[Jeff Pulera]

Bob,

The guy has an iMac so cannot use the Quadro 4000, or any Nvidia card for that matter…when he said he is using Mercury, I bet that is “Software” mode and not “GPU”.

Jeff

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi James,

I have that deck, but not using with Vegas. However, a few suggestions:

1) There is a rotary switch on left side of the deck for “Edit Mode”, says things like Player, Recorder, Passive. Try the different options.

2) If using Windows 7, you may need to go into Device Manager and under “1394”, try to update driver > manual > select from list and try the “Legacy Driver”. You can easily change back, there are 3 to choose from and test with.

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

I wasn’t suggesting to burn a disc at more than it’s rated speed. In fact, I think the hardware/software is intelligent in that area and would only burn an 8x disc at 8x and no faster anyway.

But if you have 16x media and burn at 16x, the resulting DVD should play reliably. And that has proven to be true for me over the years without fail.

To each his/her own, throttle back the burn speeds if it makes you sleep better 😉

Jeff

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Bec,

4.5 will work for bitrate. You’ll likely want to do VBR, and choose Min and Max numbers…I usually do CBR so not sure what to tell you for VBR…maybe 2 – 4.5 – 8

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Bec,

After choosing “MPEG-2 DVD” as the Format, there are really only two Presets to look at – “PAL Widescreen High Quality”, or the “Progressive” version of that. So choose according to whether the source video and sequence are Interlaced or Progressive (1080i or 1080p).

What is the duration of your project? This will determine the bitrate required. Too low and you are losing quality by leaving empty space on the DVD, too high and results will not fit the DVD and Encore will be forced to transcode again, so you want to get this close to optimal.

You can search the web for “bitrate calculator” and there are plenty that you can just punch your numbers into online (nothing to download or install). I use a formula of 560/minutes = bitrate and I round the result down a touch for safety margin. I don’t know if results are accurate for PAL though due to frame rate difference? I use NTSC.

Besides the data rate, the only other change to defaults is to check the box at the bottom that says “Maximum Render Quality”, as this improves the downscaling quality (resizing).

It is normal, and preferable, to get two files, the .m2v video and .wav audio (PCM). In CS6, under Audio tab, you also have the option for “Dolby Digital”. Leave Multiplexing set to NONE.

In Encore, choose File > Import As > Timeline and multi-select both of your clips and they come in together. If using .wav, encore will transcode that to Dolby AC-3, and if you already made an .ac3 out of AME then it just leaves it alone. Either way is fine, transcode is very quick for audio.

If you had created any DVD chapter marks in Premiere, these will also carry over to Encore when using Import As > Timeline.

I have no experience with converting PAL to NTSC. I’m thinking it might be preferable to use 24p versus 29.97 for the frame rate change from 25, but someone else will need to share the best recommendation for that process.

Hope this is helpful

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Lindsay,

The spots look like a light refraction in the lens itself – I don’t think the spots were on his jacket at all – which is why you didn’t notice them during the shoot.

Sorry to say I don’t know of an easy fix. Might require “rotoscoping”, which is basically hand-painting frame-by-frame to hide them, which can be done in the newer Photoshop programs. I actually did this for outdoor wedding vows – a fly was crawling around on the groom’s shoulder and I removed it frame by frame. Just an exercise for me, not something I would normally do!

Another fix might be available through color correction to minimize spots, using a mask to localize the effect to his jacket so as not to effect the entire image. I haven’t used Elements, so not sure what level of effects and masking are available there.

It’s always a good idea to have a video monitor on site for these kinds of shoots, ideally providing a live preview direct from the camera so you can see these kinds of issues that are not so apparent on the small camera LCD. You can also review the scene right after shooting it, in case it needs to be re-shot. Cheap insurance to avoid headaches in post.

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Steve,

Ditto on not needing MRQ for your export, is for scaling.

What processor do you have? The “4.4 Ghz” means nothing if it’s a dual core or something 😉

I have a two-year-old Core i7-2600 with 16GB and Nvidia GTX 470 and HD exports to H.264 are about realtime. If you have a Core i7 already, you might find it really worthwhile to look into the Nvidia upgrade as my understanding is that the GPU accelerates the H.264 outputs.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

I duplicate hundreds of DVDs every year for various events and always burn full-speed, with zero playback reports from customers. Using top-quality media of course, such as Taiyo Yuden (JVC now).

Why would companies make DVD burners at 12x and 16x speeds if the discs you burned would not play back reliably? Think about it.

Jeff

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Aaron,

A lot more info needed please –

Mac or PC?

Capture card used?

Source video format?

NLE software?

While it is true that “DV” video natively uses about 13GB per hour, that is when captured as DV using a 1394 Firewire cable. If you are coming into a capture card via analog or HDMI or something, then the capture format is usually something other than “DV”, whether compressed or uncompressed.

Can you provide a screen grab of the capture interface showing the capture settings?

Thank you

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Drew,

As mentioned in my post, all are FREE. However, you do need to download/install to use any of them. I don’t think the Cow is keen on pasting web links on the forum, so I will ask that you simply defer to a web search.

Hints –

“download Matrox codec build 33”
“download avid dnxhd codec”
“download lagarith lossless codec”

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers