[Jeanne Hilary]

Here is the same text at 23.98fps.
The only difference in the settings in compressor seems to be that,it’s not possible to select field order, it defaults to progressive. Otherwise it’s still ntsc and 16:9.
If this setting will result in a dvd that will play in a normal dvd player, I prefer this.

Thanks for your help!
Jeanne

[Jeanne Hilary]

Thanks.
Any final words on the 23.98 vs 29.97 for dvd question? Are there any drawbacks to 23.98fps for dvd?

Thanks for all your help.

Jeanne

[Jeanne Hilary]

Hi Tom,
The output was to betaSP, from a quicktime proRes 4444 file.

Here are the most dreadful titles with the following settings, from the link in your post.
R: 16
G: 16
B: 235

Opacity: 80%
Gaussian blur (on type): 0.3
Noise (on background) 2%

Made in AE, saved as a proRes 4444 file, imported to FCP then sent to compressor, using the settings above.

They definitely look better! Sadly, my question is: is this the best I can hope for?

And one last question: must I set the frame rate to 29.97 for dvd, or can any regular dvd player play 23.98?

Thanks for your help!

Jeanne

Previous settings for comparison

new settings above

[Jeanne Hilary]

It’s the text I’m concerned about. The type quality isn’t normal or acceptable, especially on the thinner type. I agree the graphics look ok, normal even, which is why I posted them along with the type screen shots, to show the difference in quality between the text and the images in the same project.

As I said in my earlier post, I have looked at this text on tape output as well, and it looks awful there too.
I have seen dvds of digital video projects like mine and the type looks readable and crisp, not the way this looks at all.
There must be something wrong with how I’m making this text; can you indicate to me what is the correct way to make it, or direct me to a resource.

Thanks,

Jeanne

[Jeanne Hilary]

The text quality degrades when I output to m2v, or to SD tape (I haven’t tried HD tape yet).
In the quicktime output file from fcp or ae, it looks fine.
It looks equally terrible on my apple monitor, and on an ntsc monitor.

The way I am making this type is: in ae I use the type tool. Then I am exporting it to fcp as a quicktime file using pro res 4444, 32bit, RGB + alpha. I’ve also tried making it as a photoshop file because what I can’t understand is why the type looks so much worse than the graphics, which I am importing into fcp in exactly the same way, not to mention the video which looks ok, too, although neither as good as they do in HD.

Here are the screenshots.

Thanks for your help.

Jeanne

[Jeanne Hilary]

Hi Chris,hi Tom,

I’m sending the HD sequence to Compressor. Since your post I’m sending the 1920 x 960 file instead of nesting it in another sequence.
The sequence settings and Compressor settings are listed above, but since yours and Tom’s last posts I’m now doing this in compressor:

using dvd: best quality 90 minutes
file format mpeg-2
extension m2v
sd dvd
video format ntsc
frame rate 29.97 (but can you tell me if a dvd can play my movie in its native 23.98 fps?)
aspect ratio 16:9
field dominance bottom first

As for the color settings, I could just as easily have said:

R: 0
G: 0.0398
B: 0.498

It’s just from habit that I used the hexadecimal notation, since I work usually on things for the web.
If there’s a problem with this color, I would be interested to know.
And do you know why the text looks so much more terrible than the video and graphics?

Thank you both so much for your help.

Jeanne

[Jeanne Hilary]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your reply.

When you say use RGB, do you mean instead of YUV in FCP sequence settings?

I made the movie in HD so I could also output to HD. For the moment I need to downconvert to SD for HDCAM (requested by a film festival) and dvd (for screeners).

The numbers I’m getting for the data rate is what comes automatically with the setting I’m using in compressor: elementary stream.
Is this the reason why the dvds I’m making don’t play? Or are there more.

I appreciate your time–if you know of where I can find some information that will help me fill in the blanks that would also be great.

Thanks,

Jeanne

[Jeanne Hilary]

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately I don’t understand a single word.
Would it be too much trouble to ask you to explain what you mean?
I’m sure this would be helpful to other beginners having some of the same problems I am.

For example:
Choose 16 by 9, your edit is HD. You should make a 16X9 DVD
Why?
Don’t nest your comp…
This is recommended in lots of situations by other people at CC, in fact this is how I came to set the project up in this way. Why do you say it’s wrong?

There are 10 dvd settings in compressor–which one are you suggesting I use?

As far as dialing, I have no idea what that means or how to implement it.

Also, I’m trying to get an answer on how to make titles that look sharp. As it is, the video and graphics look ok, except the one I mentioned that is computer generated, but the titles looks much worse. If you have some thoughts on this I would appreciate knowing them.

Thanks for your help.

Jeanne

[Jeanne Hilary]

The text is Trade Gothic Bold Condensed No. 20 and Trade Gothic Condensed No 18. The minimum size is 72px.
The color is blue #00A7F.

I’m sending the HD sequence from FCP to Compressor where I’m using these settings:

MPEG-2 video elementary stream
Format m2v
width 720
height 480
pixel aspect ratio NTSC CCIR 601/DV (this is what I get when I select 720×480)
Frame rate 29.97 (because I read that dvds have to be this rate)
Aspect ratio 4:3 (because I made a sequence 1920×1440 and dropped my 1920×1080 into it. The movie is actually a custom size, 1920×960. There are lots of square photographs in my movie, and I didn’t want to crop them.)
Field dominance top first
Average bit rate 15 (Mbps)
2 pass VBR enabled
Max bit rate 20 (Mbps)
High qauality
Best motion estimation
Closed GOP size 15, structure IBBP

I should mention that I have never been able to produce a dvd that played in a dvd player or a pc, only on apple computers–but I haven’t tested the above settings yet. With these settings I can only report that the type looks awful, the drawing a little better.
After trying lots of different settings in compressor and dvd studio and deciding to throw in the towel and give my hd file to a duplication house, it turned out that their results were just as bad as mine, the only difference being that their dvd plays on a dvd player.
Also they told me they’re using compressor as well, which convinced me the problem is with how I’m creating the titles.
Also it annoys me to pay someone to make something with equipment I own only because I’m too frustrated and intimidated to learn how to use it properly.
These are the circumstances that bring us together.

Jeanne

[Jeanne Hilary]

Thanks very much Tom!
The real problem is the text, though.
Any information that would be most appreciated.

Jeanne