Charles Simonson
Forum Replies Created
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I would not recommend using H.264 at all for this. Especially since your option is to use Squeeze. Squeeze as an awful, terrible, ugly H.264 encoder. Get my point? Plus, H.264 usually uses B-frames to gain any advantages, and Photo-JPEG is MUCH more distribution-friendly for production environments.
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I am confused, was the source Uncompressed 1080p24 and then transcoded for editing to DVCPRO HD (1920×1080), or was the source 1080p24 tape and then captured to 1080i30 DVCPRO HD (1280×1080)? Not a big deal, just curious.
Anyway, to create a standard DVD, you do not want to use any compressor other than the presets for MPEG-2 SD. Your best bet is to start with a preset and adjust from there to best target your encode. Remember, DVD has certain limitations as to how high the bit rate can go and other parameters, so just be careful to not extend your boundaries.
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You need to use a different MPEG-2 Encoder. Just create your source movie at the resolution you need, then use either Compression Master (Epsiode) or the MainConcept MPEG-2 Encoder. Both apps will let you encode to non-DVD sizes. I think Digigami MEGAPeg Pro will allow HD encodes as well.
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The two products I like are Flip4Mac Episode (formerly Popwire Compression Master) for the mac and Canopus ProCoder 2 for the PC.
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Well I think those spikes are not that unusual for the beginning of the clip and I don’t think they extended over the amount of acceptable buffer time. So I am not 100% sure that that was the issue. But going off of what I had available to me, it was the only thing I come up with. If you could upload a sample (preferably a new clip for each but one with some action in it) of a Compressor encode that works and a CM encode that doesn’t, that would help greatly.
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Well, the first tool I like to use just to get general info is MPEG StreamClip. It is free. The second is Digigami MPressionist. It costs moola but is very valuable if you are doing lots of MPEG-2 encoding and I highly recommend it. I have other tools for MPEG-2 IP streaming and VC-1 and H.264, but they are PC apps.
Now, to the encode you linked to: I did have a problem with it using a burned DVD-RW (2x) and a DVD-R (4x) in my Pany. My other DVD player did play it fine, but it has a very robust chip decoder that can pretty much play back all MPEG-2s. Looking over the encode in MPressionist, the only thing that I could quickly determine is that the encode’s bit rate spikes around 10Mbps at the beginning and then settles to lower than 1Mbps for the remainder of the clip. The low bit rate can be attributed to the still frame image (the clip’s length also has something to do with it) that is being encoded so it is understandable why that is. But the spikes above 10 could possibly be too much for the Pany’s decoder, or the low level of the bitrate could be an issue as well. The DVD spec suggests that to ensure reliabilty that an encode can only go to 9800Kbps I believe (I have found that it also helps to make sure the encode never dips below 1900 Kbps). I may be a little off on those numbers, but the gist of it is that your encode violates those parameters.
I could do further analysis, but I would need the Compressor encode that you did to compare against for better understanding.
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Flash HD? From a Video source??? Not worth it IMHO. The kind of system that it would take to play that back would have to be a very powerful system. Flash has a difficult time playing back well at even 640×480, so imagine the issues with content at three and half times that resolution is going to do.
With that said, there is a difference in having a Flash video that is 555×312 natively, and then is scaled to full screen by the player. This would be much safer. To get this encoded in high quality, you would need to use the On2 encoder. Telestream Episode (formerly Popwire Compression Master) has an excellent implementation of the codec for an additional fee.
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I can analyze the encoded streams if you wish with some MPEG-2 analysis tools that I have. That would be the best way to determine this. If I have time tonight, I will check it out. Also, I would say that the MPEG-2 encoders in Compressor 2 and CM 4 are about on the same quality level, so if you need to get something done soon, I would suggest using Compressor for now. The only real benefits CM offers for MPEG-2 encoding over Compressor at this time is better and faster batch encoding as well as some custom MPEG-2 output format options. Speaking of which, in CM, you didn’t enable the 4:2:2 color space for encoding did you? I doubt you did, but it should be noted that 4:2:0 is the only color format 100% compatible with DVD.
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I have run across an issue where motion menus don’t always play back the same on various DVD players and discs authored in DVD SP. Not saying that it is not a CM issue, but if DVD SP accepted the asset and didn’t throw a fit or give you a warning upon build, then I am less inclined to believe it is an encoded asset issue. Although CM has had some issues with importing encodes into DVD SP, that should have been addressed in the recent build you’re using. Previously, DVD SP wouldn’t even accept the encoded stream if there was an issue.
What were the specs of your encoded assets, both video and audio? I have a couple of Pany players. If you want to upload a short clip that I could burn and test I would let you know how it goes.
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Yes. For WMV, you need Flip4Mac’s encoder, which plugs in nicely into Compressor. For Real, you can download the Real QT Encoder. Its free, but is a pain in the butt to find. I know they had a compatible version for OS X 10.3 and PowerPC, but I haven’t kept up since 10.4 and the Intel switch. For a while there though, I know Real encoding wasn’t possible on 10.4 or Intel mac machines. Best place to look for Real support is the helix community site: https://www.helixcommunity.org/ or https://forms.helixcommunity.org/helix/builds/?category=helixdnaclient