Stephan Walfridsson
Forum Replies Created
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[mike Pell] “HDV 720 30P”
I may be wrong, but I doubt that quicktime player on a pc is able to play HDV quicktimes. Is the qt from your friend with the same codec?
Stephan
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Are you sure that you have enabled the external playback in FCP. In the view menu enable the external video (or just press command-F12).
If this doesn’t help try refreshing the AV-Devices (alt-F12) and then make sure that you have set the video playback to the proper decklink format (also in the view menu) and again enable external video.
Stephan
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And if you want to make sure that it looks good, just export 30 seconds from your project (choose a part with a lot of motion) and create a test dvd with only that. Play it on a regular dvd-player and watch on a TV.set. If it looks good then you know you’re okey.
/Stephan
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Exporting as self contained literally means that all of the used frames (with effects rendered) are stored in a self contained quicktime movie. On the other hand if it isn’t self contained it actually only links to the original files so a 1 hr film could be only a few kB large. But if you move that file to another system it would’t be able to play as the source files aren’t availiable anymore.
But that is not really relevant for your current problem. What you have to realize is that the quicktime you have exported is in ntsc-dv rather than mpeg-2 format used on DVD’s. When you burn the disk in iDVD your footage will be converted to mpeg-2 automatically (which takes a loooong time). Mpeg-2 compression is very efficient and stores the same amount of footage using much less data. (It obviously throws a lot of information away but that is the way it works.) So on a 4.7GB disk iDVD is able to fit up to 2 hrs of footage.
So you need to split your project into less than 2 hrs chunks before exporting them from FCP. Then bring one of those chunks into iDVD and it should (after conversion) fit on one DVD (use the Highest quality setting in iDVD (Settings->Project).
Stephan
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[Tom Headle] “Question-1: How come FCP can have a mismatch between the browser and the timeline? This is so confusing coming from PPro and AE. “
Well there is actually no mismatch (but I see your point). The browser contains information about clips availiable to you. It doesn’t contain the actual media files, only links to them. If you delete something from the browser it doesn’t remove the media file from your system. And in the same way that you can have clips in the browser that aren’t used in the timeline, you can have clips in the timeline that aren’t availiable in the browser anymore.
[Tom Headle] “Question-2: If that is true, where does FCP keep a list of all media files used in the project? I can’t believe the answer is “the timeline” as that seems to me to be very sloppy.. “
Well, that is the answer. The timeline contains links to the original source file, not to the clip in the browser. Basically the timeline contains a list of items like this: On track 1 between frames 1 and 50 use frames 239 to 289 from the file “Macintosh HD/Capture Scratch/Myshot.mov”
I don’t understand why this would be sloppy….
Stephan
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I totally understand your frustration. I’ve spent hours trying to figure out things that just refuse to work the way they’re supposed to (usually late at night when all I want to do is go home).
Anyway, to look on the bright side, did you manage to get the chapters exported correctly?
As to the lines… Do you see them after you have burnt the dvd and watch it on a tv or before that (on the computer monitor)? iDVD should automatically detect the correct field order and handle the footage correctly.
‘Current settings’ export the timeline (or clip) with exactly the same settings as they are defined with. A basic NTSC-DV sequence would be exported exactly as that. No changes are made to the material.
To make sure that everything is okey you can check your sequence settings and make sure that field dominance is set to ‘lower’. Also check your source clips in the bin/browser under the column heading ‘field dominance’ and double check that they also are ‘lower’.If you are unsure about what fields and field dominance/order is you can check out these links:
https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25318
https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58634
Stephan
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Deinterlacing your material would get rid of the fields, but at the cost of lowering the resolution. So it’s not really the best path…
What format is your footage/timeline? Is it DV? Am I correct in guessing that you are using iDVD to create your DVD? The steps would in that case be:
1. Split the movie in half (or at least make sure that both parts are under 2 hrs, preferably a bit under).
2. Export your moviehalfs using the Export->QuickTime Movie command in FCP. Export using ‘Current Settings’ and make sure that you select the ‘Include chaptermarkers’ option. Select self contained if you have the diskspace (3 hours of DV would result in approx 40GB) and don’t recompress the frames.
3. Drag the exported file into iDVD and it should automatically create a folder with all your chapters. (If you don’t want the extra folder, and only want to be able to use the chapter markers for navigating while watching the film, just deletet the folder.
4. Select Best compression and hopefully you will be able to fit it on one DVD (each half of the movie that is).
5. Burn the DVD…
So you shouldn’t use compressor if you burn with iDVD.
If you are using DVD Studio Pro the process is slightly more complicated. And i would need some more info to help you. What is the source format of your material? Have you done anything special to your footage (timewarps, motion, scaling, fx etc.) or is it just a simple edit? How are you handling the audio?
Stephan
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Hi Kathy,
I cant give you a step by step instruction as it depends very much on exactly what you are trying to achieve and what source material you are using. But I can give you some insight on some of your problems.
As you have noted you won’t be able to fit that length on a single DVD (unless you compress it to an extremely low quality). They way it’s done on professional DVD’s (such as a 2 hr movie with extra material) is to use dual layer dvd’s and very careful encoding (eg. setting the compression on a shot by shot basis). You could burn a dual layer dvd if your system is equipped with such a burner, but I know from experience that the only way to make sure that DL-DVD:s are 100% compatible with all dvd-players is to have the made at a professional plant where they press each dvd rather than burn them.
The horizontal lines you are seeing are most likely field related due to the interlaced nature of video footage. Have you tried watching your dvd on a tv rather than on your computer? If they are apparent there it is because of some error in you field order settings.
As to including chapter markers I think that all you have to do is make sure that you have the correct settings enabled under the extras tab during your mpeg2 compression in compressor. It may depend on what version of compressor you are using, but I haven’t had any problems with chapter markers specifically.
Stephan
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I abolutely understand your problem,and acknowledge your understanding of colour.
Anyway, here are a few pointers that I googled up:
From: https://www.videouniversity.com/photoVid2.html
Legalize it!
Always use Photoshop’s NTSC Filter (in 6.x and CS versions ) to “legalize” colors for TV. This helps avoid color-related image artifacts, such as highly saturated reds and blues.
Select >Filters >Video>NSTC Colors.(This filter is apparently very agressive so if you know what you are doing you should do it manually instead.)
Images Get A Level Playing Field
Another important enhancement tool that you should use with every photo you plan on bringing to video is “levels.” Levels are the image adjustment tools in Photoshop that allow you to control the white, grays and blacks.
Depending on the monitor you use, and the color space settings applied to your work, you may want to limit or otherwise control the display from Photoshop.Select >Image >Adjust >Levels (or >Layer >New Adjustment Layer) to control and adjust the black and white levels in your image output.
The default Output is usually 0 and 255, as indicated by dialog boxes and two draggable triangles. Most monitors will display images destined for TV more accurately with settings of 16 and 235.
Click on the preview box to quickly and easily see the overall corrections and adjustments.
Sometimes, it can be difficult to see exactly what pixels are being used for white and black adjustments. If so, hold down the Alt key (on a PC; the Option key on Macs) to show image threshold as you drag the slider back and forth. The image will be re-mapped in high contrast to help the differentiation.
(This is because video has a slight headroom for super white (over 235) and superblack (under 16), which mustn’t appear in the final broadcast master.)
From: https://www.web-graphics.nl/video_graphics.php
Here are a few rules to follow if you want your text to be readable on TV.No lines thinner than 4 pixels, they will flicker.
No lines that are almost horizontal or almost vertical, they will stair-step.
Avoid fancy, curvy fonts like Times, Chancery, or Garamond.
Use point sizes bigger than 24 points.
Avoid saturated colors.
Avoid whites brighter than 92% (235 in Adobe Photoshop).
Always use drop shadows on any text you want your viewers to read.
Always keep any text you want viewers to read inside Title Safe area.
Keep text on screen long enough for you to read it three times.
Stephan -
Hi Chris,
Regarding the wiki my personal opinion is that they are confusing the terms Intermediate and Offline. An intermediate codec (which would include uncompressed) is IMHO very different from the meaning of an offline codec. (Possibly with the exception of the situtation of online meaning ‘on the internet’…)
I absolutely agree with you that the most important thing is to make sure that you deliver according to the station specs, and don’t degrade your material more than necessary in the process.
I just think that it is important to note that ProRes is actually a very high bitrate format and that in many cases it exceeds the bitrate of the original format. And as an alternative to uncompressed I feel that it performs very well.
And like you I would never pass off HDCAM for HDCAMSR. BUT if they expect HDCAM (or Digibeta) I personally wouldn’t have any problems working my way from HDCAM SR 4:4:4 through ProRes HQ to HDCAM. I would do as much work as necessary in 4:4:4 and at the apropriate stage (after CC for example) render to ProResHQ and use that to lay off to tape.
But I 100% agree with you that Matt needs to find out what the ask for (and he has be answered in the other posts).
Thx
Stephan