[Jeff Greenberg]

Big B = MegaBytes, small B=MegaBits.

To get from Bytes to bits, multiply by 8
To get from bits to bytes, divide by 8

Marketing people tend to express elements in Megabits, because the numbers are largers.

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
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[Jeff Greenberg]

Marinus,

If I were to be taking my 16 x 9 HD work and wanting to get the best possible quality 4×3 output, I would be putting all the clips inside of a 4 x 3 standard definition timeline, and resizing and repositioning each frame by hand (possibly even doing some pan and scan work) to produce the best possible look on a shot by shot basis. Since this is a 4×3 sequence, handing it off to compressor would then pass a correct 4 x 3 standard definition MPEG-2 file to DVD studio pro

In the industry, it’s standard to have a separate MPEG-2 video file separated for audio from audio for two reasons. One, the audio is often an AC3 file and two, it’s quite common to have multiple audio tracks which will get multiplexed with any other programming, chapter marks, subtitles or alternate angles on the final DVD.

All DVDs are required to have MPEG-2 compliant VOB files. If you were to hand a QuickTime movie, DVD studio pro would automatically converted for output.

In compressor you’ll see two types of general settings for MPEG-2 files for DVD Studio Pro – all of which have separate AC3 audio streams.
A faster compression– a one pass VBR MPEG-2 file. A better quality which is a two pass VBR compression.

The only other question is how much material are you trying to force the sit on a DVD. Total up the number of minutes of footage will have on the DVD, and pick the appropriate preset given to you by compressor.

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
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Compressor Essentials from Lynda.com
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[Jeff Greenberg]

Marinus,

Probably the workflow that’s going to look the best will be number one.
This will because you will preserve your HD piece and it’s throughout the workflow. I wouldn’t export, but rather let compressor do all the work.

I think number two will be the fastest–because with all the footage already downconverted, causing renderers and compression to be faster.

DVD Studio Pro Pro has menu specific menu and track specific options to label these elements as 16 x 9. When you do this, it’s handed off to the DVD player of the end-user to determine how playback will occur on a 4 x 3 television. The two most common are–letterbox and zoom (which will cut off the left right edges of your picture.)

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
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Compressor Essentials from Lynda.com
(older but still good) Marquee, Media Composer (3.5) and Basic/Advanced Color DVDs (1.0) from Vasst.com
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[Jeff Greenberg]

Great catch. Yeah, what he said. 😀

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
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Compressor Essentials from Lynda.com
(older but still good) Marquee, Media Composer (3.5) and Basic/Advanced Color DVDs (1.0) from Vasst.com
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[Jeff Greenberg]

That’s thorough and you get the ‘why’ the AJA speed test is so valuable. And it shows exactly what you’re experience.

Yes, esata can sustain the data rate (so can FW 800 for that matter…and possibly 400) What’s now important is the speed of your drives. The other choice is to use a Raid 0….

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
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Compressor Essentials from Lynda.com
(older but still good) Marquee, Media Composer (3.5) and Basic/Advanced Color DVDs (1.0) from Vasst.com
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[Jeff Greenberg]

Is the idea of not backing up (you’ll read everywhere that RAID IS NOT A BACKUP) the crazy part? Then yes.

But a Raid 6? Raid 5 or 6 (or 5+1 or 5+0) is the basis of pretty much every heavy duty SAN at broadcast networks.

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
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Compressor Essentials from Lynda.com
(older but still good) Marquee, Media Composer (3.5) and Basic/Advanced Color DVDs (1.0) from Vasst.com
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[Jeff Greenberg]

Nattress effects.

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
Come See me speak at NAB!
Compressor Essentials from Lynda.com
(older but still good) Marquee, Media Composer (3.5) and Basic/Advanced Color DVDs (1.0) from Vasst.com
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[Jeff Greenberg]

Right – and since they won’t have the DVCPro Codec, you’re going to use compressor anyway…which will do the conversion properly for you.

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
Come See me speak at NAB!
Compressor Essentials from Lynda.com
(older but still good) Marquee, Media Composer (3.5) and Basic/Advanced Color DVDs (1.0) from Vasst.com
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[Jeff Greenberg]

The proper way to handle this is to have final cut pro Media manage your projects:

Test it once, replacing these instructions with “copy” rather than move:

With nothing selected in your browser, choose File>Media Manager
Set it to “move” media
Delete NOTHING
Based on existing file names

When you do this as a Copy – create a new project. The new project will be linked to the new media (and the existing project to the existing media)
When you do this as a Move – don’t create a project. The existing project will be linked to the media you just moved.

I’m only having you ‘test’ it as your new to FCP.

For the future:
Create a folder called FCP Documents at the top of the new drive.
In System Preferences, change the capture scratch, render and audio render to the new drive.

Now FCP will capture and render there.
(no need to change the cache+autosave)

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
Come See me speak at NAB!
Compressor Essentials from Lynda.com
(older but still good) Marquee, Media Composer (3.5) and Basic/Advanced Color DVDs (1.0) from Vasst.com
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[Jeff Greenberg]

Yeah, there is another way to desaturate – and it’s what Greg and Michael allude to.

You can desaturate by taking all the color out of a picture. You can also desaturate by remapping one color channel to all three.
Try going to the Effects>Video Filters>Channels>Channel Mixer
(Let’s take green and use that – if you want, you should be able to try the red or blue as comparison)
Under the Red output, change Red-Red to 0 and Red-Green to 1 (you just put the red information into the green channel)
Under the Blue output, change the Blue-Blue to 0 and Blue-Green to 1 (you just put the blue information into the green channel)

Since it sources the color from the same channel, you’ll get a very different looking black and white picture.

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
Come See me speak at NAB!
Compressor Essentials from Lynda.com
(older but still good) Marquee, Media Composer (3.5) and Basic/Advanced Color DVDs (1.0) from Vasst.com
Contact me through my Website