Fcp to dvdsp confused

finally bought dvdsp so I can do my own authoring..; I've spent a long time searching in this forum to see what would be the easiest and best (qualitywise) way to convert my 46 min long fcp edit... reading all the posts it got me more confused but I''ve tried export using quicktime conversion (mpeg) in fcp but the quality wasn't good at all...
So I guess my question is: what is the easiest way (with the highest quality) to export my fcp to dvdsp until i get to know dvdsp better?
thanks
jazz

I'm trying what boogiesan said in one of the posts and i've exported it as a reference movie and imported that in dvd studio pro and let that do the conversion... is hte quality going to be ok? (just asking before it takes hours to convert and than have bad quality...)

Similar Messages

Best way/settings to export from FCP to DVDSP

Hey - I have a program I need to export from FCP to DVDSP.
It is approx. 1hr 15min long.
What would be the best settings to use to maximize quality?
I also want to include chapter markers for importing into DVDSP - is it better to create these in FCP or Compressor???
This is a very important showreel and quality is a major factor...
I am using: FCP 5.1.4 DVDSP 4.1.2 Compressor 2.3
Thanks for all your help in advance!
PowerPC G5 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Hi:
<< What would be the best settings to use to maximize quality?>>
You didn't mention your movie codec. Assuming you are using DV, if your FCP projects has graphic elements and heavy filters like Color Corrections, etc. you must get the best quality exporting directly from FCP through Compressor.
If your movie is basiclally DV video with no graphics, you probably will get same quality and shorter encoding times exporting as QuickTime movie, self settings (self contained is my favorite flavor!) and using this file in Compressor.
In Compressor use the DVD: Best Quality 90 min preset as starting point taking the MPEG2 and the Dolby 2 (AC3) presets. You most probably will get the best audio level changing the followings parameters in the standard AC3 preset:
- Dialog Normalization: -31
- Compression preset: None
Using uncompressed (AIFF/PCM) audio in DVD-Rs is a major cause of playback problems and/or building errors because the high bitrate, and takes a lot of your disc space.
If you encode inside DVDSP (using the Quicktime movie file directly in DVDSP) you'll get AIFF audio. DVDSP doesn't encode your audio to AC3.
<<This is a very important showreel and quality is a major factor...>>
To save encoding testing times, take a short part/s of your movie and make some encoding test. Select some parts of your footage with fast movements in the image and/or heavy transitions to check the final result.
<<I also want to include chapter markers for importing into DVDSP - is it better to create these in FCP or Compressor??? >>
Allways create your chapter markers in FCP or Compressor. That way you can set the exact frame where to locate it and DVDSP will preserve that position. If you add a Chapter Marker in DVDSP it will be moved to the nearest GOP boundary, not in the exact frame you decided. Check this tutorial about Chapters and Compression Markers .
Don't forget to post your FCP movie codec/settings.
<<StirFry..>>
I think that a bitrate of 7.9 Mbps with uncompressed audio (DVDSP doesn't encode audio to Dolby 2) is too high and can cause some encoding/playback errors in some DVD players. Someone else can post his mind about this ! ;D
Hope that helps !
Alberto

Blue Ray with FCP and DVDSP

Any ideas when the new FCP version will be out and if there are any plans for Blue Ray support for current versions of FCP and DVDSP.
Thanks

Apple is always mum on these issues.
No who knows can tell.
It's blu-ray™, BTW, not blue ray.

FCP - Compressor - DVDSP Question

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

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

What should I use to export from FCP to DVDSP?

I'm sorry if this question is too basic, but I've searched past discussions and read the manual, and can't seem to find the answer. I am trying to put a nearly hour-long movie I made onto a DVD, in order to have hundreds of duplicates made. I'm using DVD SP, and I had been exporting my movie from FCP to a Quicktime movie file, then importing the Quicktime file into DVD SP. Then recently I came across something online that said you should actually be exporting from FCP to Compressor, then to DVD SP. I've never used Compressor before, so I have no idea what to do, or if I even should be doing it. The video was fine when I exported to Quicktime, but I of course want to have the best video quality possible.. so if there's a way to keep the video at the highest quality possible (higher than when using Quicktime), please let me know (and if it could be explained as simple as possible, I would appreciate that).

Hi Ryan,
I'm relatively new to this too but you're on the right track. I would export to Compressor.
There are various settings i.e. mpeg2 fast encode, high quality 60min, 120min, widescreen, 4:3 etc and all dependant upon what you want your end result to be.
You'll need to choose your format - I suggest mpeg2 - 60min High Quality Encode > your destination for both the video and audio > 'submit'.
You should end up with a file that resembles *My Movie.m2v*
Then import that file into DVDSP into the assets pane and you're away.
Good luck!
-Chuck

Color space for picture to use in FCP or DVDSP ???

I'm using 720x480 TIFF file from Photoshop to import in FCP, should I use Adobe RGB 1998 for the color space ? What about DVDSP ? The same ?
Merci,
Jean

720x480 is important. DPI doesn't matter.
Patrick

Create Photoshop CS4 graphics for FCP 7 use-- confusion

Still confused about creating graphics in Photoshop for import to FCP.
Been reading up on the fcp7 and cs4 changes regarding this.
Back in the day, one made larger PS files( 720x540) and scaled them down in Photoshop
to 720x480 BEFORE importing to FCP to use in a DV -NTSC sequence.
But with cs3/cs4 film/video new file template presets, do we still need to do this resizing/ change of pixel aspect ratio in PS?
Also, now with the PAR change from Adobe in cs4 and FCP adjusting their PAR,
do we need to change PARS in photoshop anymore, or on older (cs3) ps files?
Chris Meyer wrote a recent article titled "PAR for the Course" at
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/cmgkeyframes/story/par_for_thecourse/P2/
which mentions creating PS files at a totally different size:
" ...the preferred solution - create a Production Aperture square pixel image of
720x534 (the new square pixel preset in CS4 - not 720x540). "
So00 does this mean ignore the photoshop template preset sizes and make 720x5334 masters to squeeze down pre fcp import?
It would be great to get this straightened out--
as you know, there is a lot of conflicting info out there!
Thanks in advance for any advice you may be able to share.

Thanks for posting the information.

Pixel Aspect Ratios, FCP, iDVD, & DVDSP

This isn't strictly FCP, but it starts there.
One of my support clients called me yesterday. He has a Final Cut Pro sequence that he needs to burn to DVD. The DVD will be played on computers as well as desktop players.
The sequence contains a graphic with a globe, a perectly round rotating earth globe. In FCP, it is perfectly round. When he exports to QT Movie anmd trhen plays it in QuickTime Player, it is stretch out horizontally (probably about 11%, the difference between square and non-square pixels.)
When he Imports the QT movie into iDVD, it is likewise stretched, and the iDVD-burned DVD is also stretched, no matter what he uses to play it, computer or desktop player.
I told him to take it into DVDSP, and see what DVDSP would do to it. In DVDSP, the globe is perfectly round.
My head hurts, trying to keep this thing srtaight. Can somebody help me explain it to him?

Try this on for size. Dunno if I'm right or not, but it SOUNDS good:
It looks good in FCP because it's rectangular pixels.
It looks bad on the desktop because it's square pixels. If you were to resize it to 640x480 it would look good. (squaring it off.)
I would GUESS that Idvd is not understanding the rectangular pixels, being the doofy toy that it is.
I guess I'd add if your client wants to play it off the desktop, make it 640x480.

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

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

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

Help... Best image quality from FCP to DVDSP... (FCP project at 1440 x 960

Hi all,
Yes, I just finished an edit in FCP with frame dimensions of 1440 x 960 (Not HD). (Don't ask . I am on the hunt for input for the best way to get the highest quality when I take the 1440 x 960 video down to Standard definition DVDSP. For example, should I just drag-n-drop a reference movie into DVDSP and let DVDSP do the resizing?.... or maybe I should use Compressor to resize first? etc.. etc.. etc... (If I should use Compressor to do the resizing... a little help on what settings to use would be great)
This is a graphically heavy video with a lot of client logos, animations, etc.
Thanks a bunch,
Matt

What format are the assets? As PDTV said, don't even think about recompressing an MPEG2 file if you wish to retain quality.
There are tools such as DVD2One which you could look at, but if this is 8GB of MPEG2 then use a DL disc.

What is best export in FCP for DVDSP?

hello,
i am just looking for the optimum settings for a one hour movie to take into DVDSP from FCP?
i have been using an MPEG2 export setting with 6.8 bit rate from FCP then taking that file directly into DVDSP and burning...results are pretty good but text looks to flicker a bit at times...
is this the correct method? or is a QT source file best?
thanks,
steven

A maximum bit rate of 6.8 together with dolby2/AC3 audio works well for that length movie.
Text flickers could be attributable to just about anything including choosing the wrong font and font size.
And if you are working in NTSC DV footage, you also may have issues with that.

Massive Update Download Prob for FCP Studio / DVDSP

since a few week I will download the latest FCP 5.1.4. Update and since today the DVDSP Update. But everytime when I insert my Apple FCP Studio Serialnumber the ApplePage tells me, that I've donwloaded the latest Version ? but I do not . . . .:-?
What I must tell: I will download it from a another Mac because my Work Mac is not on LAN and only on 56k Modem.
Al previous Updates work fine with this Method, but now - not !
Any workaround ?
Thanx for help

hhhhhaaaaa, so, I called the Number . . .nad what tells the guy on the line ? Oh, that's a Problem, so the only way you can download it is via the Mac and the SoftwareUpdates Function in OSX . . . Question: So, when I move the FCP to another Mac I can't download any Update via the Apple Web Site ? mmh, yes, I think so . . . .
uuuuuhhhhh . . . I can't understand this . . .
But thanks for the tip
Karlheinz

Subtitles: FCP or DVDSP? Best workflow and quality?

I have always placed subtitles in FCP. I am now looking at DVDSP instead. This will help I know if I ever need a second language option. But how is the workflow and is the quality good?
For me it seems easier in FCP, because I can make editing decisions while seeing the subtitle. Having to make a locked and final edit and still not have subtitles in place appears more difficult and prone to problems. Anyone find these problems easy to deal with using DVDSP for subtitles?

Jon Braeley wrote:
I am talking about subtitles not captions
Maybe. the function isn't the issue, it's the delivery method that makes the determination. Are you encoding to Line 21, burning the text over the video, or creating a stream of subtitle data? Most DVD players cannot handle Line 21, that's a function of the television set. All DVD players can access up to 32 subtitle streams. If you're burning the subs into the video, it doesn't matter how you play the video.
My question is that if the delivery is to be DVD, why do some users still create subtitles in FCP instead of DVDSP?
Subtitling in FCP is still a grim chore. Just seems that DVDSP would be the better option, or does FCP offer much better text quality-format options?
There is no option to burn in "subtitles" in DVDSP. DVD subtitles are streams of text and formatting data, not text image files, although sub streams can display graphics. FCP does not have a utility to export text objects as subtitle data streams in STL, SMI, SML, SON, or SCR formats. You cannot import a QT movie into the subtitle tracks.
So, where you create the subtitles is determined by two things: a) your need for flexibility (for changes or to receive data from another source) and b) your need for quality. Subs created and drawn onto the screen by the DVD player will be fairly high quality. Text that is burned into the video will never be any better than the encoder settings you used for the MPEG2.
bogiesan

Vob to fcp to dvdsp?

I need a shorter version of a dvd I authored and own the rights to.
I no longer have the original material.
Can I import the vob files directly into fcp and trim them there then export to dvdsp?
Will I lose a lot of detail?
What about compression?
The program is silent, so audio is not an issue.
I'd rather not download any freeware.

You can't edit VOB files directly and without using 3rd party software, the only way to convert the DVD media is to play the video out from a DVD player through an analog/DV converter then capture it back into FCP.
So, you go from a MPEG2 compressed version of your original pristine images through a mpeg2 to analog converter (your dvd player) to send it out either s-vhs (better) or composite (worse) to an analog/DV converter then firewire into the machine. Oh, and this has to happen in real time. 30 min of video takes 30 minutes to convert and capture.
If you are willing to run mpeg streamclip or dvdxdv, you convert the VOB files into editable DV files in one step at faster than realtime.
good luck.
x

Import Chapter Markers con FCP to DVDSP

I have a movie with 13 Chapter Markers in FCP 5.0.4
I have imported this to DVDSP 4.0.3 but there are no chapter markers.
I have exported the mvoie as DV PAL using Quicktime.
Quicktime sees all the chapter markers. I can jump to each chapter.
In DVDSP I made a new track and drag-drop the exported DV file to this track.
So far that's fine. I can preview the track. However, there is only one chapter marker at the beginning of the track.
where have all the other markers gone?
I am a complete newbe to DVDSP.
Thanks for your advise.

Hi Yoochul !
Thanks, right, I was looking for the 'add chapter marker' in the cmd-alt-M pop-up menu.
btw: I import file from FCP using 'export quicktime movie' and let DVDSP do the encoding. This is because Compressor corrupts my file system unavoidably.
Is there a quality difference if I encode using compressor or DVDSP? I guess I read some months ago that DVDSP is better than compressor anyway?
many thanks
Markus
MacMini 1.42 GHz Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Fcp to dvdsp confused

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