[David Bauman]

Additionally, in settings there is a “Pixel Aspect Ratio” window under settings. Would you advise this be changed? Will it effect file size significantly after a progressive codec has been applied to the source footage?

-David

[David Bauman]

Thank you Scott, and thank you Dave for the tips. You’ve been very helpful.

If your using FCP, you should transcode your source footage to Apple PorRes 422 (standard ProRes, not ProRes HQ), and edit in a ProRes timeline, rendering in ProRes as well. Then output that timeline as a self-contained Quicktime movie without recompressing it

There are a lot of presets for the apple codec 422. I see a bunch of HQ settings, however I’m not sure which one would be the best for the eventual creation of a dvd. I’ve heard not to use PAL because that’s a European sort of broadcast system, does it matter which Prores422 I use, just as long as it’s not HQ?

-David

[David Bauman]

Thank you for the tips. I wish someone had told me all of this earlier. I’m using FCP 7 which I know is also fairly prosumer, it took my footage and adapted it to HDV 720p30. Everything looks good for the web, because a copy of all of this will be sent to the web. But when it’s full screened on a computer, some of the graphics titles get messed up and the footage looks a little grainy. I don’t remember the original settings of the camera, but it certainly wouldn’t have been progressive.

All that being said, is there a particular kind of camera you would advise purchasing for future projects?

My superiors also wish there to be four 40 minute videos on one DVD. I am assuming this is not possible, or else not possible without losing tons of quality?

[David Bauman]

Thank you so much. The DVD burned. And I see what you mean about needing to soften it. I didn’t view the last one on a 27 inch screen, but the resolution begins to fall apart when I viewed it in that size. Otherwise, on a moderately sized screen though, it didn’t lose too much quality.

[David Bauman]

I actually made a dvd out of this same footage the other day as a test. I literally put my footage in compressor. I don’t remember the setting I used, but I literally sent it to compressor, when it finished, a dvd icon popped up at the bottom of my computer. The computer is a mac by the way, don’t know if that helps. The dvd burned. When I took it out it worked on a television and it worked on the computer. And it was a relatively small file. It was forty minutes long, and it lost some but not much quality. Everywhere I’m looking everyone says that you can’t make a DVD with HD footage without losing tons of quality. I lost a small bit of quality at best. All of this was a complete accident. I’m not expecting perfect, high definition Football style footage, just footage that can be put on DVD for instructional commercial use.

Is there a setting that I need to use? I didn’t soften the quality either, at least not consciously before putting it through compressor. I just dragged the settings I hoped might work, and a dvd icon popped up as soon as the compression was done and a dvd began to burn.

[David Bauman]

Thank you all. I think actually my scratch settings were set to my hard drive instead of my external. Rookie mistake. Things tend to fill up fast that way. Thanks!

[David Bauman]

I’m kind of new at this, but I believe I’m using Apple ProRes 422 [HDV,Xcam HD/EX/HD422]. When I imported my raw footage from imovie into the FCP timeline, it conformed to match the clip settings.

[David Bauman]

I usually choose “deinterlace” under the filters menu if I’ve imported a tiff or png into my FCP timeline. De-interlace is under filters, and then the last filter option, video.