Jeff Pulera
Forum Replies Created
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Hi Marc,
My vote goes to MPEG Streamclip – this software is FREE and very versatile. The only catch is that you will either need to purchase the “MPEG-2” add-on for QuickTime, or use the free “QuickTime Replacement” that I use, to use Streamclip.
MPEG Streamclip will rip DVD content right back to .m2v and .ac3 files (or virtually any other combination of formats), what could be easier than having the original, unmolested source files for re-authoring?
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor -
Though the blank DVD media says “4.7GB”, as with hard drives, that is inflated and the true usable size is about 4.37GB.
As suggested, always use AC-3 audio, and if that doesn’t do it, encode the video at a lower bit rate. I’ve found that the Adobe formula of 560/minutes works well for me, just round the result down a bit for safety.
Jeff Pulera
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Assuming you used a proper Premiere Project Preset to match your footage/frame rate, I don’t know off hand what would cause this.
Is the timeline just video clips, or do you have some graphics/stills mixed in? Oversized graphics, or stills with very long file names or illegal characters in file names have caused issues in the past. Just throwing out wild guesses here.
Jeff
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Hi Michael,
You didn’t mention what format you are trying to export to. Is this an Export to HDV tape, or some other multimedia format? If HDV, have you been able to render red bars to green, prior to Export? Export to HDV does require that the video be transcoded to HDV before export, and wondering if that is where you are getting stuck, or you simply can’t render red bars to start with
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers -
Hi Randy,
As others tried to explain, Pixel Aspect Ratio is the key. NTSC with square pixels would be 640 x 480. DV video uses rectangular pixels with a PAR of 0.9, thus the 720 x 480 image is still a 4:3 aspect ratio when viewed.
You may be aware that HD is 16:9 and uses 1920×1080 square pixels. HDV uses 1440×1080 rectangular pixels, but is still a 16:9 image that fills the screen, because the PAR = 1.333, and 1440 x 1.333 = 1920! To further confuse the issue, DVCPROHD is 1280 x 1080 with a 1.5 PAR, and 1280 x 1.5 = 1920, so HD, HDV and DVCPROHD are ALL 16:9 formats and all fill the same screen real estate in the end, at 16:9, using different pixel shapes and pixel counts.
So draw a box on paper with 4:3 dimensions, then fill it with little squares, 640 x 480 of them. Now take that same box, and draw in 720 x 480 little rectangles (0.9 aspect) and they will also fit the 4:3 box. Starting to make sense?
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers -
Hi Randy,
It sounds like you are attempting to fix a “problem” that doesn’t actually exist. If you shot and edited in 4:3 mode, and created a 4:3 DVD, nothing is getting cut off from your video – you are just not seeing all the way to the edges. Forget about pixels and aspect ratios, NTSC is NTSC.
Think of framed artwork – you don’t see the very edge of the painting, the frame covers a little. It would be distracting to actually see the edge of the canvas, so it goes behind the frame a little.
Television has always worked the same way, especially years ago. Each TV was calibrated a little differently, so broadcasters had no way of knowing if the viewer’s images would be shown a little smaller or larger than intended. That is why TV sets had the bezel around the glass screen and the image would go behind the bezel, to make sure no one would see the edge of the video.
To ensure that none of your subject gets body parts cut off, you must leave a little room between them and the edge of the picture when shooting, since the amount of image getting chopped on the viewer’s display varies.
I often see cable commercials (local stuff) where titles go off the edge of the screen and I can’t read the whole thing. Amateur mistake, since titlers in NLEs have Safe Area guides on screen that one should stay within when designing titles.
So what I am saying is, if you shot regular 4:3 NTSC video, and edited in a 4:3 NTSC project, and then Export as 4:3 DVD, and your subjects are getting cut off when viewing the results, is that it simply was not SHOT properly.
When editing in your NLE, the preview window will show the entire frame, including the “overscan” area that is normally unseen on a TV. Never expect to see the entire same image area in the end result. Yes, the whole frame is recorded on the DVD, but if it was all displayed, some viewers might see black edges beyond the picture on their particular set.
Moral of the story – don’t frame so tight when shooting and the end result should then look more pleasing.
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers -
Maybe the audio guys were referring to software players on the computer, where the AC3 license may be an extra cost option?
I dunno, as mentioned, AC3 is the DVD spec
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor -
Are the DV tapes blank? Try recording a few minutes of black in camera to get some timecode on tape, then roll back into TC part of tape before attempting Export to Tape.
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers -
Hi Dan,
When encoding HD or HDV material to Blu-ray, the result should look excellent with no noticeable degradation. There are many factors that could cause issues, please check the encoding settings, the default may be low quality, turn up the data rate and/or choose H.264 encoding
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers -
Make sure audio track is not muted in Premiere. Sorry, had to ask, but stranger things have happened.
Try this – start a NEW project and drag a clip in – do you have sound? Just to narrow down whether Premiere is “broken” or if it’s only that particular project.
For that matter, create a NEW project, then IMPORT the problem project and see what that does
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers