[Tod Hopkins]

Let Premiere set to the clip. It appears you are shooting 1080p30 AVCHD. That makes sense. The only sequence settings which matter to your quality are the frame size and frame rate. The rest simply help with editing but don’t affect your output.

Output from Premiere to a 1080p30 master. If you are adding any titles or effects, change your output format to a better codec. That is NOT AVCHD. That is not a good master format. Since you are on Mac, I suggest outputting to Quicktime Apple ProRes 422.

Now drop this into Encoder and use Encoder’s “DVD” preset. Adjust your bitrate as high as you can keeping the file size under the DVD capacity. Make sure you are set to MPEG audio.

As I mentioned, you could SHOOT at 720p. That is not a DVD resolution. DVD resolution is 480p. This might improve your result and it would certainly reduce your overhead, but never convert anything to 720p. If you shoot at 720p, then your edit is 720p, and your master output is 720p.

As for how someone gets 3.5 hours on a single layer DVD video, I have no idea. Movie studios can’t so that. What he might be doing is putting an MPEG4 file on a DVD disc. That’s very different.

Cheers,
tod

Tod Hopkins
Hillmann & Carr Inc.
Washington, DC

[Tod Hopkins]

A standard DVD Video can contain only standard definition video, but the specification includes a few variations because it was the first digital standard when NTSC was still analog. The original assumption was the DVD players would only OUTPUT NTSC, but the specification allows for some variants in the digital elements. The player is required to do the conversion from digital file, to analog output.

So the question is what digital formats will a DVD player recognize, and properly convert, for output. In fact, there are two different answers. 1) what formats is it required to recognize and output according to the spec, and 2) What formats have manufacturers chosen to recognize and output voluntarily.

Because the movie industry needed the space, the DVD spec included 24fps progressive storage, requiring the player to be capable of converting the 24p to 29.97i by adding 3:2 pulldown, on the fly, prior to output. It also allowed for 30p because that conversion is so bloody simple. The output signal is interlaced, but the “input” file is not. Therefore the resulting image looks progressive, even on an interlaced TV.

Side note. I’m still mad that Sony did NOT include 30p in the Blu-ray spec. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The movie industry required 24p because otherwise, you would not be able to put a full feature film on a single disc. This 24fps storage is the single biggest reason that DVD movies look so much better than your interlaced video. Progressive compresses MUCH better than interlaced and 24fps requires 20% less storage for the same length.

Modern DVD players in the digital era have added many capabilities not part of the spec requirements. For instance, they have added digital progressive output so that now, you can watch that 24p movie at true 24p on your 24p capable monitor. This is not a required feature of the DVD video spec but it is almost universal now.

Don’t confuse any of this with the square/non-square pixel issue. Unrelated .

Cheers,
tod

Tod Hopkins
Hillmann & Carr Inc.
Washington, DC

[Tod Hopkins]

No easy answers, but there appear to be significant problems with your workflow. To oversimply, you have two goals. First, to eliminate any interlacing from your path. The second, to eliminate any unnecessary conversion.

Start with the camera. What format are you actually shooting. “MTS” is just the “wrapper” and does not indicate quality. I would recommend 1080p29.97 at the highest quality (lowest compression) the camera shoots. Unfortunately, you may not have the storage for this in long form. As I mentioned, if your ONLY goal was the best, most efficient DVD, then 1080p24 is ideal, but for many reasons, I am not a fan of 24p, especially for active subjects.

You must pay special attention to the “p” in 1080p. Just because a camera is described as 1080p doesn’t mean that’s what you are shooting. In fact, it’s unlikely the camera defaults to 1080p. It likely defaults to 1080i (“i” for interlaced). Also, your camera may not be “full raster” 1080p. Cheaper cameras cheat this. You get a 1080p recording, but the camera can’t actually give you full 1080p quality. If your only goal is DVD or file-based playback, you may be better off shooting 720p30 (not 60) to conserve space. I hate to recommend this, but the extra storage needed for 1080p may not be helping your quality at all.

Now assuming you shoot at 1080p, (insert 720p if that’s what you do) any editing you do should also be at 1080p using either the camera codec, or a higher quality codec. If you are adding titles and effects, I would argue for a higher quality edit codec, such as Quicktime ProRes 422, DNxHD, or Cineform. The codec does not actually matter until you output. If you render directly from the timeline, then there is no intermediate codec at all. I cannot recommend this though, as it is generally bad practice for professionals for a lot of reasons. Output your master to one of the professional codecs above.

Now the DVD. There is no such thing as a true 720p DVD. Only Bluray can be HD. A standard DVD is NTSC only, 480i or 480p. You want to go from 1080p master to DVD elementary streams. Output a master at 1080p. Then use Encoder to make your DVD elementary streams. There is a preset for this, but you want to control it. It’s going to take a bit of negotiating to set your bitrate as high as possible without going over the DVD size limit. Your audio should be MPEG, not PCM. Frankly, I don’t use Encoder because Encoder can’t make an AC3 audio track which is a far better choice, but MPEG will do.

Now author these elementary streams using Encore. Make sure Encore is not recompressing. This may be tricky, especially if you’ve made the files too big. You’ll need to review the automated settings. I can’t help much here because I use DVD Studio Pro and dislike Encore.

There are many tutorials for this, but the keys are to eliminate interlacing from your workflow, and scale/compress only once, directly to your DVD elementary streams. You also need to do the math for bitrate so you use the highest bitrates possible while still fitting on the disc.

Cheers,
tod

Tod Hopkins
Hillmann & Carr Inc.
Washington, DC

[Tod Hopkins]

Actually, while many broadcast signals are still interlaced, this is legacy, and almost everything else is not. DVD players, LCD monitors, streaming, and video files are progressive by nature and most have been capable of pure progressive signals and playback for many years. While DVDs can carry 29.97i files, all feature films on DVD are actually encoded at 24fps. This is one of the big reasons that feature films look so much better at low bitrates.

If you connect a modern DVD or Blu-ray to a 24p capable monitor (and most are now) then the signal and display will likely be 24fps, unless you’ve changed defaults. If you connect to a 29.97i only monitor, the player adds 3:2 pulldown prior to output to create a 29.97i signal.

Unfortunately, it gets weird with 30fps because it can be either progressive or interlaced, and equipment frequently handles this badly. Most AV equipment was 24p compatible before it was 30p compatible. In fact, while you can encode a DVD at 30fps progressive, and I always do, Blu-ray cannot contain 30 progressive, only 24p or 30i. I’m still mad at Sony for that! Actually, I’m still mad about Blu-ray in general.

In theory, a 30 fps progressive signal should look perfectly progressive on screen even when doubled for interlace. In practice, poor signal conversion will often screw this up, adding interlace artifacts. This doesn’t seem to happen with 24fps, presumably because there is no such thing as 24fps interlaced.

While I produce all my programs at 30p and have for years, but this is because I work with so much 30fps legacy material. For those who produce 100% original material, like you, it’s very hard to argue for anything other than 24fps progressive.

Cheers,
tod

Tod Hopkins
Hillmann & Carr Inc.
Washington, DC

[Tod Hopkins]

With DVDs, quality at every step matters a LOT. Sart with the basics. Better original gives better compression. Your competitor may be shooting 24fps, which conserves bandwidth and forces a “progressive” workflow. If you permit interlacing at any stage, you will get an inferior result. DVDs can be 30 progressive, but a lot of software will not keep the signal progressive at 30p. You have to be careful of your workflow.

Scale once, and very well. If you start progressive, your scaling will suck. If you scale your master, and then your DVD compression, that’s two scales. Bad.

Grain is a problem. Avoid gain in your original. Motion and visual complexity will kill you. If you are panning around a lot and backgrounds are complex, you’re making your compression work harder! Stay tight and minimize movement to simplify your image. Use more than one camera and edit static shots, rather than chasing the action.

Finally, not all compression is equal, especially MPEG2. Historically I don’t love Apple Compressor (though I use it a lot!). But then, I don’t like any MPEG2 compression on the Mac. My favorite is TMPEG, now Videoworks. That said, if you improve your original, any major compression app should give you a good result.

Dance photo/video is transitioning rapidly to files. You don’t have the same quality issues there. ????

Cheers,
tod

Tod Hopkins
Hillmann & Carr Inc.
Washington, DC

[Tod Hopkins]

You saved me! I thought I was done with DVDSP on this system. That worked like a charm and it speeds up the system.

Cheers,
tod

Tod Hopkins
Hillmann & Carr Inc.
Washington, DC

[Tod Hopkins]

[jerry wise] “If you play the clip in the XDCAM player there is a time code break due to the cameraman stopping and then restarting.”

I’m deducing that your source is tape, and that you are “digitizing” continuously across timecode breaks. In the file-based world you can’t do that (in my experience anyway), but in the “old days” you could. Most digitizing software that has TC control will abort by default at any break, though sometimes it can miss a break since it’s sensing control signal, not TC per se.

How you handle this in Premiere with your particular source is not within my experience. Avid and FCP 7 can handle this automatically, but I have not digitized from discontinuous TC tape in a very long time, and never in Premiere.

You can either re-capture properly or break your files into new clips. There are software packages that can break files into “shots” automatically, but I can’t remember to recommend one.

Cheers,
tod

Tod Hopkins
Hillmann & Carr Inc.
Washington, DC

[Tod Hopkins]

Is it possible that the timecode is, in fact, discontinuous within the clip and that Premiere is simply reporting what it sees? You may have corrupt time code. Check the clips in another app. Maybe Sony Catalyst Browse.

Cheers,
tod

Tod Hopkins
Hillmann & Carr Inc.
Washington, DC

[Tod Hopkins]

I deleted the media cache and the peak files, and also “cleaned” the database (now called “Delete Unused”). That did not help.

The heart of the problem seems to be calculating “Peak Amplitude.” When you open the Audio Gain dialog, you see the calculating message at the bottom. This calculation is now taking about 30-50% of the runtime of the clip. If you normalize after the value is calculated, no problem. If you try to normalize before the calculation is done OR cancel, you will effectively lock up for this period of time in any case. I’ve had to Force Quit repeatedly just to test this.

I don’t remember ever waiting significantly to normalize. It now takes so long I simply can’t do it. If you set a new gain level instead of normalizing, that works fine. It simply makes the adjustment.

A second normalization option has been added. I fear there is a bug in the implementation of this.

Cheers,
tod

Tod Hopkins
Hillmann & Carr Inc.
Washington, DC

[Tod Hopkins]

The best answer I have at the moment:

1) hit the right arrow key. This works sometimes.
2) Use Cmd-F12 to “refresh AV”

Doesn’t solve the problem of not seeing the change as you make it.

tod

Tod Hopkins
Hillmann & Carr Inc.
Washington, DC