AE animated bg Compressor DVDSP

Anyone else out there using After Effects to create animated backgrounds for DVDSP? I can't seem to figure why the rendered QT file from AE looks great but then looks horrible when imported into DVDSP. To be more specific:
a) Text looks horribly aliased
b) Edges on certain graphic elements look jaggy
c) Slight color shift (not all the time)
My workflow:
a) Render out of AE using Animation, 720x480, Millions+
b) Encode in Compressor using about 7.5 - 8.5 bitrate, 15 GOP, closed, 2-pass VBR
Any suggestions? Thanks in advanced.

I used the best quality DVD Preset.
"Fits 120 Minutes of video with Dolby Digital at 192 KBPS or 90 minutes with AIFF on a DVD-5"
I tried switching the GOP to "IP" which made it play fine on the computer but not on a DVD Player.
I used both Memorex and FujiFilm.
This is for a DVD9 (Dual Layer) project. I have done Dual Layer before with no problems so this one is new.

Similar Messages

VHS Captured With DV Converter Judders In Compressor/DVDSP, OK In iDVD.

This is more a statement than a question.
Some people will be familiar with my inability to produce judder-free DVDs from HDV or AIC footage burned in iDVD ........ which I have previously described +ad nauseam.+
Well here's something entirely different!
Yesterday I copied an old, very poor quality VHS tape to DV via my DAC 100 converter.
Apart from the lousy colour and pictorial quality, the video played OK in the timeline so I exported it to Compressor and burned in DVDSP.
The DVD exhibited the same kind of judder I get when I try to encode HDV in QT Movie and iDVD.
I wasted another DVD getting the same result, so in desperation I exported my project to QT Movie and burned it in iDVD.
The results - PERFECT - at least as far as image steadiness was concerned!

iDVD 7.0.1 and Compressor 3.0.3
I was hoping this would crack the old problem, but no.
I used a 40 second sequence with the camera panning very slowly across a street of houses with strong contrasty vertical and horizontal lines formed by windows, doors, drainpipes and rooflines etc. in the first half and a person walking across the frame etc. slowly in the second half. The 6' walker was a fair distance away only filling about 45% of the height of the frame.
4 test QT Movies were exported and burned in iDVD on one DVD. These were the straight video and then 3 versions with the Shift Filter in the +1, None and -1 settings.
They all looked the same, with jitter not so much on the vertical lines as the horizontal ones, which was a little surprising. The person walking across the frame definitely exhibited jitter.
All these problems disappear when encoded in Compressor or down-converted to DV by the camera during capture and burned in iDVD.
Still, it was worth a try.
I'm wondering whether it is possible to hack into iDVD and maybe alter field etc. settings in there!
There has to be some simple reason why there is a dramatic difference between Compressor/DVDSP and iDVD and it's nothing to do with quality or power or cost.
Incidentally a friend of mine went on a world tour, using an identical HV20 and rough-editing on her MBP as she went. The resulting rough edits were burned in iDVD and the DVDs sent back to her family. These DVDs apparently were jittery but the family didn't mind!

FCP - Compressor - DVDSP Question

Hi everyone,
I'm trying to figure out what settings to use to get better results when creating a DVD coming from FCP.
Here's the information :
In FCP, I edited a small test video made with a 3D software. Saved uncompressed in 720 x 480 NTSC, 30 fps, anamorphic for 16:9. Looks great in FCP.
Using Compressor, I use DVD Best Quality 90 min, 16:9.
I import the resulting file in DVDSP and the quality is horrible. I know that the movie is compressed in MPEG2 and it looses quality but I'm sure I can get better results (well, I hope).
Any idea, tips, tricks to enhance the final result would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Phanault

Hey Phanault,
did you use compressor presets or did you create settings from scratch?
also, you said your video codec was "uncompressed". did you mean FCP uncompressed 4:2:2 8-bit or like an uncompressed Blackmagic, Kona file (yes, they are different).
i don't think it has to do with your PAR, but more with settings.
what you can try is to use the 4:3 preset in compressor and manually set the 16x9 flag in DVDSP, like that, you dont have to recreate your video in 4x3 (just a suggestion and technically, both methods work!).
Mikey M.

Tough, quirky, hard to figure sync problem with FCP / compressor / DVDSP

OK, where to begin?
I have a dvdsp project. Everything started in FCP. The video, because of poor results in compressor, has been compressed using bitvice. This results in an mpeg2 that is slightly longer than the original, because of the way bitvice handles 24p material (intersting aside, once the track is in dvdsp, its back to the original length)
So, in final cut pro, I took the audio tracks and put them at a speed of 99.9% to make them match. Then the audio went to compressor to make an ac3. The files that compressor output match up with the video, as far as length goes, just fine.
Here's where it gets a little wierd. Out of two tracks, one appears to be just fine on the very first pass through compressor... in sync, proper length etc...
In the other track, I got a delay, in the surround speaker tracks, that got longer as the track went on. I examined the fcp sequences that the individual sound files were exported from... same settings. I looked at the self contained quicktime files that were exported from FCP... all the exact same length. Yet, listening to the tracks separately, I could tell that indeed, a couple tracks drifted later (but still didnt add any length on to the end of the track). The only difference in the workflow for those tracks was that some were exported individually and some were batch exported. (dont ask me how/ why/ if that made the difference). There was also a wierd dropout of audio on some tracks, so I figured maybe just a fly in the ointment, try again.
So then I very methodically started over with the sound and repeated the process. I couldnt repeat the whole batch export making a difference thing. The resulting ac3 was in sync within itself, and matched up in length with the video, but the entire audio track drifted late, out of sync with the video.
My solution has been to encode the audio at 100% which is now in sync, but is actually shorter in length in dvdsp and now ends almost 2 seconds earlier on the timeline (but yet doesnt lose sync).
So, one track worked as expected and one threw me a bunch of curveballs resulting in a fix the doesnt make sense but kind of works. The material in both tracks as far as source, settings etc.. is identical.
Can anyone help me wrap my head around some of this so I can have confidence in a workflow moving forward?
thanks,
sorry for the lengthy post
powermac g4 933

Audio/video timing accuracy is never better than the tool you are measuring it with. Therefore, you can't always trust time measurements based on SMPTE time code with your life, especially when 2:3 pulldown is involved. If you end up with a MPEG-2 multiplex that stays in sync on a set-top DVD player, then you are safe, regardless of what FCP, DVD SP or any other software tool think of it.
Why is that? Because the timing accuracy in MPEG-2 is at least 3000 times as accurate as any SMPTE time code. It is true that MPEG-2 video may contain SMPTE time code information, but it is only optional and even when present it is never used for anything time critical, such as A/V sychronization. It just wouldn't work.
Assuming that I have correctly interpreted your post, that the length of the movie is about 33 minutes and that no further info is required to solve your puzzle, this is my 2 cents guess:
In your paragraph beginning with "My solution" I suspect that that the AC-3 file might have been slowed down by 0.01% even though it "ends almost 2 seconds earlier" according to the DVD SP timeline. Alternatively, the video time code might have been misinterpreted, DF versus NDF, suggesting it being longer or shorter than it really is. This cannot happen in a real DVD decoder, since it does not rely the SMPTE time code at all.
In the BitVice log you can read exactly how many frames there were in your 24p movie. Divide that by 23.976 to get a reliable duration, in seconds, for the encoded file. Note that if you get a reminder (meaning extra split seconds) it represents 1 to 23 extra frames. Roughly, every extra 41.7 ms means an extra frame.
You don't want to go by the 29.97 frame rate, because then (due to the 2:3 pulldown) odd frames will last for 33,37ms but even frames last for 50.05ms.;-)
As you have noticed yourself, different tools like DVD SP, FCP, QT player et.c, may report different lengths of a MPEG-2 video file. But, given the frame count, from the BitVice log, you can always calculate the exact duration, +/- 10 microseconds, because it is controlled by a 90 kHz clock derived from the 27MHz crystal in the DVD player. This clock makes
3003 ticks for every NTSC/29.97fps frame,
3600 ticks for every PAL/25fps frame or
3750 ticks during a 24fps frame.
In comparison, due to its error prone and ambiguous nature, the SMPTE time code system is not even reliable enough to be frame accurate, unfortunately.
Roger Andersson / Innobits AB, makers of BitVice MPEG-2 encoder for Mac.

Whch produces higher quality m2v- Quicktime or Compressor

I use Final Cut Express HD and export mpeg 2 videos for use in DVD Studio Pro. I have exported both - NTSC high quality, 2 pass vbr, 7 mps bitrate with both Compressor and Quicktime. Both files look good when previewed, yet my finished DVD video is not a clear. Is there a better way or different codec to use to get cleaner DVD end product?
Thanks

We get the qt movies out of Compressor, the look great in DVDSP, but DVDSP won't even recognize them when they make the DVD.
Please clarify that statement. If you're using Compressor to encode MPEG2 files from your animations, you should end up with files that DVDSP will import. What presets are you using, if any?
We are using standard compressor settings for "MPEG2 60mintes" coming out Compressor.
I realize that DVDSP should support them, its that it won't that is causing the problems... :-\
And, if we allow the DVDSP to do the conversion to DVD itself, the results look VERY bad.
What are your encoding settings from within DVDSP?
Settings? We are going to DVD... thought that needed no settings to be set? (I could be wrong, I'm only the wingman on this one...)
and it seems to have something to do with the resolution of the files, going from 720x486 to 720x480... maybe...
Compressor handles that properly (crops 6 pixels rather than scaling). Not sure about encoding from within DVDSP.
Ah... that makes a little sense... if there is a difference between Compressor and DVDSP handle compression. Does it take 4 from the top, 2 from the bottom to allow the fields to be handled correctly?
We are making an animated 3d video, so there are no frames or codecs (DV) on the video... The workflow is then into After Effects, FCP and then DVDSP
Are you exporting Targa frames from Lightwave and then importing the sequence into AE? Once you export from AE you're certainly attaching a codec. Are you using Animation? Then, when working in FCP, what codec are you using? And are you working in 720x486?
Actually, we are exporting RPF (Rich Pixel Format) files from Lightwave3D, going into AFX, taking an animation codec QT into FCP, outputting both to MPEG2 and QT Animation format to DVDSP... then to cr*p DVD or nothing...
LW_Will

What are the pro alternatives to Compressor?

I've been compressing a lot of material recently, mostly shot on DVCPRO HD and edited on FCP. What's been happening is that some - but surprisingly not all dissolves - are breaking up into pixels or rather blocks of pixels. The problem, as I've recently found out, has been documented here so I won't waste anyone's time agonizing over it. I'll just say that using Compression Master, Sorenson Squeeze and bitVice produced artifacts free files right off the bat.
What's infuriating about the Compressor is that every time I try to test a short piece from the middle of the sequence, it compresses fine but then when the whole 20 min sequence is compressed the problem comes back.
I've tried CBR, closed GOP, IP structure etc as suggested in one of the posts and it did get rid of the pixelation but I'm still not happy with the results. The picture looks a bit soft and washed out. Shockingly comparable to a well compressed random, internet downloaded DivX file that I can play on the same player. Is it the Compressor, DVDSP or the true nature of the DVCPRO HD format showing its ugly face?
What are the professional MPEG encoders that could save me all that headache? I'd rather pay good money and finally get it done right than spend my time beta testing software that is clearly not ready for the prime time.

Never had problems whit Apple Mail. Till I updated to Maverick.
First problam was Gmail after updating to Mavericks, Apple mail went to download all my old mail's over 6800. Just delleted my Gmail account form the list to stop it.
Second issuu memory.
First dit not now what was te problem till I found out that Apple Maill took over al my memory. Try differened tip and trick of the Apple Forums. This one works the best. Other users had the same problem after Mavericks.
I restore my Accounts.plist form before the Maverick update.
Looked whit TextWrangler but what am i lookong for? Do not know how is supposed to look.
Size of Accounts.plist on 11/18 1.7MB
Size of Accounts.plist on 23/18 3.0MB
Hoping for the best ....

Compressor Batch - will NOT open batch monitor

i had to reinstall my friends FCP/Compressor/DVDSP (he didn't want the other stuff)
but now when we try to export a file from compressor to a dvd file such as dolby audio
we get an error saying "unable to connect to background process"
any ideas? maybe we need to install something else?
i did notice (at least i think) batch monitor was in the applications folder and now its in utilities
maybe thats the issue?
any ideas i can give him so we can continue to work on some stuff
thanks

Batch Monitor is meant to be in Utilities, so that is fine.
Try these steps (I assume you are using Compressor 3):
http://www.digitalrebellion.com/blog/posts/compressorerror_unable_to_connect_to_backgroundprocess.html

Compressor 3.0.5 Encoding something completely different

I have used my Compressor 3.0.5 for many years without any issues.
Recently I have had a nightmare of a project which involved corrupted mini-dv footage and when I encode the timeline and bring the M2V's into DVD studio Pro, both the video and audio AC3 files are something that is not on the timeline. It looks like the software choose to encode a random clip in my FCP browser instead of encoding what is on the timeline.
So far I have tried deleting the FCP, Compressor & DVDSP .plist's from Library/Preferences and have repaired permissions. One of which pertains at an ARDAgent app, will not be repaired but not sure if this has anything to do with anything.
Any help is surely and desperately appreciated. My client has been waiting a long time for their DVDs.

It sounds like you used the Send to Compressor workflow. If you did, try exporting a QuickTime movie, current settings. Then bring that into Compressor to make your files for DVD SP.
Russ

Compressor speed depends on the codec you choose

Hi, add my cent to speed and quality issues.
Compressor speed depends on the codec you choose, Animation it's incredibly sloooow...that's not happening in QT MPEG2 export.
ah... tip: if software update blown away your QT MPEG2 export, reinstalling DVD Studio pro 3 the function is restored)
I don't know why they have thrown away MPEG2 export, introducing FCP Studio Pro and QT7, forcing use of buggy Compressor, though.
Trying to compress Animation files, Compressor hangs and takes time to refresh the preview window, at every change of pameters it needs an unusual looong time to go further.
That's not happening with all the other codecs.
DV, Uncompressed 8 or 10bit are fast as they expected to be,
if you keep an eye at CPU usage, when compressing Animation files it doesn't go up 15% agaist 50% or more with other codecs (in my Quad).
I don't know what's the matter here, surely a bug, but the problem is big because Animation was the most used codec for graphics and i have a lot of motion menus in that format, to encode.
A workaround is to convert all those file in Uncompressed 8 or 10bit (big storage required...) then batch compress all and maybe i'll be able to do the job faster than go straight from Animation to MPEG2 through endless compression time in Compressor.
I could use QT MPEG Export but loosing some functionality.
So do not use Animation for graphics!
That said about speed, what about quality...what's that pulsing halo and noise introduced in MPEG files?
I noticed it happens every GOP, pulsing halo and noise and is present in QTMPEG2 export too.
We all complain Compressor but the fault is not only in there but in QT itself and QTMPEGExport.component.
Come on Apple your defness is screming loud, developer team can't take all that time to correct those bugs!
We do not exist only when new gears are advised!
We are not dressing dolls all day here, we do it for living our customers pay money for good DVDs, we should pay as well for good and not broken pieces of software. right!
We all love Apples but also the greatest love story ending a day.
eri

Yes, of course tweaking is possible.
Opening ports will probably not increase your bandwidth, merely diminish the security you seek, from your first statement in first msg.
Horrible wireless speeds? That's because you're on that 'b' speed (11Mbps?) router...but you knew that.
Get a real router, a Linksys/Belkin/Dlink. Beware of the hype surrounding 108mbps, or turbo. 1 WAN port, 4 ethernet ports, wireless "G".
And remember with your cable ISP, you have very few speed numbers that will be certain. When the neighbors are all downloading the whole season of "Lost" for their iPods...your download speed will feel slower. Upload speed looks like it might always be a fraction of your DL speed.
(get used to it).
The fact is, you may already "taking full advantage of your broadband".
This is almost turning into a topic that belongs out at DSLreports.com. They're the tweak-freaks <big smile>.

Problem exporting from FCP using compressor

Out of the blue - I'm getting batch failures trying to export from FCP for use in a DVD. Immediately after selecting compressor for export, I get an error reading "That file already exists", and a new tab appears in the media browser with a lengthy character string. Compressor opens fine, and I select Best Quality 4:3 encoding for video and aiff48 for audio. When the batch is submitted - it promptly fails and blames FCP for generating an error.
Did all kinds of restarts and work arounds to no avail. The promising news is that this error seems to occur only when exporting from FCP through Compressor.
My work-around is to export a QT movie of the piece, quit FCP, launch Compressor, and then import the QT for batching.
Hope this helps anyone else in similar situations
Martin
G5 PPC Mac OS X (10.4.8) FCP 512 post production

Hi:
How long is your movie?
The best workflow is FCP > Compressor > DVDSP.
You can encode your timeline directly to get MPEG2 video and Dolby 2 (AC3) audio files. Then import those in DVDSP and author your DVD.
Using Compressor you control the full encoding process. You can test with small parts of your movie (those where you got problems with iDVD) and find the best encoding options fopr your footage.
Of course the DVDSP learning curve is longer than iDVD but once you learned ir you probably never go back. Like iMovie and FCP.
To give you detailed info about what encoding settings to use you must post some info about your FCP project.
Hope that helps !
Alberto

Compressor causing serious pixelation

Hi,
I've been using the same set up of FCP/Compressor/DVDSP for years with no real problem.
When I finish a timeline, I export the entire timeline as a Quicktime movie, import it back and then use compressor to prep it for DVDSP. I do this because I am more comfortable compressing a flattened movie (as opposed to a time line with a million edits) and I believe it make the Compression goes quicker. I always keep my movies less than 90 minutes and use Compressors - DVD Best Quality 90 Min setting.
All of a sudden out of the blue, after creating a DVD (using DVDSP) about half way through my latest movie, there is about 30 seconds of crazy pixelation. It looks as if every 3 seconds, the image loses and then regains focus.
I've spent two entire days trouble shooting with no luck.
• It's not the specific footage because when I swap the problem footage with new footage, the new segment is affected.
• The movie that is created by FCP has no hint of the pixelation whatsoever - it looks perfect.
• It's not the burner, because when I view the movie directly from the disc image created by DVDSP, the pixelation problem is there.
• Trashing FCP Prefs did nothing
I'm using:
•MacPro 2 X 3 Dual Core
•11GB RAM
• FCP 6.0.6 - the problem started on 6.0.5 and I was hoping that it would be fixec if I updated to 6.0.6, but did not
• Compressor 3.0.5
• DVD SP 4.2.1
Message was edited by: Daniel Sass

I had a similar issue a while back that had something to do with the long GOP used in the video files.
I followed the suggestions here and it fixed my issue:
"Since it seemed to be pulsing at the same rate as the I-frame occurs in MPEG, I decided it had something to do with MPEG stream. Basically, in a dark scene there was more noise in the video than in a scene well lit. That noise translates into more pixel changes between frames and more data generated by Compressor in each MPEG group of pictures. So I just reduced the average bit rate from the 6.8 Mbps that I had to 6.5 Mbps, and the maximum bit rate from 8.0 Mbps to 7.7 Mbps, which permanently fixed the problem. Depending upon your particular situation, you may want to set them even lower as I've seen recommendations as low as 5.5Mbps average/7.2Mbps maximum."
I also found this if the above doesn't work:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8350784
James
Message was edited by: MacCodeSmith

Compressor/DVD Studio Pro v6 and FCP7?

Can I use Compressor and DVD Studio Pro from version 6 with FCP7? I use a Macbook Pro 10.6.8 with FCP7
I'm trying to make a DVD and I keep getting a message in DVD Studio Pro : "Illegal angle situation. Only the main video angle will be simulated".
My sequence is in 1920x1080, Compressor: XDcam EX1080p25, Frame Rate 25.
I brought a self contained Quicktime into Compressor.
Selected Settings: DVD Best quality 90min. The Inspector said: 720x576, PAL, 25,
Allow job segmenting was selected. Should it be?
Frame Controls was ON. Should it be?
It produced an MP-2 6.2Mbps 2-pass.m2v file and a DolbyDigital Professional 2.0.ac3 file
I dragged them on the Track1 screen in DVD Studio Pro 4 and the Simulator gave me the "illegal angle situation" message.
Do you have any idea for a solution please? I have to fly out tomorrow and yo have the DVD done,,,

In a word, yes. As long as you are outputting your timeline as a master for compression, there is not linkage between FCP and Compressor/DVDSP. Compressor and DVDSP don't care about anything except that the incoming footage is in a valid format.
I'm betting that your error message is the result of a corrupt DVDSP project file. They do some wacky stuff when they break. Built a new one.
Good luck!

How Do I Use DVD Studio Pro Files In iDVD?

I had somebody create a DVD for me using DVD Studio Pro. (This was a compilation of many different videos.) It turned out great.
I now want to make a DVD of one of those videos on my own using iDVD '08.
I have the raw video/audio files. But, my problem is the raw files that were used for the DVD Studio Pro project are separated into one video file and one audio file. I don't know how I can get them both into iDVD. I was told that I have to recombine these two files into one file. But, how do I do this and still maintain the best quality?
(I am not a video expert by any means, but I can tell you that the video file is a ".mpeg" and the audio file is an ".ac3". When looking at the .mpeg file in the finder it lists its Kind as "MPEG Movie" and when looking at the .ac3 file in the finder it lists its Kind as "Unix Executable File".)
(I'm using iDVD 7.0.1 - I do have Quicktime Pro - I do not have the Quicktime MPEG-2 Playback component - I do not have DVD Studio Pro)
Thanks in advance for your help!

Q: How Do I Use DVD Studio Pro Files In iDVD?
A: You don't, essentially.
DVDSP is apple's top end app and it is intended to be used with FCP > Compressor > DVDSP. All of these are pro apps.
i-Apps are consumer apps all of which are QT based. With that in mind ....
now that doesn't mean you can't use FCP > iDvd. You can. But you have to do it in a way that iDvd will read all the files (meaning you must think in terms of QuickTime and export in this way). So when you export your QT File / Movie from FCP over to iDvd, it will look something like this hopefully regardless of the raw image & audio files you have already compiled which unfortunately will NOT work with i-Apps BUT will work with apple's pro apps which is the intended workflow / direction of said files in the first place.
Btw ... if your QT movie has chapter markers then please use the following settings so iDvd can read these markers. (if on the other hand you were looking to export this file to DVDSP; then you would choose DVDSP Markers.
Let me know if the above helps. If not, just come on back.

Making 4:3 look good for both 4:3 and 16:9 screens

Hi,
Up until this point I have lived my life in a pleasant 4:3 world. I shot 4:3 footage, edited 4:3 in FCP, sent 4:3 to DVDSP, checked my work on a 4:3 television, and mailed 4:3 DVDs to my customers.
My understanding from playing around with a friend's 16:9 TV, is that the TV owner could push a button to view 4:3 content with bars on the right and left (I think from other contexts this must be called pillarboxing).
Then I brought my baby's videos to my parents' house.
They say the camera adds 10 lbs -- how about 50! I guess if all consumers got used to watching television this way, it would be a huge win for the anti-anorexia people.
My parents could see nothing wrong with the video that was being stretched out to fit their 16:9 television. They watch all their movies this way. They didn't want me to fiddle with the remote because, "they might not be able to get it back the way it was."
I've read the thread "Need help on 16:9" very carefully.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=510426&tstart=0
Unfortunately, it's still a bit too far over my head. From reading that thread, I've come to understand that "letterboxing" is the black bars put above and below 16:9 footage when it is displayed on a 4:3 screen. "Pillarboxing" is adding black bars to the right and left of 4:3 footage so that it displays with the correct aspect ratio on a 16:9 screen.
Unfortunately the term "anamorphic" in the various contexts is lost on me. I know it's a special lens that you use to shoot widescreen footage on 35mm film, but what it means in the DVD context is a bit lost on me.
I want to know:
1. Is it possible to take my 4:3 footage and process it somehow in FCP and DVDSP to make DVDs that will "just work" on both 4:3 televisions and widescreen TVs? That is, I want the image to have the correct aspect ratio on both boxes without the user having to do anything to their TV. (I assume this would mean displaying as-is on 4:3 TV's and pillarboxing automatically on 16:9 TVs)
2. If it is possible, can someone point me to some references on how to accomplish this? Or at least some references that would help me learn enough to choose the right workflow to do this?
Doing a "search" or a "Google Search" for 16:9 tutorial, leads to more hits than is useful and lots of vendors trying to sell me products.
I'm not against buying & reading a book or tutorial, but there is so much out there that I need a push in the right direction first.
3. Looking at the other thread my impression is that if I want to do this, I'd have to find some way to make FCP add the black bars to pillarbox my 4:3 data, then tell DVDSP I've got 16:9 footage. I have no idea how to actually accomplish this (settings, etc.) however.
Whew! And all this is just SD stuff I believe. I still haven't touched HD, but I believe those 16:9 TV's are made for HD but will still display my SD DVDs. Please correct me if I'm wrong about that.
Thanks so much! These forums have been so helpful. Even though I only occasionally post I read many answers to questions I've had that other people have too.
--Beth

Hi,
Thank you very much for the reply. Once I'm finished I'll post all my notes so others can benefit. Right now though, I've been having problems fighting compressor all day. I think I broke my computer
I'm currently downloading an update, but that's not going to finish for the next 6 hrs. (I have a very slow network connection, and I tend to only update my programs between projects unless I run into a serious issue.)
Here are the issues I've had and some of the solutions I've found:
* = I found a solution
*1. Originally my compressor .m2v file would not import into DVDSP -- DVDSP would unexpectedly quit every time I even clicked on the file, I didn't even click "import" and it would quit. I renamed my file to no avail (it had a '/' in it, compressor's default file naming turned 16:9 to 16/9). I read on the DVDSP forum that the way around this was to drag my file directly into DVDSP. That worked.
2. I accidently told FCP to "render all" in that 16:9 timeline before sending it to compressor. I did it because I wanted to see how things looked before sending to compressor. Unfortunately, I don't know how to tell FCP to "un-render" the files. Is there a way to do this? I seem to recall that there weren't any files in on FCP's scratch disk when I looked, but I can't check right now (see #4) Problem #2 may be the cause of problem #3, but I can't check that until later either.
3. The disk I created using the compressor-rendered-from-FCP files appeared to have interlace issues. i.e. during times of quick, high-contrast horizontal motion, there were every-other-line streaks left behind. The problem is most easily noticed on computer monitors. There is a small amount of it on the original DVD, but not nearly as much as in the DVD created with compressor. Do you have any recommendations for settings, or is this potentially caused by my rendering in FCP first before going to compressor?
4. The big issue: After using compressor, finder now quits when I click on 2 of my 4 disk drives. (I saved .m2v files on two different disks due to the DVDSP problems in #1. I thought perhaps the first time my file itself was corrupted.) I did searches for this issue and learned that many people have it, and the solution seems to be to right-click on the offending file and choose open with -> other -> quicktime, check the box for all files of this type. Unfortunately, I can't even get finder to get that far.
I tried another solution using one of my disks that still works, I re-named a .mov file to .m2v, and then told that one to open with -> other -> quicktime, check the box for all files of that type. Unfortunately that didn't appear to work as Disk 1 and Disk 4 still cause finder to quit and re-start itself. (Various iterations of reboot, trash finder.plist, etc. thrown in for good measure.)
I am currently downloading these patches:
Apple Qmaster Update 2.0.1
Cinema Tools Update 3.0.3
Compressor Update 2.0.1
Pro Applications Update 2005-02 1.0
Soundtrack Pro Update 1.0.3
I don't even know how many of those I really need. I already have FCP 5.0.4 and DVDSP 4.0.3. That should finish sometime tomorrow, but if the patches don't work I could use some advice. I guess I could go into the Unix side of things and manually delete all the .m2v files, but I've been hesitant to do that because they took so long to create in the first place.
Is this finder/compressor/DVDSP problem a known issue that is fixed with some of the above patches?
Thanks again,
--Beth

Background Alpha export is arbitrary

It's been some time, so I'm starting over on the Apple boards. (Must have lost my profile)
I've read with interest the many posts regarding this topic before posting. Since I'm a Motion novice, this is the 1st place I look. Here's what's going on...
Using Motion to make those nice supers for my Avid (Mac 2.7) projects. Spent the last week exporting supers, all very nice. Yesterday, the lower thirds only exported with a black background. While I'm certain that there's a setting somewhere I fooled with, I can't get an alpha channel to save my sanity.
Previous to this seemingly arbitrary occurance there was no change in this hardware/software setup. It just stopped exporting w/alpha.
I checked the likely suspects...
Project background color slider set to 0%.
Channel in Canvas set to 'alpha'.
Each file exported using Animation (Millions of Colors +)
I avoid the "current project settings" export checkbox to avoid just such a case, instead I'd rather control the whole export process upon export. FWIW, there is no black background in the Motion project in question
For some reason, I'm unable to export a QT w/alpha channel. Perhaps when I try again, it will. This is a bizarre experience. I've been using alpha channels for decades, usually in 3-d apps and AE. A software codec selection should be honored by the app. Very curious.
Any thoughts?
G5 Dual 2gig - 8 g RAM Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Thank you for your thoughtful replies, but all the settings suggestions that have been mentioned are already appropriately selected, namely:
Canvas view channel to 'transparent'. (verifies that there is no background color in the composition)
Background Color selection in Project Properties reduced to 0%.
Exporting as Quicktime Movie. Export Options set under Video/Audio... Quality=100%. In Advanced Settings, Compression type is selected 'Animation'. Compressor Depth set to 'Millions of Colors+'. Quality 'Best'.
Under 'Output' pane of Export dialog, Use Current project and canvas settings is not selected. Resolution is Full, Color is selected as 'Color + Alpha'. Premultiply Black is currently selected. (I've tried that both ways to no effect)
The review pane on the right of this dialog verifies my Motion export settings as correct to obtain a Quicktime file with included alpha channel for compositing.
Upon import into Avid, file shows appropriate import processes for both graphic fill and alpha matte. However, imported Motion clip does not exhibit key properties. I employed a workaround, exporting Motion files as Animation Millions of Colors only, and using luma key to make the clip key. I've used several Avid codecs as tests from DV50 to 1:1 uncompressed, with no change in the outcome.
As the beginning of this thread indicates, I already successfully created a number of perfectly fine files using the above carefully-described methodology, which follows the documented procedures to obtain the desired result.
I appreciate the responses thus far. I wish I were just missing a silly button or selection somewhere. I understand that this is usually the case. For now, I hold to the thread title as an accurate description of this situation.
G5 Dual 2gig - 8 g RAM Mac OS X (10.4.9)

AE animated bg Compressor DVDSP

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