[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Paul,

You’ll get differing opinions on this, but the general consensus is to not use such a high DVD data rate for playback compatibility reasons. Most users stick to 7 or 8 as a maximum, and I’d just go with CBR since the program is not really long.

As for the field issue, isn’t it funny that Matrox will put out a perfect downconvert image in realtime, yet when you render out the same video, garbage! I wish Matrox could somehow be involved with the DVD encoding.

For NTSC, HD video uses upper field, while DVD encoding defaults to lower field. You can try encoding the MPEG-2 for DVD using Upper Field, so that it’s not getting flipped and see if that helps, or try Progressive.

As Ann said, use MRQ button which really helps with downscale quality.

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Stan,

Not sure how you would have interlace problems on a DVD if the footage was already deinterlaced, as it must be if it is currently 720p. Just author the DVD as Progressive then, does not have to be interlaced.

In Adobe Media Encoder, try checking the “Max Render Quality” box, this can help with the downscale quality.

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Joshua,

48k 16-bit stereo

This is the standard for video editing, if you don’t touch any other settings, this ought to work.

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Olive,

I get a bit confused with the whole color depth thing, because video formats are usually 8 or 10-bit, yet I guess the COLOR can be processed at 16 or 32 bit internally. But I don’t think this is your issue at all.

I notice that you have the “Use Previews” button checked – therefore, if you had rendered any parts of the timeline (red bar to green bar), you are defeating the purpose of uncompressed because you are really working off the PREVIEW files, which might be of a much lesser quality MPEG-2 or whatever the Render Previews are currently set to, and THAT could be where the quality loss is coming from..

Also, if you have Mercury Playback GPU hardware acceleration enabled, it may be redundant to have MAX RENDER checked as the Nvidia CUDA rendering may do a better job. Sometimes checking every single available checkbox does more harm than good, though it may seem like a good idea at the time. Have you tried any exports with the DEFAULT settings prior to checking every option box? Good intentions gone bad perhaps?

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Vaclav,

“Entire Sequence” only means “include the whole video”. Unless you manually move it, the Work Area Bar only encompasses from the first clip to the last clip, and nothing more – no empty space at the end.

With the Export to MPEG-2 for DVD, you get the .m2v Video file and .wav Audio file, plus a few more, which work behind the scenes to give you the chapter points in Encore, (if you made any in Premiere sequence). You don’t have to do anything with the extra clips, it is automatic. Do the Export, then in Encore, use “Import as Timeline” and bring in the .m2v and .wav clips only.

Jeff

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Wayne,

Whether you purchase the CD or not is besides the point – it is technically illegal to use any copyrighted music in your videos. Wedding videographers have been doing it for years, but in a recent case, Tony Romo’s videographer was sued for using popular music in the online wedding video. There are plenty of great buy-out music libraries available, or you can get single tracks as well for download. Better safe than sorry

Jeff Pulera

[Jeff Pulera]

Or just use a .psd file

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Mark,

The correct workflow is to capture and edit as HD, then create a Blu-ray project in Encore and make your Blu-ray disc. Next, do a “Save As…” to create a NEW version of the project, so as not to overwrite the Blu-ray version. Now, go to File > Project Settings > Basic and change the “Authoring Mode” from Blu-ray to DVD.

I think maybe what you were doing was simply changing the BUILD to DVD, but you would need to change the actual PROJECT settings to DVD as well.

This will keep your existing menus and all! Having changed to DVD mode, just BUILD again and it will Transcode the HD material to DVD and burn.

If you go to File > Edit Quality Presets, you will find the DVD encode settings, but make sure to change Format at top to “MPEG-2 DVD”.

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Jay,

I think the thread got off track and went towards Blu-ray, which of course would be the easy solution but sounds like you need DVD for your delivery. For that matter, we don’t even know if you shot in HD or SD, so what was the source footage? Knowing this will affect output instructions.

In Adobe Media Encoder, you MUST select “MPEG-2 for DVD” and then an appropriate preset, such as “NTSC widescreen high quality”, after which you can tweak the settings.

As discussed, no matter what you do, because of the high-compression rate, the DVD will not look the greatest, you really should go for a two-disc set. If you must use one DVD, then use 2-pass VBR encoding with the average data rate set to “3” and that should fit the DVD.

I’ve actually done projects this long and they were not bad really, but consisted of talking-head type of stuff which compresses easily. Video with a lot of motion and detail will fall apart though at such a low data rate.

If going for the two-disc set, then compress at “6” using CBR at 90 minutes each disc and you will have a decent quality.

If you shot interlaced HD (1080i), then check the “Maximum Render Quality” button at bottom of AME window to get best downscaling. Also, 1080i uses Upper Field interlacing, but DVD default is lower – then change Field Order to UPPER. If source was Progressive, then use Progressive.

In any event, before spending a ton of render time, I would export a few short sample clips and burn them to DVD to view before committing to a workflow. You could do the 2-pass encode at 3, and the CBR at 6, and burn clips both to one disc for comparison of playback quality.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi,

First off, 20 hours is a ridiculous amount of time for a DVD export, unless you have an older computer and/or are rendering some heavy effects as well. If using 2-Pass encoding, don’t, that will save a lot of time and not really necessary on a program of that length.

When exporting, be sure it is set to “Entire Sequence” and not “Work Area”, this is at lower left of AME window. Also be sure you are choosing “MPEG-2 for DVD” and not just “MPEG-2”, must be the correct type of MPEG-2 file that you export.

What are your PC specs?

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers