Encoding for SD DVD using H.264

Hi everyone,
I'm wanting to output my JVC HDV 720p25 7 minute short film to dvd. I've already done a standard mpeg2 encoded DVD, but I'm wanting to try and see if I can get better results encoding to H.264 using compressor.
I know that there a presets with compressor with the HD DVD: H.264 presets abd the H.264 for DVD studio pro. With those presets compressor allows between 50 and 70 minutes of video on a DVD-5.
What I really want to know what settings should I use? Does anyone have a tried and tested bitrate method? I understand about mpeg2 bitrates, but H.264 is very new to me.
I obviously want to get the best results possible for an SD DVD, but I don't want to boost the bitrate and make it unplayable on DVD players.
Can anyone offer any suggestions?
Also are there benefits to using H.264 over Mpeg2?
Thanks in advance.
James

James:
You must encode to MPEG2 to create a SD DVD. Take a lok at this Site/titorial: Bonsai’s HDV to SD DVD page to get the most of your HDV.
As you have been told, forget the H.264 step.
Hope that helps.
Alberto

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Have deleted cashe files, rebooted.
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thanks much....

x & patrick,
thanks for your help & desire for further clarification.
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Converting mpeg4s for home DVD use

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You might want to try VisualHub from http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/
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F Shippey

Audio drifts out of sync encoding for DVD

I am using Compressor 3.0.5.
I have a DVCPRO HD file I'm trying to encode for a DVD.
Even if I use the default settings in "DVD: Best Quality 120 minutes," the audio and video are completely off by the end by several frames.
The source file was generated from FCP6.0.6, and that file doesn't have any drift issues. I have even successfully used Compressor to encode an H.264 file with no drift using the exact same file.
Why then are the m2v and the ac3 files so off then? They are even different lengths by several frames.
I've tried re-encoding the audio separately at 48K 24bit, (same as FCP settings) and that generated an ac3 that was 32 frames longer than the video, which was exported with the exact same in and out point.
I've even tried breaking it up into 5 separate reels to encode each one individually and then join them in DVDSP, but then each of the 5 separate reels are each off as well, anywhere between 5 to 8 frames by the end.
I spoke to Apple tech support, and they don't know why this is happening. Yet I see many people who have this experience and I can't find the solution. Please help!
I read one post that mentioned it might be using a cluster and multiple cores, so I'll try using a single next, but if anyone has a solution please let me know.
Thank you!

I've had the same issue. It seems to only occur when outputting a 23.98 sequence to Compressor using the cluster.
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Highest Quality DVD Encoding for 29.97 and 24p DVX Footage

I want to make sure that in both FCP and in Compressor that I am setup to have the best possible quality SD DVD.
I have edited footage that is both in 29.97 and 24p from a DVX100a in Final Cut Pro 6.04. My sequence settings are:
720x480 -NTSC DV 3:2
Pixel Aspect: NTSC
Field Dominance: Lower (Even)
Editing Timebase: 29.97
Compressor: DV/DVCPRO - NTSC
Quality: 100
Video processing and render settings are on the highest setting.
I am done editing and want to encode to SD DVD using Compressor. My settings are:
Video Format TAB - Untouched (NTSC, 29.97, 4x3, Field - Bottom First)
Frame Controls TAB -
Resize - Best
Output - Progressive
Deinterlace - Best
Adaptive Details - Not Checked
Anti Alias - 0
Details Level - 0
Rate Conversion - Fast
Set Duration 100%
Are these settings correct? When I brought the mpeg2 into DVD Studio Pro and put it into a track, it said that it was 720x480i. Shouldn't it be 720x480p? I am a bit confused. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

Look, you really need to wrap your head around 24p, 30p, 24pA and 30i.
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CaptM

Best Process for making DVD slideshows w/iDVD

Hasn't someone made a Sticky about this yet??
I just perused the forum for this answer and it seems the user "Shippley" has provided the most help in this area. I'm hoping they can help in this case. For making a dvd slideshow using ONLY iMovie, iPhoto and or iDVD what process has been determined to provide the best visual quality on playback in a DVD player?
I've read that for best results in putting a slideshow onto a DVD is to make the slideshow in iPhoto or iMovie first, and then send it on to iDVD.
But I need more information, and in one location-
Should the iPhoto/iMovie slideshow be WITHOUT any transitions for best quality?
In iPhoto, should we organize our slideshow in an Event then Share > Send to iDVD for best results, or is there a better way?
Does iMovie HD (6.0.4) or iMovie '08 (7.1.4) make a difference in quality? Otherwise I want the easiest.
When the iMovie slideshow is being sent to iDVD, should we use Share>Export Movie for the best quality when sending to iDVD? Or is there another/better way?
My photo's are scanned from slides and are small file sizes, if they were large (like from a digital camera) do I have to resize them for optimum DVD viewing?
What about the settings for widescreen or standard, either one better?
iDVD encoding, Best/High/Professional, which one for best clarity?
Like most other infrequent DVD makers, I do not want a fancy slideshow, I don't care if it has transitions if it means I can have better clarity in the DVD player. I have old slides that I simply want to burn to a DVD.
Thanks for your help!
Sandy

Here is a quote from a post of F Shippley on March 8, 2010 that I am referring to. Bengt, you also responded to this post. The post is titled "poor picture quality with DVD slideshow".
Thus my confusion as to the best practice. I may look into Fotomagico, but like others, I don't want to have to pay for another application that may only be used once or twice a year! Thank you for your responses.
F Shippley writes, "As I told you in your other message yhread:
The easiest way to improve the quality of slideshows for use with iDVD is to create them as movies in iPhoto or iMovie! Creating slideshows in iDVD has MANY drawbacks (as you have probably found). It's 'quick and dirty' easy for a few slides, but that's about all I use it for.
BTW, for PAL DVDs use 768x576 pixel images for standard video and use 1024x576 pixel images for widescreen video. That's all the resolution a DVD supports. "

Unable To Use DVDSP4 Presets for HD-DVD in the H.264 Format

I recently prepared a 23 minute slide show using Fotomagico from high resolution Hasselblad slides scanned in at 1200 dpi. Within Fotomagico I rendered the Fotomagico slide show to Apple ProRes 422 HQ, took it into Final Cut Pro 6.03 and added an intro and closing section. I then sent this to Compressor and selected the 30 minute HD-DVD preset which uses mpeg2. All went fine with the encoding to mpeg2 and I got a successful build and format out of DVDSP4 after importing the resulting .m2v file into DVDSP4. However, while the disk plays back fine in my Mac Pro it plays back with stuttering (audio and video) on my Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player. I used a Verbatim Datalife DVD+R, but several other discs from other manufactuers including a DVD-R disc showed the same problem.
Please note that I have the latest firmware on my Toshiba HD-A2 and I have successfully burned RL HD-DVD discs using my PC and Windows software (Ulead's DVD Movie Factory 6+) which play fine without stuttering on my HD-A2.
I then decided to send the project to Compressor and use the 60 minute HD-DVD preset that encodes to H.264. Once again Compressor successfully executed the encode of my 23 minute slide show and it plays fine in QuickTime or MPEG StreamClip. However, every time I try and import this .mov file encoded in H.264 using the Compressor preset for HD-DVD into DVDSP4, DVDSP4 brings it in to the assets folder, but after a couple of seconds DVDSP4 crashes. Using console I get a message that DVDSP4 quit unexpectedly due to a "segmentation fault".
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In summary, I am completely frustrated after many many hours of work at trying to prepare an HD-DVD on red laser of my slide show in DVDSP4. I cannot figure out what I am doing wrong, and I would be most appreciative of any suggestions anyone may have.
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Am I the only person who has ever tried to use the Presets in Compressor 3 for encoding HD-DVD disks? I would like to use these presets for burning HD-DVD's to standard red laser media as I have done on my PC. With the mpeg2 Preset I can get nothing but stuttering video when played back on my Toshiba HD-A2 and when I use Compressor 3 to encode with either of the H264 presets, the resulting .mov file causes DVDSP4 to crash when I import the file. Has no one else experienced this? Does anyone have any thoughts on addressing these issues other than to go back to working on my PC?
Tom

Future encoding time for HD DVDs!

Wow! For those of us who think our encoding takes a long time now, I read in a recent HD trade magazine that stated a 2-hour theatrical movie is taking 100 hours to encode for an HD movie. It didn't say what programs or systems were being used. If this is true, I think I can wait a little longer before I need to make an HD DVD.

Hey kenneth,
using the preset in HD DVD H.264 preset in compressor can take that long.
we would need more information on how exactly you are compressing your video, also what your native codec is.
we need more information such as:
-are you using presets
-if you are NOT using presets (you set your own settings) what are they
-what type of file are you importing into compressor and with what codec
-what kind of and how many drives do you have in your G5
-are your drives stripped (using RAID)
-how much RAM
-what other applications do you have open when encoding
(see what i mean, all this info would be VERY useful)
one of your questions was if encoding with the H.264 codec was really this time consuming. the answer would be yes, although it sounds like you might have set some other settings manually. but i will not assume, i will await a response.
also, your last comment is a little confusing since once again, more information was not included.
do you mean that both H.264 and high bit-rate mpeg2 codecs work in a G5, so it will play back on the newer versions of Apple DVD Player?
or do you mean that the h.264 codec will play on toshiba's HD-A1 and HD-XA1 hardware players, such as the high bit-rate mpeg2 codec?
if the former, then you are 100% correct!
if the latter, then you would be 100% incorrect (unless toshiba finally delivered their much promised firmware update, which would include *.ac3 [dolby] playback as well).
please advise
Mikey M.

Which Encode Presets should I use, DVD or MPEG2?

Hi guys, When I Export a sequence from FCP5 as QT reference movie and the import in Compressor 2, I have a choice of Presets to choose for Encoding such as DVD, MPEG2. Which one do I choose for Encoding and then Importing into DVDSP3?
Thanks,
ZIA

You shouldn't be using presets from Compressor 1.X (I assume that is what you are referring to when you say MPEG2 preset), see the following note from Apple:
http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?linkprocess_@@.68b5fbd7
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H.264/AVC software encoding for cameras

Hi All,
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H.264/AVC software encoding is not turn on by default. You need to assign the NetStream.videoStreamSettings property an H264VideoStreamSettings object. Here's a very simple example;
package
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Encoding for SD DVD using H.264

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