Avid Footage for iDVD: Converting YCbCr / 601 to RGB

I have a black and white short film that was edited on AVID Xpress and exported as a Quicktime Reference movie using the AVID Meridien Uncompressed codec. I want to get this into iDVD - my problem is reserving the quality of the black levels.
When playing back the QT, the blacks show up as (16,16,16) not (0,0,0); the Meridien codec is obviously using YCbCr colorspace (16-235 instead of 0-255). I want to expand this range to restore full blacks and whites as iDVD seems to assume an RGB colorspace.
I've tried Quicktime Pro with SheerVideo codecs with no luck. Anybody know how to perform this color conversion?
Thanks

Not much help here... maybe on the FCP forum (or an Avid forum somewhere). Maybe some help here: http://www.signvideo.com/dv-black-level-dvd-7.5-ire-0-ntsc-part-2.htm
I am not sure how long your movie is, but iDVD uses uncompressed audio which will take bandwidth away from your video on longer sequences. If your worried about 0 black levels, I would be worried about a lower bit-rate in iDVD.
Mike

Similar Messages

Avid Footage: Converting YCbCr / 601 to RGB

I have a black and white short film that was edited on AVID Xpress and exported as a Quicktime Reference movie using the AVID Meridien Uncompressed codec. I want to get this into iDVD - my problem is reserving the quality of the black levels.
When playing back the QT, the blacks show up as (16,16,16) not (0,0,0); the Meridien codec is obviously using YCbCr colorspace (16-235 instead of 0-255). I want to expand this range to restore full blacks and whites as iDVD seems to assume an RGB colorspace.
I've tried Quicktime Pro with SheerVideo codecs with no luck. Anybody know how to perform this color conversion?
Thanks

Do you still have the sequence on the...never mind, that's a stupid question, you already said it was a reference movie. Or...wait a minute, where does the Meridien codec come in..is that how you imported the OMFs? Reference movies generally don't use codecs; they refer to the original OMFs on your media drives so that what comes out of QuickTime Player is exactly what Avid is working with, subject to some minor post-processing to do things like change pixel aspect ratio and color levels.
Go back to the Avid and export the sequence as a reference movie, but in the export dialog, click on Options and specify that you want RGB color space:
That's the settings I used when I exported a widescreen clip as a reference movie so that I could use QuickTime Pro to do my final encode. In this case it was ultimately going to be an H.264 clip used in a Keynote show. Note that because my destination was not 601-aware, I specified both RGB color space and square pixels.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Exporting HD footage from Avid (PC) for use in FCP (MAC)

Hello,
Here is my issue, there was and HD shoot of my business for local promotional use. I wanted the footage for marketing purposes down the road. I put together most of our promotional video using FCP 5.1.4. The footage was edited on a PC Avid system and exported using an animation codac to quicklime. (This is what the editor said would work)
The footage will not play back correctly, starts off playing for the first second or so and freezes. When I import it into a sequence and render it I can here audio but the canvas remains black. Before I have them export this thing again I wanted to make sure it wasn't an issue on my end. Below are the clip details and CPU info. Thanks in advance for any help.
Clip: 1920 x 1080, 29.97fps, Apple lossless Animation compression, Data rate 190.2 MB/sec, Pixel aspect ratio: square
CPU Info: Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP11.005C.B08
SMC Version: 1.7f10
Message was edited by: Jeffrey W Gilmore

Animation files are much too large data-wise to play back. YOu need to use Compressor to convert them into a codec that is more editable. DVCPRO HD for example...or ProRes. Depending on what hard drives you are trying to play this footage from.
Animation is a good transfer codec, but it needs to be converted.
Shane

Optimal Settings for Converting Sony AVCHD .MTS Footage for DVD Delivery

I am starting with footage from a Sony HDR-SR7 camcorder. Since iMovie is still kind of wonky with this, I am going to batch convert all my clips using the VeggieTools plug-in scripting for *Sony Vegas Pro* (under my Windows partition of my MacBook Pro). I can convert over each file into a new clip in a lot of different formats.
My goal is to *bring the footage over to Mac and edit it in Final Cut Express.* Eventually, I will be mastering and delivering on DVD (most likely through iDVD). And I am looking for guidance.
First, I have a lot of choices for the conversion format. But I am not sure what to use. I know that the original is upper field dominant and HD in size (16:9). I will eventually be going to standard DVD NTSC (with letterboxing top and bottom to fill up the format space of the 4:3 aspect ratio). And I assume that is lower field dominant.
Do I need to find some setting that lets me convert the footage to double the 29.97 fps rate while interpolating the fields? Or do I not have to worry about this? I am worried that bringing the size of the footage down will create some weird artifacts if this isn't taken care of first.
I guess the main question is, since I am looking to pretty much just edit these clips together and won't be doing much in the way of special effects, what's the best way or format to choose to *turn the HD footage into high quality SD footage* that I can quickly trim and string together *in Final Cut Express*...
Not sure if I gave enough info. I will be checking often in anyone wishes to try and tackle this one and needs more details...
And thanks for listening!!

OK my fault for not being clear on an extremely important point: I don't need anamorphic widescreen. Sorry to waste your brainpower on my lack of clarity. Mea culpa.
I intend to show this only on a standard definition TV from a standard definition DVD player. The "letterboxing" I spoke of is intentional on my part inside the standard def 4:3 frame. I will just let there be black bars at the top and the bottom.
So I don't need full super high resolution during this transfer (IF iMovie hadn't stopped recognizing my Sony AVCHD MTS camera after the first batch of video I collected, this wouldn't even be an issue. Been spending days on the forums trying all the solutions for the rest of my footage...).
But now that I have a workaround, I am just mostly confused about what to do about the field order (and thus, the frame rate) and the resizing (for convenience in size and playback speed). The original is upper first, and I am pretty sure that the QuickTime Movie I eventually make for iDVD should be lower field first (haven't tried tackling the can of worms of ideal MOV settings for an iDVD standard def disc yet).

Converting .MOV files (pre snowleopard) to format suitable for iDVD

I purchased a new iMac and migrated my system across (from iMac5 (2.16 GHz) Mac OS 10.4.11 Quicktime 7.6.4 to a new imac 3.06 Mac OS 10.6.2 Quicktime 10.0).
Some of my quicktime files play ok but others prompt me to download quicktime version 7. I really want to convert them to a format that iDVD finds acceptable.
Any converters I have tried fail to read the files.
Is there any s/w available to convert these files to formats suitable for iDVD ?

I really want to convert them to a format that iDVD finds acceptable.
iDVD will support any "conversion" compatible compression format supported by your current QT component configuration. Therefore, what you need to do is find out what compression format(s) are contained in the files that no longer play/are not being accepted by iDVD (or other QT apps).
Any converters I have tried fail to read the files.
If the converters rely on your installed QT components, that is to be expected. If such apps include there own built-in codecs, then the files are either not supported or possibly corrupted.
Is there any s/w available to convert these files to formats suitable for iDVD ?
I would normally recommend QT 7 Pro ($30) or MPEG Streamclip (free) to perform the conversions. However, if your files contain content not supported by your current QT component configuration, then the files cannot be converted until the specific required components are installed. (E.g., Filp4Mac ($) for windows, Perian (free) for DivX, XviD, and similar files, the QT MPEG-2 Playback component ($) for MPEG-2 video content, etc.) To learn which codecs are missing, you might try opening the Finder "Info" window for the file or see if the free VLC app will load/play/info the file content.
Contrary to what many people think, there are many video compression formats (technologies) used and no single player plays everything without having the correct component support available. This is like trying to play a DVD on a CD player, or playing and Blu-ray on a DVD player.

Which compression is the best for iDVD?

I have about 9 footages ready to export to quicktime format
in order to create an iDVD, however, I need to know which compression method produces the best quality of video for iDVD?
I've been using MEPG4 so far but I have no idea if there's anything better than MPEG4 for DVD creation.
THanks in advance folks!

Export as a QUICKTIME MOVIE>Self Contained>Using Sequence Settings. Then import into iDVD and let it compress it to MPEG-2. That really is the way to go about it with iDVD.
DVDs are all MPEG 2, not 4

How do I prepare a FCP Quicktime movie for iDVD?

Hi out there, can someone please explaine in detail what I have to do to a FCP Quicktime movie to prepare it for iDVD. Its 12 minutes long and 4.8GB. I tried putting it as is into iDVD and burning a DVD and the quality was bad. Do I have to put it through Compressor? Or, should I make a different kind of Quicktime movie?

Compressor is a program and you want to use it to convert your movie into an mpeg file and an ac3 file. 2 files to drop into your DVD program. Now, I haven't used iDVD so i don't know what it's asking for but. DVDSP is really easy to use if you just wan tto make a DVD without a menu. this requires an mpeg2 file and ac3. this you can make in compressor. in FCP have your timeline with your sequence in it active. FILE>EXPORT>USING COMPRESSOR. in compressor you can use the DVD 90 minute setting to make these two files. you have to check the manual cause it's different on how to do this with diff versions.
once you have your files drop them in DVD SP asset box then drag them in the timeline. delete the menue blue box right click the green track box, select 'first play' build/burn button at the top and you're on your way.
sorry if this seems confusing, but dvd technology is funky. idvd is great for making easy template menus but if you want to just make a playable dvd wihtout menus, DVD SP is the way to go.

Progressive footage for DVDSP

I've been doing some experimental encodes from compressor as a result of 'white papers' on a few forums. I imported interlaced footage into compressor and using encoding options exported it as a 'progressive' mpeg2. Opened DVDSP and added a track. Never noticed it before but DVDSP reports the track as interlaced even without placing the footage on it. When I place the 'progressive' footage on the interlaced track DVDSP still reports the track as interlaced in the inspector?
There is no option in DVDSP to change the track from interlaced to progressive.
Whats's going on here?
Is 'interlaced' an unchangeable default format in DVDSP.
Is it therefore a waste of time DE-interlacing footage with compressor before importing it into DVDSP.
Is DVDSP RE-interlacing the footage?
Peter

Thanks for the response. Here's the whole story. I bought a Sony HVRV1 shooting Pal 25fps, as it boasted 'Progressive' but it also shoots Interlaced. The short story is that it turns out to be 'progressive segmented frames, laid to tape as interlaced' I had a load of problems finding this out. FCP treats it as interlaced, won't recognise it as progressive.
So I abandoned the 'Progressive segmented frames' and shot Interlaced.
As a result of 'authoritative' articles on a well known forum everyone was advised that we 'must' deinterlace. More red herrings. I took this advice at its word and I'm at this juncture now having wasted over a week encoding interlaced footage to progressive to find out from yourself that the DVD spec is by default, interlaced. I'm grateful for the heads up,thanks.
One more thing you say
"Material converted to progressive with Compressor will look better on progressive displays (such as computers) because you're scrubbing away the interlacing, so there is some benefit to that"
All computer media players that I use will deinterlace footage for viewing anyway so any encoding is pointless. Picture the process. The footage is interlaced, encoded as progressive by compressor, reinterlaced by DVDSP? I couldn't see how this would improve how it looks, seems it might be why I'm so disappointed in the quality of my DVDs.
I think you've solved my question and I'm one step closer to getting a 'clean' workflow.
Thanks
Peter

2 movies AVI (each 600MB) = too large for iDVD? 6+ GB? Whats going on?!?!

Bottom line, two avi files, I add to iDVD and it starts encoding but somehow makes it larger than it is.
I go into PROJECT and I see now its a whopping 6+GB!
Is there something better or is there a setting I am missing? I just want to make a DVD with the existing AVI files and don't want it at 6GB.
Am confused.
Thanks

There could be whole host of issues here. It could be as simple as trying a different blank disk (Verbatim is one of the "preferred" discs). I imagine however that the answer will be a bit more elusive. It all starts with your source material... which at this point we don't know what it's format is. Once you know that, I would do a Google search on converting that format to a DV file- this is what iDVD expects. Depending on how compressed the original file is, determines what kind of quality you will get when it's converted. Once you have the "proper" file for iDVD, you can try to burn another DVD and see how successful that is.
In general, compression is achieved by throwing away redundant frames. By converting and re-compressing, we are tossing out frames, inserting new frames and then tossing them back out again.... not the best scenario!
To troubleshoot further... the DVD itself, via Apple's DVD player plays successful on you Mac but not on a tabletop DVD player? If so, have you played ANY home burned DVD movie on the table top player?
Mike

What is the best iMovie codec for iDVD quality

Hello all,
I am importing analog video from an Alchemy pci card in MPEG4.
I've played around a bit but would like to know what you think is the best codec for my iMovie import that will then yield the best quality video end product from iDVD.
I am currrently using the dv codec.

yepp, that is the right choice, iM uses internal the dv-codec, same is with iDVD
any other codec has a much higher compression =>lower quality
does your pci card offer the export in dv too? would be much better in terms of pic quality, any mpeg flavor is meant as transport or playback format, not for editing/converting....

*** Question for down-converting Z1U or FX1 users

I am importing some HDV material that I am down-converting in the camera into DV into a sequence that is 720x480 anamorphic.
I want to guarantee that when people view the 16:9 footage on their square tv that it automatically is shown as letter-boxed and not stretched vertically. Currently, I am having problems because when I preview my 16:9 footage on a square tv, unless I set the tv to 16:9, it stretches the image. If the wrong client who doesn't know any better does this and it stretches it will look horrible. Is there any way to bring in down-converted footage and guarantee that it will be properly framed on a square tv.
Currently I am bringing in the footage and down-converting with the "squeeze" setting. Should I be using this, or the "letter box" setting? My understanding is that using the letter box setting will actually crop off the top/bottom of my 16:9 footage which ISN'T what I'm looking for.
Any assistance that anyone could give would be much appreciated!

Well, it's usually a bad idea to use 16:9 Pan-Scan & Letterbox because it depends on how your client has set the TV Shape setting on their DVD player.
If the DVD player is connect to a 16:9 TV (and therefore the TV Shape setting is 16:9), there is no issue - the anamorphic image fills the screen.
However, for 4:3 users, the TV Shape setting provides two choices: 4:3 Pan-Scan (sometimes labeled at 4:3 Normal) and 4:3 Letterbox. When you use the 16:9 Pan-Scan & Letterbox display mode in DVDSP, your footage will have the edges cropped off if the player is set to 4:3 Pan-Scan. The edges will be cropped off because you cannot specify Pan-Scan vectors in DVDSP or Compressor (Pan-Scan vectors being an element of the DVD spec that companies have been unable to implement). As you might be able to guess, if the player is set to 4:3 Letterbox, your footage gets letterboxed.
Now, this wouldn't be a problem except for 2 factors:
Most of the time, cropping the edges of your video is not what you intended (it makes you look bad when something important is cut off)
Because most commercial DVDs use the 16:9 Letterbox display mode - where it doesn't matter which 4:3 TV Shape setting is used, the 16:9 image is letterboxed - most users don't know the difference between the two 4:3 settings. This can lead to unexpected results when you send them a disc encoded as 16:9 Pan-Scan & Letterbox. (And let's just say that most users are really confused by the setup menus on DVD players)
Of course, I preface all of this by saying usually. If it's worked for you in the past - or you compose your shots in such a way that cropping off the edges is no big thing - don't let me cramp your style.

Fastest iMovie Video Import Fromat for iDVD Processing

Which iMovie video import format will end up being converted the fastest when I export the final result into iDVD?
Should I use DV? MPG4? Or one of the others?
Just what format DOES iDVD convert iMovies into? Seems to take a REALLY long time, even with my iMac G5. If I could initially import the raw video into the same format, seems logical it would take less time for iDVD to do its thing.
Thanks!
iMac G5, Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

DV is the native format for iMovie and iDVD. Encoding contents to mpeg2 is a looong process in iDVD.
Of course authoring a DVD in an app like DVD Studio Pro with mpeg2 files would be a time saver, however unlike DVD SP, iDVD does not except mpeg2 files. (it only encodes to mpeg2).
I usually bring my iMovie project into iDVD as a flatten project.
Meaning all the A/V tracks, transitions, effects, titles, etc. comprising a iMovie project is shared/exported as a DV file(s) into a new project.
I check to make sure the DV file(s) play correctly in the new project and just add chapter markers save and close iMovie. Open iDVD, import the iMovie project, author the DVD and wait for it to finish.
I find iDVD works more efficiently/faster encoding when it doesn't have to deal with mulitple audio tracks, transitons, effects, titles etc.
It also reduces the number of encoding errors that can occur in iDVD.

Best Soreson Squeeze settings for iDVD?

Hi everyone,
Looking for a bit of help!
I need to get a 30 minute PAL 16:9 sequence out of Avid Adrenaline and into iDVD. I've got Sorenson Squeeze which I can use, but I was just wondering if anyone new the best settings to use in there for iDVD?
I'd really like the quality to be as good as possible. I'm a bit confused as to all the different file formats I can export in.
Apologies as I know this isn't strictly an iDVD question!
Simon

I know iDvd doesn't play nicely with Flash formats. But I don't have much experience with Sqweeze:
http://www.new-media.com.au/Sorensen-Squeeze-4.5-for-Flash-pr-1948.html
However, is there a QuickTime export option in Sorrensen Sqweeze?
If so, that's what I'd try first since i-Apps are QT based.
A second option might be to export to .DV => iMovie /FCP => iDvd'08

Anamorphic DV export for iDVD - method?

Help!
I am using FCP 3.1 and iDVD 5.
I am editing an anamorphic sequence of PAL DV footage captured from a Panasonic hvx202 - recorded to tape in native 16:9 DV.
I want to export this sequence from FCP in a format for iDVD.
In order for a DVD player to replay in a 16:9 ratio I understand I need export as 720 x 405 ... that is, 'stretch' the image back to 16:9? ... Yes?
I can see two options:
1. Create Final Cut Pro movie:
a. I assume I make a Self Contained movie?
b. Do I use a Custom 16:9 setting of 720 x 405
c. Do I leave the anamorphic 16:9 button unchecked?
d. Do I use DV PAL compression? Or No compression?
e. I assume motion settings would be 25 fps?
2. Export as a Quicktime movie
I assume I use the Options settings and so:
a. Do I compress as Video, DV PAL, or none?
b. I assume motion settings would be 25 fps?
c. There is a default checked box for a keyframe every 24 frames: necessary? should it be 25 frames?
d. I assume I set the Size to 720 x 405 ?
e. Do I de-select "Prepare for Internet Streaming" ?
Help will be greatly appreciated,
Bill

First, your FCP sequence has to be 16:9.
In order to get iDVD5 to letterbox your footage you need to export from FCP using quicktime conversion (not quicktime movie)
Change the size to either NTSC or PAL 16:9 (I think it only gives you 1 option for NTSC or PAL 16:9) and under settings change the compression to match your project.
For some reason QuicktimePro and iDVD don't see the anamorphic flag created in FCP for Quicktime movie.

What other file format for IDVD project?

hi I have edited hd video files which are Quicktime movies in m-peg2 1920x1080. The files currently put me over the size limit to be able to burn a DVD. I don't want to leave any of the files of of the DVD. My question is what's the next best conversion format I should use so that they all can fit onto my DVD. in other words I want to convert to a smaller size using compressor to fit the idvd project.
Thanks
RD

I advice you to use Brorsoft Video to iDVD Converter.
With it, you can convert video to the best format for burning to iDVD on Mac OS X. iDVD only supports video or image files supported by QuickTime. You can use the tool to convert video to QuickTime MOV file.
Trick:
For best results, in the QuickTime export settings of your video editing application, choose NTSC-DV with a frame rate of 29.97 or PAL-DV with a frame rate of 25. Choose No Compression for audio, and set the sample rate to 48 kilohertz.
Tips:
1. You can drag a QuickTime movie file to the audio well in the Menu Info window or in the slideshow editor. iDVD uses the first audio track in the file as a soundtrack for the menu that is open or for the slideshow and ignores the video. For more information, see Related Topics below.
2. If you share an iMovie HD project as a QuickTime movie using the Full Quality option, iMovie HD doesn’t include chapter markers in the QuickTime movie.

Avid Footage for iDVD: Converting YCbCr / 601 to RGB

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