[Ian Brown]

Thanks Jiggy.

I am using Final Cut Pro 6 to produce the slideshow as it will appear on a normal DVD. It is not designed to demonstrate the magnificence of the photos but simply to display (entertainingly) what pictures are available and also a means of identifying them ……… basically it is a glorified Contact Sheet.

The Dr. Brown solution was fine but unfortunately on the first attempt the info was not in the TV safe area!

So the images in FCP’s timeline will need reducing to stop the name being cut off.

[Ian Brown]

Thanks Richard …….. Dr. Brown’s Caption Maker seems just the thing.

[Ian Brown]

Hi Brian.

I no longer have a (serious) problem using either of the 2 methods outlined above. I notice you say you are having bad results from Compressor. I don’t, the only problem occurs when I use QT Movie and burn in iDVD, DVDSP or Toast WHEN EDITING IN NATIVE HDV OR PRORES OR AIC.

1. If you ARE editing in native HDV or ProRes use File>Export>Using Compressor and burn in DVDSP or Toast.

2. If you are down-converting from HDV to DV in the camera during playback and therefore editing DV, use File>Export>QuickTime Movie and encode and burn in iDVD, DVDSP or Toast. (If using this method do NOT use Compressor or all the judder will return.

Method 2 actually gives marginally better results as it reduces the vestigial traces of aliasing found in method 1.

However, I prefer to use Method 1 because the higher quality HDV/ProRes in the timeline is very useful if I want to enlarge the video or use a frame as a photo.

[Ian Brown]

Select the frame you want in the timeline.

Then File>Export>Using QuickTime Conversion.

In the window that opens change “QuickTime Movie” to “Still Image” and in the “Options” tab select the format you want, as the default is “PNG”.

[Ian Brown]

Thanks for your comment that a small amount of aliasing is to be expected as it seems to confirm my findings, so I will stop searching for a miracle cure.

Now to the important point – the instability.

The workflow you outlined is identical to mine ……. Native HDV edited in the timeline, Export>QuickTime Movie using current settings and making a reference movie.

There are then at least 3 possible workflows from that point:-

1. If that reference movie is encoded and burned in either DVDSP or iDVD (using any combination of settings) the resulting DVD displays bad judder/jitter/shimmer wherever there is movement (either subject or camera).

2. If that QT Reference Movie is encoded in Compressor before being burned in DVDSP the results are OK.

3. Alternatively, the method I normally use is to omit the Export>QT Movie stage and instead Export>Using Compressor. This is a simpler workflow and gives the best results. I have a feeling that they may be a tad better than Workflow 2 but it is too close to be definitive.

So as long as a QT Movie (created from an HDV timeline) is encoded in Compressor, the results are OK, BUT try encoding that QT Movie in DVDSP or iDVD and bad instability is created.

Conversely, the OPPOSITE findings occur if I edit HDV that has been down-converted to DV in the camera during Capture.

In this scenario, when exported as a QT Movie and encoded and burned in either DVDSP or iDVD the results are almost perfect …… even the slight aliasing has gone.

However, encode it in Compressor and all the instability is back.

I cannot explain these apparently contradictory findings as I don’t understand in detail the inner workings of the various apps.

Last year I appeared to be the only one experiencing these things (always a bad sign!) but since then other people have reported similar findings.

[Ian Brown]

I am sure you get excellent results because when using ProRes are you using Export>QuickTime Movie?

I doubt it, because you will have no need. You are probably Exporting via Compressor or in some other way.

In my first post I stated that I too could get good DVDs if I used Compressor, the only slight problem being a small amount of aliasing on straight diagonal edges.

I have not found any way of completely eliminating this other than in my recent tests by down-converting the HDV to DV in the camera as I capture and then using Export>QT Movie. However, for various reasons I don’t want to use this workflow.

Don’t forget the final comment I made originally, that it could possibly be a PAL issue, in which case you will naturally have no experience of the problem. This is not inconceivable as there have been several instances in FCP where PAL footage has not behaved correctly.

One such instance is when importing a still, you always (in PAL) get a shorter time than what is set in User Preferences eg. a 12 second default time results in a 10 second still. Of course, as you shoot NTSC you probably won’t have come across this problem either.

[Ian Brown]

Hi Walter, thanks for responding.

I probably didn’t express myself clearly.

I meant that when HDV was converted to ProRes (either during or after capture or rendered as ProRes) and the edited video was exported via QT Movie for ultimate burning to SD DVD, the resulting DVD had unacceptable degrees of judder and jitter.

There were 2 main reasons for my post. The first was to be of help to anyone who may be experiencing the problems I have encountered and the second was to find out if anyone had discovered a 100% perfect solution.

Unfortunately the only ideal way to view HDV is probably via Blu-ray and converting to SD DVD seems doomed to introduce artifacts to a greater or lesser degree.

My problem is that whilst I could produce Blu-ray discs, most people in the UK would have no way of playing them as high definition is not taking off yet over here.

[Ian Brown]

I think I’ve got it!

File>Import>Video Frames to Layers

Is that it?

[Ian Brown]

That sounds promising Richard as I do have PS CS3 Extended …….. but how do I, “just open the video and work on it” ?

I have been trying to do that for the past year! (I’m a slow learner).

[Ian Brown]

Thanks Alan …… it looks as though I am searching for the impossible!

It’s just that I always seem to use the slowest and most cumbersome techniques available.

After four years with FCP I have only just stopped using the razor blade to slice up clips and started with In / Out points in the Viewer.

Likewise today I have just started adding transitions and effects by dragging them from the Browser and dropping them on the timeline. Up to now I have ben going up to the menu etc. that takes ages.

So that’s why I thought there must be a better way of using Photoshop!