[Neil Weaver]

Rafa, if you’re still following this and I wouldn’t blame you at all if you weren’t, I’ve tinkered some more, got into the Open GOP settings, done some tests and it’s made no discernable difference. The footage looks ok – it always did, but graphics, particularly text are looking soft, fuzzy and pixellated.

Rob, the font was Helvetica! To answer your other question, we have a few systems we use for quality control. The one I most like to use is an old DVD player hooked into a Panasonic LCD via scart. I do this because a) if a DVD looks good on that, it’ll look good on anything and 2) that’s likely to be pretty close to how a lot of clients, or client’s clients will be viewing their DVDs so there’s little point checking things back on a high end system that’s unlikely to be used by regular people.

However, this is all moot now. Encore does the job we need without any of the hassle, so bye-bye DVDSP. You won’t be missed.

[Neil Weaver]

Eric, what do I not understand? Have you even read my posts or are you just sponsored by Apple?

Let me reiterate. Again.

I do not compress using DVDSP. I compress using other software and then let DVDSP do the authoring.

I do not like the results this gives me. Other software at an equivalent price, or cheaper in many cases, performs a lot better.

Riddle me this. How come DVDSP can’t even do a good job on outputting its own titles? Why did the menu we made yesterday, based on one of the built in templates, come out looking ugly? What, is that expecting too much of Apple to make software that can handle fonts without crunching them to crud?

How come iDVD can encode a perfect SD-DVD straight from ProResHQ with lovely smooth clean graphics but DVDSP can’t even import that format?

The original point of this thread was that FCS is fast on its way to becoming obsolete. Looks like it’s going to take a fair few dinosaurs with it.

[Neil Weaver]

Did you tried using Short/Open GOPs on Compressor?

No, those options are greyed out.

Eric, You’re right, I’m not a DVD author. I would just expect better results from a piece of software with the word ‘PRO’ appended than what it gives.

So yes, I do blame the tools – or in this case DVDSP. I’ve seen what passes for ‘beautiful’ from some pros which basically translates as ‘as good as they can get it’ and it’s just not good enough for me. Maybe for you it is, but I don’t work like that.

[Neil Weaver]

Thank you Jeremy, I think you’ve proved my point.

The Compressor output is not, in my book, acceptable to give to a client. To be honest, I couldn’t see much if any improvement with the BitVice export either.

Here’s what we did yesterday which yielded perfect results – for the video anyway.

Created the m2v inside Encore and it was a thing of beauty, even at 1920. We then brought the m2v into DVDSP to author because we needed a subtitle track and being new to Encore and with the deadline looming, it was simpler to do it in DVDSP which we know.

Here’s where it gets interesting. The video authored perfectly and looks great, exactly how we want it. But both the text in the menu – created in DVDSP and authored by DVDSP and the subtitles text are blocky and just ugly. Passable, but only just – and only because it’s on the menu/subtitles and not the video itself.

I had a read through the thread before coming up with the workaround we eventually settled on and I gave up on it, because frankly all the suggestions to Tim were stuff we’ve tried many times before and are basically just rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

Given that 30 odd posts from a number of industry professionals didn’t result in the simple aim of the software not giving crappy results, that kind of tells me the issue is the software.

[Neil Weaver]

A lot of you seem to be under the impression that we are trying to encode to mpeg 2 with DVDSP, rather than compressing it first then sending it for authoring.

We are not. In my first post, I stated that we have tried many, many different ways to encode and author, using Compressor and DVDSP, none of which have met my quality control standards. Other software has, and without the fuss.

I dunno. Maybe what’s acceptable to you guys isn’t acceptable to me.

And Ron, I never said optical media was the future. It just would be nice if on the odd occasion that we do get a request for Blu-Ray, we could provide it without having to outsource.

[Neil Weaver]

Ok, first off – Walter, I bought your Color DVD and found it immensely useful – thank you. However, it was about that same time I got the Magic Bullet suite thinking it would be something I used in conjunction with my new Color skills.

Over time, I found I was getting the results I wanted within FCP through MB Looks without needing to go via Color.

It’s the same with Compressor. Sometimes I’d be spending the better part of a day tinkering with settings and still finding problems with the results that have largely been resolved since using Streamclip. And I’m not alone there – I’ve been reliably informed that one of Britain’s biggest post-production suites does all their compression with it these days too.

As for DVDSP… What can I say that I haven’t already? The final nail in that coffin came the day I got a perfect result in iDVD from a ProResHQ video that DVDSP wouldn’t handle as it was an ‘incompatible format’.

Settings Schmettings, there’s no excuse for that.

[Neil Weaver]

“I have been using FCP, DVDSP and Motion since the beginning. No one is forcing you to use the apps.”

You’ve missed the point of what I’m saying: Vast chunks of FCS are becoming obsolete. Yes, no one is forcing me to use the apps. And with the exception of FCP and occasional dips into STP, I don’t!

[Neil Weaver]

“That is a new expression for me, never seen that being used before.”

Must be an English thing – I dread to think what images it conjures up for you guys then!

I would also agree with you Phil about getting what you pay for although I got a spare Hahnel battery for my old XHA1 which has performed perfectly its entire life. I think I’ve had up to about 8 hours shooting on it and if memory serves it was less than half the price of the Canon battery.

[Neil Weaver]

One of Britain’s biggest post-production facilities uses the freeware Mpeg Streamclip for all its compression these days simply because it does a far better and quicker job than Apple’s Compressor.

Using Motion or AE could take you days or even weeks depending on your system and how much footage you have.

One tool you could try is Apple’s Cinema Tools – you can batch convert entire folders from and to any frame rate you require although it doesn’t offer any resizing controls. It’s also destructive in that it doesn’t create new files, it irreversibly encodes the original clips to your new chosen frame rate so if you don’t like the outcome, you’ve no way of going back. The way round it, as always, is to back up first.

[Neil Weaver]

I’ve got a 550D and have an EF 50mm that goes up to f1.4. It’s amazing under low light conditions but it is tighter than a nat’s chuff – equivalent to something like 80mm on a 5DmkII.

I recently bought an EFS 17-85 that’s f4-5.6 to give me a bit more width and although it’s not a fixed aperture, I don’t tend to zoom that much in shot anyway as I find them a bit ‘home video’.

Do I wish I’d saved up a bit more and gone for a 7D or a 5DmkII? Not really. I just don’t envisage using it as any more than a B-cam – great for the artsy stuff, not so good for the bread and butter – especially as the money I’d have to spend on peripherals, (follow focus, stabilising rig etc), mean I might as well buy a Letus 35mm adaptor for my EX3. Besides, it looks like there are some very interesting next-gen camcorders coming out soon anyway…