[Chris Detjen]

bantonj, Our footage is anamorphic 16×9 NTSC on the D1 tape.

We followed through with our workflow described above and have encountered an odd issue. It seems that our software-based encodes (Apple Compressor) have more detail than the final encodes received from the hardware-based encoder–the hardware encodes appear softer with some slight distortion in areas.

I thought the hardware based encodes should have better quality. Any ideas why our m2v files created in Compressor have more detail than those files created via the hardware encoder? I spoke with the engineer at the post production facility and he stated that their Spruce hardware encoder should create top of the line results.

We used the preset ‘best quality 90 min DVD’ in Compressor.

Thanks