Compressing to 16:9 MPEG

Hi,
I'm having real trouble here. I'm exporting a 16:9 (Anamorphic) video from FCP through compressor but it keeps ending up as a 4:3 video. I've tried various changes on the cropping etc to 16:9 but no joy. It needs to be a just a small sized vid for a powerpoint presentation. Could anyone point me in the right direction please?
Thanks very much,
Simon.

This is a problem you can certainly encounter at times with anamorphic video. What's happening is the pixels are being stretched anamorphically in your original video but then the mpeg format isn't stretching them.
What you want to do is go into the dimensions portion of the geometry tab and input what you want the specific frame size to be, accounting for the square pixels. You want the width divided by the height of the frame to equal 1.7777777777777. (i.e. 16/9 = 1.7777777, 1920/1080 = 1.777777777 427/240 = 1.77777777777)
The best way to do this is to choose "Custom (16:9)" from the dropdown menu. Then you can input a value for height or width and it will automatically adjust.
I recommend that you don't change the pixel aspect ratio. That would be another solution but can present some minor problems at times.

Similar Messages

Please help-Trying to compress to Mpeg-2 for Convention, also resizing issues

Hello,
I just recently finished making an AMV in Adobe Premiere 5.5, and I am having trouble trying to figure out how to compress it into an Mpeg-2 source for a competition/convention.
I also have these massive black borders on the side of my video that I know is probably due to improper resizing on my part, and although I have tried to remedy this with a new avisynth script of the exported uncompressed AVI (before compressing to MPEG-2), whenever I try to run the avisynth script in either VirtualDubMod or TMPGEnc (the converting program recommended by: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/mpegforcons/) it crashes, although the original video does work.
This is the avisynth script I have created for the post-video:
FFVideoSource("C:\Users\Freeman\Desktop\Fight the Power.avi")
FFCopyrightInfringement("C:\Users\Freeman\Desktop\Fight the Power.avi")
AssumeFPS("23.976")
SSRC(48000)
LanczosResize(720,352)
AddBorders(0,64,0,64)
per the recommendations from the guide listed below
I do not know if the resizing I have set up in the new avisynth script will fix my resizing issues, and I would like to improve that as much as possible, so if someone could clarify for me, that would be greatly appreciated.
You may also notice some audio issues throughout the video, however on further playback this never appears to happen in the same place. I believe this is caused by poor audio quality, and I have a friend of mine working on setting up a lossless source that I will try to recompress with the video before friday, however if someone else might know what is causing this, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Here is the current MPEG-2 I have, however for obvious reasons, I do not consider it acceptable as of yet:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IIKYWRXF
The original export from Premiere is Microsoft AVI Uncompressed, and then attempted to convert to MPEG-2 (I tried multiple settings, they all have the same sizing issues), and as I said before, no matter what I try to do with the avisynth script, it crashes.
I have even tried taking out every line from the new avisynth script except for the first two detailing the location of the video and audio, however this does nothing, it still crashes.
I had to convert all my original source avisynth scripts to AVI files (that are massive, as I am editing from 52 episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), and so editing the original scripts is impossible at this point, because to my knowledge, that would mean I would have to reconvert them all to AVI, which took over 16 hours, and then that would probably make me have to re-edit this entire video (which if you look at it, based on length and how much work I've put into it: is impossible, especially given the time constraints).
So anything that I can do to fix this will have to be done to the export from Premiere, unless there is a way to work with the AVI's that I made from the avisynth scripts.
The source is primarily 16:9 DVD (Fullmetal Alchemist) and very few parts from a 4:3 DVD (Naruto). (You can recognize these parts in the video, it is whenever someone is rowing in a boat during the lyrics "Row Row")
The avisynth script for all the fullmetal alchemist DVD's is as follows:
mpeg2source("F:\DVD RIPS\Music Video Rips\Brotherhood\Disc 1 (1-7)\MainMovie\FMA_BROTHERHOOD_P1_D1\FMAB 1-7.d2v", cpu=4)
ConvertToYV12()
Spline36Resize(848,480)
#TTempSmooth()
FastLineDarkenMod()
LSFmod(strength=120)
LUTDeRainbow()
And the avisynth script for the one Naruto DVD is as follows:
mpeg2source("F:\DVD RIPS\Music Video Rips\Random\Row Row\MainMovie\ROW ROW\VTS_01_1.d2v")
TFM()
TDecimate()
Spline36Resize(848,636)
Crop(0,78, 0,-78)
These recommendations came from what I could figure out from:
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech31/
If anyone is curious, the song is "Libera me from Hell", and it is 44100 from what I could tell when I ran it in WINAMP (I converted it from mp3 to wav through WINAMP, if there is a better way that I am unaware of, please let me know).
I know this is extremely long, and thank you anyone who has taken their time to look through it, it is greatly appreciated.
The deadline for this is friday (5/20/11), so I need help with this ASAP and thanks,
Dexter

Dexter,
Those "black borders," if they are visible in the Program Monitor, are most likely due to a mis-match between the Source Files and the Sequence Preset.
If they are only showing up upon Export, then there is likely a mis-match between your Sequence and your Export, and could be either with the Aspect Ratio, or if using non-square pixels, the PAR (Pixel Aspect Ratio).
I'll defer any commens on AVISynth to the experts here.
Good luck,
Hunt

Not compressing audio from MPEG

I'm trying to use an MPEG in FCP, but it won't see the audio. I tried to throw it into Compressor, but Compressor says that it won't compress audio from an MPEG 1 or MPEG 2. Any advice?
Thanks.

I had only used it to rip from DVDs to this point . . . seems to be quite a bit more useful than I have seen it so far. Thanks!

Compression for CD or DVD - ROM ??

I want to make a PDF document which links to several Video clips (or different chapters in one video clip). I can make the links in Acrobat no problem, but I can't make them open a .vob in a VideoTS folder (it opens Toast for some reason). So I figure I need to make individual clips compressed in some other way?
Because my projects usually go straight to DVD after creating menus of varying complexity in DVDSP, my work flow through Compressor has become reliable and un-varied. I have tweaked my favourite settings which work well for me.
But now I have to make something quite different and I'm having trouble getting my head around the enormous variety of settings and choices offered in Compressor.
I believe I can't compress these clips in mpeg-2 and author all this in a conventional DVD because of the above problem. I think I have to compress the clips into .mov (or the like) and have all this on some sort of CD-ROM (DVD-ROM)?
If so what compression method do I choose?
I've done several experiments with a short clip representing the type of footage I have filmed. H264 gives excellent picture results, but it is jumpy on playback. QuickTime movies look dreadful.
Can someone please point me in the right (or any) direction? Right now I feel I'm going round in circles.
Cheers...
(I'm using SD DV footage, eventual output compatible to PC users)
PB 17" 1.6 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Patrick Amarger wrote:
I wish to burn on a CD or a DVD a downloaded video I purchased on the iTune Store in order to watch the movie on a home DVD player.
sorry, but you can only burn purchased movies to CD/DVD for backup purposes, not for viewing on a DVD player.
JGG

MPEG-2 file has out of sync audio - PLEASE HELP

We captured four mini-DV tapes into Final Cut Pro HD using my Canon mini DV camera and a firewire. After capture we put each tape on its own timeline, added chapter markers, and then compressed each one into MPEG-2 files using the QT codec. Once we had the compressed files we deleted the origional footage and burned DVDs with the MPEG-2s.
After viewing the DVDs we realized that the audio was out of sync on each of them. It seems to get pregressively worse as the tape plays (the beginning is close to being in sync and at the end it's a few seconds off). Each tape is about 59 minutes long.
We really need to fix this and do not have access to the orional/captured footage. Does anyone have any ideas?

You deleted the original footage before you verified anything !
Sorry, this is just <princess bride voice> inconceivable <pbv off>
Use MPEG Streamclip or DVDxDV to extract a DV NTSC file from the VOB files.
Drop that in the time line.
export the audio as an AIFF file
Open the file in Peak or similar application that change the length of the audio file without changing the pitch.
reimport the file to FCP
Re export the file as a m2v and burn a new disk.
Swear on whatever is holy that you will NEVER delete source footage again if you do not have access to original tapes/media.
x
ps. Do not double post - we will get to you.

Compression for YouTube, to less than 100MB

Hello - I followed YouTube's instructions, and have been compressing from FCP, to MPEG-4. All's good - it looks great, client's happy. I now have quite a larger file, that another client would like to upload to YouTube, but it's well over 100MB, in the 145MB area, and about 9 1/2 min. How can I compress, so I can keep that nice quality, but put it under 100MB? Thanks so much!

YouTube has a *2 gigabyte* upload limit. But you still have to come in at under 10 minutes.
The last piece that I put up was a 900MB DV PAL file. Took a while but it looks fantastic.

How to compress a .mov into a QuickTime for Internet sending?

My sequence exported as a .mov file is too big to send via YouSendit. I tried the Settings: QuickTime Compatible 7 in Compressor and the new file was 4.3 Size instead of 16.9. Same thing when I tried to compress it into an MPEG 4. I'm working on Final Cut Pro version 6 on my MacBook Pro laptop. Can you help please?

How big do you want it to be? Is quality of any concern? Does it need to be full resolution?
I assume you're uploading the file for someone to download; not for actual posting/viewing on the web. If that is correct, is this a draft copy for client review or the final product?
-DH

Mpeg with mp2 audio

I am getting ready to deliver TV spots for air via FTP, and the media house requests the video be delivered as mpeg with mp2 audio. Maybe I'm missing something, but I couldn't figure out how to do that easily through Compresser, or even through Mpeg Streamclip.
Here's what I wound up doing: I exported the spot as uncompressed Quicktime. I brought it into Compressor and encoded it as mpeg2, Best Quality and the audio as Dolby 2.0 (in the future, I'll just use AIFF). THEN I brought those files into DVDSP in order to mux them, then opened the resulting VOB in Mpeg Streamclip and converted it to mpeg with mp2 audio.
That seemed to satisfy the tech guy at the media distribution house. But there's gotta be an easier way, right? I know I'm missing something simple...

It's been a while since I've done it with MPEG Streamclip, and I'm not at my Mac right now ... but as I recall, both the audio and video files need to be in the same folder and have the same name (except for the extension). Bring the video file into MPEG Streamclip and it will automatically find the associated audio file.
-DH

Quicktime will not play MPEG-2 after Lion updagrade

I have upgraded my system to Lion which should enable Quicktime to load MPEG-2 videos yet I cannot "missing codec" - does anyone have a possible solution?

These are files that were stored on my previous Windows computer as AVCHD and utlised a Sony program (Picture Motion Browser - PMB) to view. The PMB had a facility that allowed me to convert the files to MPEG-2 (.mpg) which I did. I then transferred these files across to my iMac.
Are you sure the content is MPEG-2? AVCHD data can be stored in an MPG/MPEG file containers without transcoding but would not be recognized by Lion's QT X Player software. (I normally use the MKV file container for such data.) Try playing it in VLC and if it loads and plays without problem check the "Media Info" window to view the compression formats.
When I open the .mpg QT is launched but then the error regarding the missing Codec comes up.
Which version of QT? Lion can simultaneously use both QT X and QT 7 players. The one that opens automatically could be either depending on whether or not you have modified the default "Open with..." setting for the MPG/MPEG class of files.
I have the Lion OS which I am to believe updates QT to enable it open MPEG-2 files.
As previously stated, only QT X natively supports MPEG-2 compression. QT 7 MPEG-2 is not supported by Lion's QT X software and so, as previously mentioned, it still requires the $19.99 QT MPEG-2 Playback Component be installed.
I have also downloaded the QT MPEG-2 Conversion from the apple store however it will not install on my computer as it says I need an older version of my OS before it can proceed.
If by "QT MPEG-2 Conversion" you are referring to the QT MPEG-2 Playback Component, only the installer will not run. The component itself is compatible and can be installed in one of three different ways:
1) Install the component on an older system and then copy the component to your Lion system.
2) Download and use the free MPEG-2 Streamclip Beta package software to install the component. (I.e., this software package includes a "helper" utility that will install the QT MPEG-2 Playback Component which is in the installer package you purchased from Apple but which will not run on its own.)
3) You can use Pacifist to either auto-install the component from the MPEG-2 component installer package or to extract the component and manually install it yourself.

Unable to compress.

I'm new to Leopard as of two days ago. I am trying to compress a file, but the .zip file that results is the same size as the original, which I can't e-mail. I've checked permissions for the file as recommended by Mac Help, but the file still will not compress to a smalller size. Is there something I'm doing wrong or that I just don't know?

Not in the sense you're talking about (lossless file compression to .zip). A movie can be compressed lossily through video compression (programs such as Quicktime Pro or Compressor) which results in a smaller file size, with some degradation of video quality depending on the compression type (eg, to MPEG-4).
The same applies to audio - you can try to compress an AIFF file to .ZIP, but probably won't get the file much smaller; however, if you use iTunes to (lossily) compress the audio to mp3, you will get a nice size saving.
Matt

Exporting from .mpeg to .mov file loses sound

Okays so I know that there are numerous forum discussions out there on this topic but none helped me figure out my problem so I decided to create my own.
I'm trying to take a xxx.mpeg file and convert it to a smaller xxx_web.mov file that I can use for posting on the web and sending to friends easily over ichat. To get my mpeg file I:
1. used mac-the-ripper to get the Video_TS folder from a DVD with now encryption.
2. then I took that .VOB file from that and drug it into MPEG Streamclip to convert the .VOB file to an xxx.mpeg.
All is well up till this point and xxx.mpeg plays fine with sound. Next I tried to use quicktime pro to export my xxx.mpeg file to xxx_web.mov. This gave me video with now sound
Then I read about mpegs being muxed and I needed to demux them. So I used MPEG Streamclip to demux xxx.mpeg with the following option from MPEG Streamclip:
DEMUX to M2V and AIFF.
This worked succussfully as well with the M2V file playing normally in quicktime with sound. I then tried to export the M2V file to a .mov file and got the same outcome...video but no sound.
Can someone walk me through what I'm doing wrong? Also I just started using MPEG Streamclip can it do everything i'm trying to do (meaning can I bypass using quicktime pro)?
Thank you.

1. used mac-the-ripper to get the Video_TS folder from a DVD with now encryption.
If the source DVD is not encrypted, then the VIDEO_TS folder or desired non-zero title VOB series can be copied directly to your hard drive without the use of MTR.
2. then I took that .VOB file from that and drug it into MPEG Streamclip to convert the .VOB file to an xxx.mpeg... I'm trying to take a xxx.mpeg file and convert it to a smaller xxx_web.mov file that I can use for posting on the web and sending to friends easily over ichat.
If you goal is to create a small, web compatible file, you should convert to your final target compression format while in MPEG Streamclip. Most Apple applications use the H.264/AAC compression format for posting to web sites since it generally produces the smallest file for a given level of quality. For instance, selecting the "Export to MPEG-4..." option in MPEG Streamclip, pressing the "iTunes" button, and then selecting an appropriate size/aspect combination will automatically load user settings to create your final file. The 640x480 or 640x360 iTunes option will produce a file similar to the iTunes option in QT Pro (or iTunes) but will also retain your audio.
All is well up till this point and xxx.mpeg plays fine with sound. Next I tried to use quicktime pro to export my xxx.mpeg file to xxx_web.mov. This gave me video with now sound
QT Pro does not fully support multiplexed MPEG compression formats. An MPEG (MPEG2/MP2) compression format will play in the QT player with the QT MPEG-2 Playback component installed but cannot be edited or converted and retain the audio. To retain the audio, you must use a third-party, MPEG-based conversion application like MPEG Streamclip.
Then I read about mpegs being muxed and I needed to demux them. So I used MPEG Streamclip to demux xxx.mpeg with the following option from MPEG Streamclip:
DEMUX to M2V and AIFF.
This work flow creates two elementary stream files. Both the M2V (with MPEG-2 component installed) and the AIFF file are QT Pro compatible. However, they must always be stored together on your hard drive. Since the M2V video file "resources" the AIFF audio in a separate file, if the files are separated, this reference will be orphaned and, as you have seen, you again end up losing your audio.
I just started using MPEG Streamclip can it do everything i'm trying to do (meaning can I bypass using quicktime pro)?... Can someone walk me through what I'm doing wrong?
Already covered. (See above.)
If I export to any format (QuickTime movie, AVI, Windows Media, MPEG-4), all of the audio options are greyed out. Some say explicitly that there is no audio in the source movie. If I go ahead, I get a file with no audio.
The "Save" and "Save As..." options do not convert the compression format. They merely take the data (which you already said plays correctly) and places it in an MOV file container where it continues to play correctly. On the other hand, when you attempt to convert the file to other compression formats (i.e., change the data within the container), then you lose the audio. As indicated above, multiplexed formats like MPEG-2 video with MPEG-1 layer 2 audio are playback only compatible with the QT structure. If you wish to convert the data to a different format and retain the audio, use a third-party, MPEG-based application.
QuickTime is obviously able to decode the .m1a audio since it can play it. Why does it seem to not be aware the audio is there if I try to export it?
Because QT is based on a multi-track engine that synchronizes audio and video frames with reference to external clocking. On the other hand, multiplexed content divides the audio and video into interspersed blocks of data synchronized spatially within a single data stream. QT could theoretically create two separate streams of data but has no way of synchronizing any single frame of audio with its video frame counterpart. The MPEG Streamclip engine can do this but requires the QT MPEG-2 Playback component to then bridge the gap between spatial and temporal based playback engines. Without this temporal relationship the QT player would probably return the infamous "Not a movie" message.

Exporting from final cut as mpeg 4

Hey quick time pros
I created an mpeg 4 to view DVD clips. On the website they view ok in PC but on the MAC they become a text file. They were created and uploaded via mac.
We recreated them as H264 and reduced the files size to 5.3 meg they come through ok
Still not loading as quick as other sites I have been to.
Looking for any advice.
I am trying to create a cross platform environment with decent spped. What is the best settings?
thanks
powerbook Mac OS X (10.4.6) 17" power book

A Few Additional Comments:
1) Was looking a both examples (MPEG-4 and H.264) you posted. Noted you had reversed the MPEG-4/H.264 compression limitation strategies. MPEG-4 is the older, less efficient. As such it requires roughly 3 time the data rate required by an H.264 to achieve about the same quality.
2) Both examples employed an 11:9 aspect ratio for the display area. Assume you used a D1 rectangular setting. As I assume you will display the files in a computer browser, would likely recommend the more common 4:3 square pixel aspect ratio (320 x 240) here.
3) In addition, since both examples included wasted pixel areas, suggest you crop/scale the active area.
4) As to QT Kirk's audio and video recommendations, I prefer slightly different settings myself. For instance, I prefer to keep a higher frame rate (23.98) and a lower "per pixel" data rate/higher compression rate for video and a similar approach to the audio (ie., keeping the 44.1 kHz sampling rate and lowering the data rate). You may want to try both approaches to see which you prefer.
5) As an example I tried modifying your H.264 clip and reduced the file size by 2/3 and overall data rate for 384 kbps ISP connection. Here is the link. See what you think.
http://homepage.mac.com/jrwalker4/.Public/BallFlight2.mp4

MPEG 2 stutters when played on my Mac

Hey everyone,
I am having a strange problem with MPEG 2 files. Normally I make DVDs to play on DVD players connected to tvs, but for my current project I need to create a DVD which will most likely be played on computers. The MPEG 2 files I've created in Compressor and DVDSP play back with a strange stutter during pan shots. Other shots are ok. Just to check, I burnt the files to a DVD and played them on my tv and there is no stutter. I've played the files through the Apple DVD Player program directly from the DVD, and also through QuickTime Player direct from the hard drive and I get the same stutter in both.
I read on another thread about someone having this problem with MPEG 4 files and they were told to try the VLC player, so I gave this a try as well, and it did work a lot better than QuickTime Player or DVD Player. But I can't rely on that because I doubt that most people I'm going to give the DVD to would have the VLC player. Can anyone suggest any settings for Compressor or DVDSP that will produce stutter-free pans when viewed in either DVD Player or QuickTime Player? My clip is less than 2 mins long. The settings I have used so far are:
Exporting from FCP to Compressor:
MPEG 2 PAL 60 minute two pass VBR, average bit rate 6.6Mbps, Max bit rate 7.8Mbps, Motion Estimation: best, Field dominance: bottom first
MPEG 2 PAL 60 minute One pass, average bit rate 7.8Mbps, Motion Estimation: best, Field dominance: bottom first
Exporting as a movie from FCP and then using DVDSP to encode during 'build/format':
MPEG 2 One pass VBR, bit rate 4.0Mbps, Max bit rate 7.0Mbps, Motion Estimation: better, Field order: auto
Any hints or tips would be gratefully received!
Dual 2GHz G5 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Thanks Heikki. My pans were shot on a DVX100a at 25p, so as I understand it, the footage is already progressive. I have tried compressing as a progressive MPEG 2 but it looks the same in QuickTime and DVD Player no matter what settings I use in the export. It only looks good in VLC Player or if I burn it to DVD and watch it on tv. Non panning shots look fine, it's just during the pans that there is a problem - as if I had some trembling disease while I was panning the camera!

MPEG1-DV conversion using MPEG Streamclip. Help!

I am having problems converting an mpeg1 movie clip for editing in iMovie.
I recently recorded a concert on my Sony DCR-HC40 camcorder. The majority of the concert was captured to cassette in DV-PAL format (720 x 576, stereo, 48 kHz at 25 FPS).
However, the final third of the concert was captured on the camera's MemoryStick Duo in MPEG1 muxed format (320 x 320 at 25 FPS). The clip is 84 Mb in size.
I want to convert the mpeg clip into the same format at the cassette footage so that I can seamlessly splice the two sets of footage in iMovieHD with as little depreciation in quality of image and sound as possible.
So far I have simply used the 'export to DV' command from the File menu in MPEG Streamclip. But this produces a noticeably crackly-sounding depreciation in sound quality and no improvement in image quality - rather the reverse infact, since when viewed in the larger Quicktime window, the clip shows up the poorer resolution of the original clip.
What do I need to do to get the original mpeg clip to as near a quality as the cassette footage, for editing and burning onto DVD for display on a TV?
Any guidance would be much appreciated.
BTW, I am running Tiger 10.4.3 on a Pb G4 (QuickTime 7.0.3/iMovie 5.0.2)
PowerBook G4 17 1.5 ghz 512 MB Ram Mac OS X (10.4.3)

mpeg1 footage is only fit for showing on screens no larger than an iPod photo or mobile device?
MPEG1 is usually encoded with low resolution and rather low bitrates so the quality is often rather poor.
However, MPEG1 CAN be encoded with DVD-like resolutions and bitrates so the quality CAN be quite good (MPEG1 doesn't support interlacing like MPEG2, though).
It would be a shame to lose the footage as it was part of a concert of Handel's Messiah.
One option could be to do minimal edits to the MPEG1 with MPEG editors like MPEG Streamclip and burn it as a VCD or DVD (they both CAN have the same video although DVDs rarely use it). Then you'd preserve ALL video quality there is.
...but this won't work with your 320x240 video because the VCD/DVD compatible resolution is PAL 352x288 or NTSC 352x240. So you'd need to re-compress even your 320x240 MPEG which degrades quality.
So your best quality option is to watch the MPEG1 on a computer monitor via MPEG Streamclip, QT Player or some other viewer.
Or, you can convert to DV and blend it with the high quality DV tape material. Converting MPEG to DV should not much or at all degrade quality because DV is a much higher quality codec than your MPEG1 source.
Bit Rate: 0.73 Mbps
Duration: 0:16:16
Data Size: 84.79 MB
That's quite low. A DVD uses about 4-6-8 Mb/s and a low quality low res VCD uses 1.1 Mb/s. So your MPEG1 quality can't be very good to begin with.
Audio Tracks:
192 MP2 mono, 32 kHz, 32 kbps
That's very low, too. Even a low quality MP2 often uses 192 kb/s. And the 32 kHz must be resampled to 48 kHz for DV or DVD use.
when played, either via streamclip before conversion, or in QT (I don't have QTPro) after conversion to DV, distorts at quite low levels in a way that a QT movie from cassette does not.
I'm afraid that there is not much you can do if you hear the distortion even BEFORE any conversions. Some dedicated audio processing app might soften the distortion but I wouldn't count on that.
FWIW, you might try to convert using the "Low Level" audio. From the MPEG Streamclip guide:
"For MPEG audio tracks (MP1, MP2) two different audio levels are available for playback and conversion to MOV, DV, AVI, MP4 and AIFF: "High Level" and "Low Level". You can choose one of these two levels using the "Audio Mode" pop-up menu. The default level is "High Level". Use "Low Level" if, and only if, the converted movie or AIFF file shows an excess of volume."
you also mention that re-compressing with iDVD will further degrade quality. Is this true of both types of footage (mpeg->DV & DV cassette)?
MPEG2 compression used in video-DVDs will ALWAYS degrade quality. High quality material (such as DV) tolerates this better so you might not even notice it. So you should use high bitrates if you want to convert and burn the low quality MPEG1-converted-to-DV material as a DVD (with iDVD use Best Performance or don't exceed ~70 minutes with Best Quality).
would I need to get Roxio Toast? What is the difference between this and IDVD?
Toast 7 can be forced to burn non-valid DVD resolutions as a video-DVD (MPEG Streamclip can be used to prepare the MPEGs) with no re-converting or quality loss but those DVDs are not guaranteed to work on standalone DVD players so I'd not use that route.
Basically, what I'd like to acheive is a nicely-edited home movie with titles etc, to put onto DVD & VHS, of a 2.5 hour classical concert, in as good a quality, audio/visually as I can, from the two types of footage, spliced as cleanly as possible. The footage is continuous, but the media changes from cassette to mpeg at a certain point.
Don't exceed ~70-75 minutes with iDVD because after this the quality starts to drop. Toast 7 can burn somewhat longer high quality DVDs than iDVD because it uses compressed AC3 audio so it doesn't "steal" bandwidth from video as iDVD does with its uncompressed PCM audio. But compressing that low quality audio might not be a good idea either!

Compressor renders mpeg-2 correctly

I'm trying to compress few videos to mpeg-2 for broadcasting but Compressor 3.5 makes them all black. I used the same settings as with older Compressor. The audio is not playing right eater. Can anyone help me a bit? I'm in a hurry here.
Thanks
Mikko K

Ok, i have found a way to make changes to the audio settings. First create a customized MPEG2 setting of your liking. Copy the setting to the desktop and open it with textedit. Locate the 48Khz sampling rate and have it changed to the sampling rate of your choice or in my case the audio data rate which by default is at 38400. Save the setting file and drop it back into the custom settings folder and viola. Be sure to delete the old setting file first prior to import.
Hope this helps.
Jim

Compressing to 16:9 MPEG

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