[Ken Jones]

A dual-layer DVD will allow you to increase your video quality bit rate. I shoot for using something close to 7.8 mbps. Scaling is the key when making an SD-DVD from and HD timeline. Make sure that your setting in Compressor has the Frame Controls “On” and the Resize Filter to “Best”. Output fields should be “Same as source”.

[Ronan Feely]

Wow … thanks guys.

I’ll try to answer all your questions one at a time.

I am a novice and don’t understand a lot of the industry talk you guys have. My background is/was more production than post-production, producing documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4in the UK and RTE in Ireland. I’m just moving into editing and so the terms are still baffling.

Ok, here goes.

Paul,

I realize I will loose quality … but my initial conversions to DVD were so bad they were laughable. Things have gotten better when I skip the Compressor step.

Thanks for the heads up on the downscaling. Michael addresses it too.
Michael

The standard ProRes is the one in the sequence settings box under General > Quicktime Settings > Compressor? Is this correct? I select Apple ProRes 422? Do I leave the screen size and the Pixel ration the same (1440 x 1080)

. Then if you are exporting as NOT self-contained it is by passing the compressor setting for all but the parts that have been rendered.

I have sent the timeline to compressor within FCP and while it wasn’t the quality was poor.

I also have nio idea where the encoder tab is to set to ENCODER tab Video Format: <29.97> <16:9> “Make sure the field Dom, is set to do not leave it on Auto. Quality: Mode to Average Bitrate to 6, max is grayed out, motion doesn’t matter leave the rest as is. FRAME CONTROL tab Turn it on. Set resize filter to make sure output fields is set to same as source.” Are these al in Compressor?

Ken

Thanks for your input. When I figure this all out I”ll go for 7.8 mbps and make sure the setting in Compressor has the Frame Controls “On” and the Resize Filter to “Best”. Output fields should be “Same as source”.

Finally, do any of you know where I can find a good tutorial here or elsewhere online? I’m sure this will be easy once I get it once.

Thanks.

Ronan

So all I did was pressed this button and then …