Export old VHS to DVD. Best Quality?

I am fairly new to FCE4. I copied all my home videos from VHS to my computer via Sony DCR-HC30. They became ".dv" files. Now I am finished editing/fixing the first video and I am ready to export it. All I want to do is to be able to make a dvd out of it and watch it on a hdtv. I know it will be very hard to get the old VHS quality videos to HD, but what would be the best setting under "Export" to get the best quality out of them. I tried to do a HD export watching a youtube video and after I did it it said it would take 11hours, thats way too long for me. Any help would be great.
Also, I have done a few projects on IDVD as far as creating the dvd menu and chapters. Is there a way to do that on FCE or is it better after export to run it through IDVD to get my dvd menus and give it an actual dvd feel when I insert it into a dvd player?

Hi
DVD is limited as standard to SD-video (Standard definition) (old CRT-TV quality).
There are no practical/working HD-DVD versions at all.
Neither iDVD or Roxio Toast™ will help.
DVD-Studio Pro got a HD-DVD function - BUT this only play back on some few Toshiba players.
Only way to get HD - is via Blu-Ray - require Roxio Toast™ 10 Pro incl BD-component
and BD-burner + BD-disks - AND BD-Player
I've made a list on this.
*DVD quality*
1. iDVD 08 & 09 has three levels of qualities.
iDVD 6 has the two last ones
• Professional Quality *(movies + menus up to 120 min.)* - BEST
• Best Performances *(movies + menus less than 60 min.)* - High quality on final DVD
• High Quality (in iDVD08 or 09) / Best Quality (in iDVD6) *(movies + menus up to 120 min.)* - slightly lower quality than above
2.Video from
• FCE/P - Export out as full quality QuickTime.mov (not selfcontaining, no conversion)
• iMovie x-6 - Don't use ”Share/Export to iDVD” = destructive even to movie project and especially so
when the movie includes photos. Instead just drop or import the iMovie movie project icon (with a Star on it) into iDVD theme window.
• iMovie’08 not meant to go to iDVD. Go via Media Browser or rather use iMovie HD 6 from start.
3. I use Roxio Toast™ to make an as slow burn as possibly eg x1 (in iDVD’08 or 09 this can also be set)
This can also be done with Apple’s Disk Utilities application.
4. There has to be about or more than 25Gb free space on internal (start-up) hard disk. iDVD can't
use an external one as scratch disk (if it is not start-up disc).
5. I use Verbatim ( also recommended by many - Taiyo Yuden DVDs - I can’t get hold of it to test )
6. I use DVD-R (no +R or +/-RW)
7. Keep NTSC to NTSC - or - PAL to PAL when going from iMovie to iDVD
8. Don’t burn more than three DVD at a time - but let the laser cool off for a while befor next batch.
iDVD quality also depends on.
• DVD is a standard in it self. It is Standard Definition Quality = Same as on old CRT-TV sets and can not
deliver anything better that this.
HD-DVD was a shortlived standard and it was only a few Toshiba DVD-players that could playback.
These DVDs could be made in DVD-Studio Pro. But they don’t playback on any other standard DVD-layer.
*Blu-Ray / BD* can be coded onto DVDs but limited in time to - about 20-30 minutes and then need
_ Roxio Toast™ 10 Pro incl BD-component
_ BD disks and burner if full length movies are to be stored
_ BD-Player or PlayStation3 - to be able to plyback
The BD-encoded DVDs can be playbacked IF Mac also have Roxio DVD-player tool. Not on any standard Mac or DVD-player
Full BD-disks needs a BD-player (in Mac) as they need blue-laser to be read. No red-laser can do this.
• HOW much free space is there on Your internal (start-up) hard disk. Go for approx 25Gb.
less than 5Gb and Your result will most probably not play.
• How it was recorded - Tripod vs Handheld Camera. A stable picture will give a much higher quality
• Audio is most often more critical than picture. Bad audio and with dropouts usually results in a non-viewed movie.
• Use of Video-editor. iMovie’08 or 09 or 11 are not the tools for DVD-production. They discard every second line resulting in a close to VHS-tape quality.
iMovie 1 to HD6 and FinalCut any version delivers same quality as Camera recorde in = 100% to iDVD
• What kind of movie project You drop into it. MPEG4 seems to be a bad choice.
other strange formats are .avi, .wmv, .flash etc. Convert to streamingDV first
Also audio formats matters. I use only .aiff or from miniDV tape Camera 16-bit
strange formats often problematic are .avi, .wmv, audio from iTunes, .mp3 etc
Convert to .aiff first and use this in movie project
• What kind of standard - NTSC movie and NTSC DVD or PAL to PAL - no mix.
(If You need to change to do a NTSC DVD from PAL material let JESDeinterlacer3.2.2 do the conversion)
(Dropping a PAL movie into a NTSC iDVD project
(US) NTSC DVDs most often are playable in EU
(EU) PAL DVDs most often needs to be converted to play in US
UNLESS. They are plabacked by a Mac - then You need not to care
• What kind of DVDs You are using. I use Verbatim DVD-R (this brand AND no +R or +/-RW)
• How You encode and burn it. Two settings prior iDVD’08 or 09
Pro Quality (only in iDVD 08 & 09)
Best / High Quality (not always - most often not)
Best / High Performances (most often my choise before Pro Quality)
1. go to iDVD pref. menu and select tab far right and set burn speed to x1 (less errors = plays better) - only in iDVD 08 & 09
(x4 by some and may be even better)
2. Project info. Select Professional Encoding - only in iDVD 08 & 09.
Region codes.
iDVD - only burn Region = 0 - meaning - DVDs are playable everywhere
DVD Studio pro can set Region codes.
1 = US
2 = EU
*unclemano wrote*
What it turned out to be was the "quality" settings in iDVD. The total clip time was NOT over 2 hours or 4.7GB, yet iDVD created massive visual artifacts on the "professional quality" setting.
I switched the settings to "high quality" which solved the problem. According iDVD help, "high quality" determines the best bit rate for the clips you have.
I have NEVER seen iDVD do this before, especially when I was under the 2 hour and 4.7GB limits.
For anyone else, there seem to be 2 places in iDVD to set quality settings, the first is under "preferences" and the second under "project info." They do NOT seem to be linked (i.e. if you change one, the other is NOT changed). take care, Mario
TO GET IT TO WORK SLIGHTLY FASTER
• Minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up hard disk
• No other programs running in BackGround eg EnergySaver
• Don’t let HD spinn down or be turned off (in EnergySave)
• Move hard disks that are not to be used to Trash - To be disconnected/turned off
• Goto Spotlight and set the rest of them under Integrity (not to be scanned)
• Set screensaver to a folder without any photo - then make an active corner (up right for me) and set
pointer to this - turns on screen saver - to show that it has nothing to show
Yours Bengt W

Similar Messages

****DVD Best Quality Bitrate

Hi,
I've exported my project from FCP to Compressor, and plan on using the DVD Best Quality 90min setting. When I go into my Encoder settings and then the Quality tab, I can't seem to raise my bitrate above 7.7mbps.
Note: I'm using Two-Pass VBR and I know that you can do it with the CBR, but is not possible with the VBR options?
It's a very, very short clip - about 30 seconds long - and I'd really like to get that bitrate up there.
Thanks for your help.

AppleUsur wrote:
Note: I'm using Two-Pass VBR and I know that you can do it with the CBR, but is not possible with the VBR options?
No, not possible with VBR.
In order for VBR to be well, variable, you need to have some difference between your average and max. As you can see, Compressor prefers that difference to be at least 1.0 Mbps. (A little more, like the 1.3 you get at the top end, once you crank the average bit rate past 6.0.)
But VBR is really meant to minimize the space needed for an encoded file while maximizing quality. Since you seem to have a lot of room, not sure VBR is worth it. CBR is probably best.
Also be careful with bit rates that are too high. Depending on the player used (more expensive THX-certified ones being the problem, actually) a burned disc with a sky-high bit rate can cause issues (freezes, stutters, jumps, etc) that makes a disc unplayable. Even if you use Dolby Digital audio.
But that last bit is hit-or-miss depending on the player and sheer luck. I personally never go higher than 7.0 with CBR or 7.5 Max when doing VBR. Call me cautious.

Converting old VHS to DVD

I am in the process of converting some old VHS to DVD. I am running the VHS feed in through my cameras analog input which converts to digital on the fly. The footage seems dull and I am wondering if there is a loss of saturation or maybe just a gamma adjustment that will fix it up. I wasn't sure if it was something I should do in FCP with a filter or if I can possibly just fix it in compressor on output. Any ideas on what is happening on import to dull the footage and what recommended steps I should take?

It will lose a little saturation on the capture, which can be corrected with the CC filter.
It will not look the same, as the video on the computer monitor is only a proxy representation, and the monitor gamma is different. You should hook the TV to the output of your camera and monitor FCP over Firewire. Then you can really tell.
As a side note...If all you need to do is convert VHS to DVD, and don't need any fancy things like menus and such, look at the JVC SR-MV40/45 or MV55 combo decks. They have good quality hardware compression (better than standard Compressor software settings), and are much more convenient. MV-45 can be had for around $400. I recommend it with two thumbs.
tim

More then 2hrs to compresse 60minutes VIDEO file in MPEG 2 DVD BEST QUALITY

On my Dual 2.5 GHz 4GB RAM, is this normal ?

It took 3h30 minutes. Will I see a difference using DVD Fastest Encode ? For exemple, can it be possible to have a problem like the DVD freezing in some DVD player because I'm using a faster Encoding setting like DVD Fastest ?
This is my workflow for now:
-Export from FCP, AUDIO ONLY current settings, self contained.
-Export from FCP, VIDEO ONLY current settings, self contained.
-Import to Compresor the self contained files and compress the audio file using Dolby 2.0 before sending to DVDSP.
-Import to Compresor the self contained video file and compress using DVD Best quality MPEG2 2-pass before sending to DVDSP.
I do NOT export from FCP directly to Compressor.
Joyeux Noël,
Jean

REVISITED "DVD: best quality" & "MPEG-2 high quality encode"-difference??

Re-explain: I see "DVD best quality" and "MPEG-2 high quality encode" have all the same settngs. Not sure if there was a difference. Yesterday I was convinced no difference. After recompressing the same video at same settings MPEG-2 HQ encoding took three times longer to compress. going to work with it--this was home work--to view on monitor that, after reviewing, made me come home to recompress.
So--again--is there a difference fo the two choices???

which is what I did and there is no difference in seetings or what I have to choose for seetings. So, I guess--or confirmed--there is no difference???

"DVD: best quality" & "MPEG-2 high quality encode"--difference????

I've noticed the two settings under compression settings. I don't see any difference between the setting make up. Am I missing anyhing or is there really a difference if I use one over he other. I've always used DVD Best Quality.

which is what I did and there is no difference in seetings or what I have to choose for seetings. So, I guess--or confirmed--there is no difference???

HD to SD DVD best quality

Hi i'm having problems getting good quality results once i compress HD to SD to create a DVD. What i have done so far.
Recorded in HD on Sony FX1 captured onto Mac size 1920x1080 codecs HDV 1080i50 done all my edits in final cut Pro5 then exported using compressor.
after lots of tests last night this is the best i could get this is a 5min clip and it took 40mins to compress
My summery
Name: HD to SD tested
Description: For HD to SD DVD. 80mins SDVD
File Extension: m2v
Estimated file size: 246.39 MB
Video Encoder
     Format: M2V
     Width: 720
     Height: 576
     Pixel aspect ratio: PAL CCIR 601 (16:9)
     Crop: None
     Frame rate: 25
     Frame Controls: Off
     Aspect ratio: 16:9
     Field dominance: Top first
     Average data rate: 6.2 (Mbps)
     1 Pass VBR enabled
          Maximum data rate: 8.4 (Mbps)
     High quality
     Best motion estimation
     Closed GOP Size: 12, Structure: IBBP
     DVD Studio Pro meta-data enabled
     Chapter markers only
Is this the best quality i can get to burn to SD DVD using compressor i still see a few blocks when it renters some water.
thanks Chris O

There is no single setting that will give the "best" results under every possible situation. However, you might want to try 2-pass VBR or a GOP structure of IP with a smaller GOP size. If you try the latter you might also need to increase the target or average data rate by at least several tenths of a Mbps.
Something like the following:
Average data rate: 6.7 (Mbps)
2 Pass VBR enabled
Maximum data rate: 8.4 (Mbps)
High quality
Best motion estimation
Closed GOP Size: 6, Structure: IP

How to export and reimport clips maintaining best quality?

I'd like to ask a few questions.
(1) I have several subclips in FCE that I would like to export, so I can import them back into FCE as individual clips, separate from the original capture. I would also like the option to use the exported clips in iMovie project. The most important thing is to save the clips at the highest possible quality. I ran into a problem when trying to import the clips back into FCE.
First, I tried exporting clips using File>Export>Using Quicktime Conversion... with the following options:
Video Settings:
Compression Type H.264
Quality: Best (the slider in the Settings window I dragged all the way to the right for Best quality)
Key frame rate: 24
Frame Reordering: yes
Encoding mode: multi-pass
Audio Settings:
Format: Uncompressed
Sample rate: 48 kHz
Sample size: 16
Channels: 2
Prepare for Internet Streaming <unchecked>
The clip was saved to disk. I didn't open or modify the clip at all.
Then I tried using File>Import>Files... but when I tried to import it, I got this error:
"File Error: 1 file(s) recognized, 0 access denied, 1 unknown."
So this is the problem I'm experiencing. Can't re-import the clip into FCE (it imports into iMovie fine, though)
Questions: Am I using "wrong" settings? Why is this happening? How can I export and reimport clips while maintaining best video and audio quality?
(2) A couple related questions: Some of my original source video was recorded at 12-bit quality (32 kHz). I know 16-bit is best (48 kHz) but the camera I used came with factory default 12-bit (and as a novice I didn't know to change it until several months later).
So here are my questions.
(a) If I export these clips using audio export settings at 48 kHz instead of 32 kHz, would that cause any problems?
(b) Would those clips then be recognized by FCE and iMovie as having 48 kHz audio even though it was originally recorded at 32 kHz? (I know the quality will be no better, but I've read somewhere that using 32 kHz audio can cause some problems with out-of-sync audio, particularly in iMovie. My hope is the new clip with the 48 kHz audio will circumvent such problems.)
Thanks for any assistance you can provide.
PowerMac G5 Quad 2.5 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.3) NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT

TSchneider: Thanks again for your valuable reply. I have a few follow-up questions.
My first set of questions is about rendering audio to 48kHz in the timeline.
Almost immediately you'll notice that FCE has tagged the
entire audio track with a red bar meaning it will
need to be rendered (if you try to play the clip from
the Canvas controls you'll just get beeping or very
low quality sound). Go up to the Sequence menu and
select the Render All (or Mixdown) command and FCE
will transcode the 32kHz audio of your clip to the
48kHz audio of the sequence it's sitting in.
I followed your instructions and everything seemed to work until I got to the passage above. I dragged the subclips into the timeline. The clips appeared in the timeline but there was no red bar. If I chose Render All from the Sequence Menu, nothing happened. If I chose Export to Quicktime Movie, however, it takes several minutes, apparently rendering the audio and video. If I chose instead, Print to Video, the red bars do appear and the rendering process again gets going. There is a small progress bar for both operations in the center of the screen with a percent done and estimated time remaining.
Question: Why doesn't the red bar appear as soon as the clips are in the Timeline?
Question: Why doesn't Render All (or Render Audio) work? It would be much easier to walk away while all the audio rendered into 48kHz and then come back later to save the individual clips to disk.
My second set of questions pertains to the possibility of using Export>Using Quicktime Conversion as a substitute for Export>Quicktime Movie, mainly for academic instead of practical reasons.
If you export a clip directly from the bin "Using
Quicktime Conversion" there aren't any suitable
conversion video/audio formats that would give you
both video in the right format (for iMovie) and
transcode the audio to the sampling rate you want.
I understand your description of rendering the audio files in the timeline. If only academic, I was trying to see if I could duplicate the results using using Export>Using Quicktime Conversion. I chose Quicktime Movie as the format. The video setting was DV/DVCPRO-NTSC. The audio was uncompressed with 48kHz rate. This created a Quicktime movie file with these formats. If I opened the quicktime movie file in Quicktime and checked the info on the file, the audio was indeed 48kHz.
Question: Does this mean that the Quicktime Conversion process rendered the 32kHz audio to 48kHz audio prior to writing the file? If so, it would seem to bypass the need to render the clips in a sequence (although if I could render all the clips in the sequence at once, while I was away from the computer, it would be faster than rendering and saving each clip one at a time).
Question: When I exported a clip this way, then imported it into iMovie, the original capture date/time info was missing when I got info on the clip. However, when I save the clip using Export>Quicktime Movie, the date/time of capture was still present. Would there be any way to preserve this date/time of capture info when using Export>Using Quicktime Conversion?
Question: If I decided to Export>Using Quicktime Conversion with the above settings (DV/DVCPRO-NTSC, 48kHz audio) there are other options I'm given pertaining to the video settings. There are settings for Compressor Quality, with a sliding bar where you can choose Least, Low, Medium, High, and Best quality; and there is Scan Mode (interlaced or progressive). How does one choose among these? If you want the best quality exported clip, I suppose you would chose best quality, but what scan mode is "best" for my purposes -- interlaced or progressive?
Thanks a lot for your help. I'm learning a lot!

Compressing to dvd best quality

I am doing a project for computer and I have to put my project on a DVD I am looking for the best way to compress my movie on compressor so I get the best quality picture on my DVD can someone help.

Well alot depends on the footage. High action, low action, DV, HDV. Never one size fits all answer.
That being said, in general take a look here
http://dvdstepbystep.com/faqs_7.php
http://dvdstepbystep.com/faqs_4.php
http://dvdstepbystep.com/faqs_3.php
You can start with the Compressor presets based on the high quality version of the lowest time that fits your project (i.e., high 90 Minutes will be better than 120 Minutes) as a start
If you have any more details on the project it can help steer you more if you need it, but you may not

Deadline Need Help with HD VS DVD Best Quality 4.3 NTSC

I just wanted to know if I made a DVD using HD MPEG2 and handed it out to people who do not have an HD TV will they be able to watch the screen normally or will the screen be too big, text off the screen?
I Just tried to import a HD MPEG into DVD Studio Pro 4 and got an error message that said it was unsupported.
It look so much better when I experimentd with a small vewrsion of my movie. They will use NTSC more than likely or a windows computer to show to clients.
What settings are best for that?

To the best of my knowledge there are no commercially available HD DVD players. Thus, although you can create a DVD with HD material you can't view it with any set-top DVD player or on a standard TV. You'd need a computer to view the HD MPEG2 material. The display would either have to be a computer monitor or a TV that could accept high-definition output (DVI) from the computer itself.
In any case, you won't be able to create an HD DVD disc with standard DVD menus and navigation controls (at least not with DVDSP). Think of the DVD as a simple storage medium, not any form of a standard DVD video disc.

Have converted old VHS to DVD, now how do I get that into iMovie for edit?

Hi, I am a little of a novice, and am not sure how to get a regular DVD movie imported to iMovie ... is more conversion needed? I get iMovie to look into the VIDEO_TS folder on the DVD and it doesn't recognize any files.... I hope I haven't wasted money with all those conversions!!!

1) Download and install the Apple MPEG2 QuickTime Component ($20) - available online from Apple.
2) Download and install MPEG Streamclip from Squared 5 (free).
3) Start MPEG Streamclip
4) Insert your DVD into your Mac. If DVD Player or Front Row starts automatically quit those.
5) Open a Finder window. Navigate to your DVD to the Video_TS folder.
6) Drag the .VOB files from the Video_TS folder and drop then into MPEG Streamclip.
7) If MPEG Streamclip offers to fix timecode breaks, say yes.
8) Use FILE/EXPORT USING QUICKTIME to convert the files to Apple Intermediate Codec (or h.264 if you prefer)
9a) Optional: You can deinterlace your footage in this step, if you like
9b) optional: If you know the date and or time of the footage, name your file
clip-yyyy-mm-dd hh;mm;ss
(let mpeg streamclip provide the extension). This will provide metadata that iMovie will use to put the event in the right year and month.
9c) Optional: If you don't want to make one huge clip out of your DVD, you can make smaller clips by using MPEG Streamclip. Move the cursor to the "in" point of the clip, and press i. Move the cursor to the "Out" point of the clip, and press o. Then do steps 8 through 10 and repeat until you have done this for all clips you want.
10) Save the resulting file in a place where you can find it, like your Desktop.
11) Open iMovie.
12) In iMovie, choose FILE/IMPORT/From File and choose the file you saved in steps 8, 9, 10.
13) iMovie will generate thumbnails and you can edit.

DVD: Best quality 150 minutes

I'm trying to use Compressor for an (avi) movie that I downloaded, so that I can make it into a dvd on dvd studio pro. But when I go to submit the MPEG-2 3.7Mbps 2-pass, Compressor makes a video format for windows vista media player instead of making a format that I could use on my mac, like Quicktime or Final cut.
I have parallels, and I'm thinking that for some reason Compressor is reading Windows media player as my default player or something?? I don't know!... can someone give me some advise??

an m2v is an m2v. There is no m2v for mac versus one for windows.
If you want to change it's association to quicktime, just go "get info" on the file, in the open with section change that to quicktime and hit the change all button. If you brought those files into DVDSP right now, they would work.

Best way to transfer VHS to DVD

I just bought a new Macbook Pro w/ Retina display and am looking for the best software/device to transfer some of my old VHS to DVDs.
Anyone have any user reviews that work best with Mac?
Thanks in advance,
Ryan

For me personally, VHS to DVD was the easiest & very simple to use. Do a Google search for other reviews and products.

What format to import AVCHD for best quality and how to export?

Hi
My boss has got himself a panasonic HDC camcorder of some sort that is formatting the video in AVCHD.
Basically he was using adobe premiere pro from around 2003 on an pc running xp and loved it. My I.T. director persuaded him to buy an iMac and Final Cut Pro 7. As we stand now he states he hates macs because he can't figure out how to get his home movies off his camcorder and onto a dvd without them looking blurry and fuzzy.
Can anyone advise what format we should be importing the AVCHD files into final cut pro for best video quality and how we should be exporting the final movie for best quality to go onto dvd?
I will also note that he is using toast 10 titanium to burn his movies to dvd.
Also he is not looking to burn to blu-ray as none of his familiy have blu-ray players. He just wants his HD footage off camera and onto a dvd with the best quality picture he can get. Also his movies are approx 2 hours long and he has just ordered some Dual Layer DVDs
Thanks
Kieran

I take it you mean Pro Res 422 from the AVCHD plugin options? And not going for any of the other 422's with bits in brackets?
Sorry for being dumb in this area but my boss and i are both pretty new to FCP
How do i ensure i edit in a pro res sequence?
Export straight to quicktime no quicktime compression or anything?
Thanks for your help
Kieran

Export settings for best quality for pages with letters etc.

Hi, I am trying to make video of a musical piece, featuring the score of the piece with pages turning following the progression of the music. I made the video in Adobe After Effects CS5 and exported it so it would be lossless. The video itself is a .mov file and looks great when I view it in Quicktime, but when I import it into FCE the quality goes down a bit. I don't know if FCE is handling the clips correctly or if it's just for making it quicker to view. Any suggestions on export settings from FCE for best quality of a video of this nature, so that the notes are clearly readable.
Thanks in advance
Ps. It has to be in a format suitable for Youtube.

Under "Sequence" and in "Settings" and in the tab "Render Control" I have: Frame Rate: 100% Resolution: 100%.
If that is what you were referring to... but under the tab which is called RT and is located left of the timeline and left of the timecode. There I have checked : Safe RT, (Playback Video Quality) Dynamic, (Playback Frame Rate) High.
There might be a way to import the clip in better quality (so it doesn't downgrade the quality).
Was mostly trying to find out with the export but it might have something to do with this.
Thanks

Export old VHS to DVD. Best Quality?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for