Dave Friend
Forum Replies Created
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“am I better off exporting to tape and delivering it to the post house than a file?”
Answer kind of depends on what system the post house is using. If they are using a high-end real time mpeg encoder card then tape might produce better results. On the other hand, if they are going to capture the tape into some NLE and then software encode anyway then send them a file.
Since this is pretty short (4-5 minutes?) I would send over a file.
I’m surprised you didn’t see any difference with the CCE encoder. In my testing CCE produced noticeably better results than the Main Concept encoder that Adobe uses. Perhaps I like CCE better because it’s got more controls to mess with 😉
Dave
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“If exporting to Quicktime, is it better to export to dv/dvcpro-ntsc or have “none” as compressor?”
Better to use dv/dvcpro-ntsc. There is nothing to be gained by going uncompressed. In fact it could be argued that you might lose quality because of the transcoding needed to go from DV to uncompressed.
“if for a PC, is Microsoft AVI or Microsoft DV AVI?”
Use Microsoft DV AVI.
For either Quicktime or AVI you should uncheck the Recompress option found on the Export Movie Settings dialog box. If your work flow has been DV from end-to-end then much (if not all) your the exported movie will be essentially identical to the original.
“where can I check that it was edited in a DV settings?”
From PPro’s main menu select Project|Project Settings|General. The dialog box that opens tells you what the settings are for the project. If this is a DV project then the Editing Mode box will say DV Playback. The info in the Video area of the dialog will be set to DV standards – 720×480, DV/DV NTSC(0.9), Lower field First.Hope this helps.
Dave
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Eyal,
Did you try Cinema Craft Encoder Basic in your search for better mpeg2 encoding? CCE Basic is only about $60 and has a plug-in for PPro. IMO, it does a better job than PPro’s built in encoder.
I believe a trial version can be downloaded that is fully functional except it puts a watermark/logo on the encoded output.
Dave
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Eyal,
Just to be clear, you are sending a file not a tape?
And…
The original material came from DV and was edited on a timeline with DV settings?If the project was DV format end-to-end then exporting to a DV file makes the most sense. What could be critical is what system they would use to encode a file. If it’s a PC system then a DV codec AVI would be best. If the encoding workstation a Mac then a DV codec Quicktime would be best.
Dave
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[Sebastian Fidler] “there was a
3 or so second black gap between each
menu that ruined the effect.”Were you previewing within Encore when you saw this black gap?
If so, what you are seeing is Encore’s preview function loading the next playback cell. The previewer switches to black while this cue-up is happening. With a DVD player the usual behavior is to freeze the last frame shown while the disc is cued to the next cell. Therefore, with an actual disc in a player you would not see the black. Also, with a disc the response time will probably be quicker.Otherwise it sounds like the workflow you are using to get the effect you describe is correct.
Dave
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[Steven L. Gotz] “I suggest that you put in a feature request as well.”
Thank Steven. I will make the suggestion. Can you direct me to the best place to do so?
Dave
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Randal,
After reading your initial post I thought I’d experiment. Copied a VIDEO_TS folder from a DVD I happened to have on my harddrive to a networked computer and attempted playing it across the network. Actually tried it on two different machines, one that I know is on the same 1Gb ethernet switch I am on, and to another that is on a 100Mb ethernet hub.
It played fine from either location. But our network has a pretty low traffic level most of the time. Hard to say what would happen on a busy network or if a lot of people were trying to view the same DVD.
For playback software I tried both InterVideo’s WinDVD5 and, as I’m on XP pro, Windows Media Player. In both cases I started playback by ‘opening’ the VIDEO_TS.IFO file in the VIDEO_TS folder. WinDVD is my default player so I had to use ‘Open With…’ to choose Windows Media Player as the application to open the file. Both applications played the DVD just fine.
Hope this helps.
Dave
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[Eyal Gordin] “After encoding, the blacks are mushy and not crushed”
Because your source is minidv I suspect you might be having a black level setup problem. It’s a fairly common problem that can occur if your camera and/or vtr is inconsistently handling set-up levels. This link is an interesting tutorial on the problem.
Hope this helps.
Dave
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Randal,
Typically the VIDEO_TS.IFO file should work to get playback started.
What DVD playback software are you using?
I assume this is an internal network over which they will access these files?
Dave
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Dual Xeon – they have HT too.