HD footage to SD DVD

I have about 4 Quicktimes that I have read out of FCP as DVCPRO HD 720p 60. That is their native format as well. These will end up on an SD DVD burnt from DVD Studio Pro. I need to know the absolute best way to compress these files and of course keep the highest resolution possible. I have Cleaner and Compressor.
The length of the longest video is an hour and 7 minutes. The other 3 QT's are around 20 minutes each.
I need to start compressing these right now! So if someone could please help...

Hi,
I've just copied and pasted a step by step info I wrote for another poster sometime ago on how to use a simple but effective compression using Compressor. I use the procedure described below for DVCPRO HD too.
Why Compressor ?
Compressor will create an Mpeg2 of your edited video and an ac3 (dolby stereo) for the audio (You can't create ac3audio with DVDstudio).
(Use google for any farther information about any word or definition that remains slightly unclear to you).
After that is done burning your DVD with DVDStudio will be quicker and easier.
Step 1
Once you are done with the edit you can:
either export it straight from the timeline to Compressor (File>Export>Using Compressor)
or create a QT movie (check self-contained in the export window) and import into Compressor after you open it.
If you export it straight from the timeline Compressor will open automatically,
if you wish to use the self-contained QT movie you can still export it from an open FCP project or open Compressor independently. If the the latter is your case once you open Compressor click on Add File in the toolbar (top left corner ).
In both cases your video will appear in an untitled project right below the toolbar. You can see the movie (or FCP) icon and the title of your project.
Now, the simplest way to proceed is as follow:
you see the text next to the icon of your movie (in the blue rectangle) saying "drag here settings and destinations"? Now go to the settings window below, you can see the settings and destinations tabs. Go to Settings>Apple 4 groups>DVD 10 groups>DVD best quality 90 minutes two settings. This is the most common setting to use.
In a nutshell drag the DVD best quality 90 minutes folder over the "drag settings and destinations here" text. Choose your destination. If you click each setting the inspector window activates. Now before we go ahead I suggest you to read the manual and understand the importance of the inspector window and its functions. In particular read about Avarege bit rate, maximum bit rate and in general Variable frame rate (VBR) and constant frame rate. With regard to audio read about ac3.
This time we leave default settings and proceed by clicking the Submit button.
In the preview window, right below the player commands you can see a little arrow and a date, click on the arrow and you can see that Compressor is encoding your video.
Step 2
When the encoding process is over open DVDstudio.
See the first button of the toolbar , top left? Click on Import Asset, find your encoded audio and video files and open them.
Now since your movie has been already compressed video(Mpeg2) and audio (ac3) they will show in the assets tab below the graphical tab followed by two green lights.
I guess you know what to do from now, however, here is a useful link:
http://www.dvdstepbystep.com/
Best,
G.

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How to bring footage from my DVD into FCP

Hi,
I REALLY need some help! I edited my film in FCP and burned in DVDSP, the same goes for the raw footage. They are both now on a DVD. My problem is that I let my friend borrow the raw footage tapes (bad mistake I know!) and now he cannot find the tapes. So I want to know if it is possible to take the raw footage back off the DVD without loosing any quality, and to bring it back into FCP? Thanks SO much for the help!

Without losing ANY quality? Sorry, quality was lost when you encoded for DVD. More quality will be lost when you rip the footage off the DVD, and more lost again when you encode again for DVD.
Sorry bud. Gotta press your friend more.
Shane

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How do I import footage from a dvd that i made on imovie, back into imovie?

You need to convert the VOB files in the TS-Folder of the DVD back to DV which iMovie is designed to handle. For that you need mpegStreamclip:
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-DH
Message was edited by: David Harbsmeier

Easiest way to load footage from a DVD?

What is currently the easiest/fastest way to import video on a previously authored DVD into iMovie? I should point out that the application does not involve copyrighted material -- I simply want to rework DVDs that I made years ago. I have gotten good results by playing back with a DVD player and using a Canopus ADVC-300 to convert to DV, but surely there must be a better way by now. I am looking forward to the day when one can simply insert a DVD into the computer and import footage directly into iMovie. Why does this capability not exist? Is it not something that would obviously be useful? There exists a program called Prism that allows one to extract footage from a DVD, but this approach requires the intermediate step of a Quicktime file, which must then be imported into iMovie, and I'm not sure if it preserves high quality.

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http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html
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http://www.dvdxdv.com/NewFolderLookSite/Products/DVDxDV.overview.htm
which costs $25.
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Obviously the foregoing only applies to DVDs you have made yourself, or other home-made DVDs that have been given to you. It will NOT work on copy-protected commercial DVDs, which in any case would be illegal.

PAL DV footage to NTSC DVD help wanted!

Hi there, apologies if this has been tackled elsewhere, but I couldn't locate it!
I have a finished PAL edit of around 90 minutes in FCP 4.5 that I have output to a PAL DVD via DVD SP 4/Compressor 2. Following this, the client has also asked for an identical NTSC DVD to send to the USA. Luckily I have the edit still loaded in FCP - therefore: This is the first time I have needed to do a standards conversion. Can anyone advise what the best method/workflow for creating this NTSC DVD is?
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PowerMac G5, Dual 1.8 ghz, 3GB Ram, 250 GB HD Mac OS X (10.4.6) FCP 4.5, DVD SP4, Motion, Toast 6 Titanium

You didn't understand what my last post said.
I said go from his PAL DV edit in FCP to a DV tape (DVCam preferrably). Then have the PAL DVCam tape transferred to another DVCam tape in NTSC.
PAL is better quality that NTSC so there will be some loss just because there is less resolution in NTSC than PAL, but keeping it on a DVCam tape is fine.
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I said nothing about tranferring it to analog or VHS. I don't know where you got that one. He said his original footage was edited in DV.
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As shown by my earlier reply I wasn't sure how you wanted to output your footage . . . as standard-def or hi-def.
I assumed you meant standard-def.
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If I were to go ahead a burn this, I it would create an SD DVD - in fact, what the heck, let me go ahead an burn the DVD and see how it comes out . . . . will report later.

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Hi all,
I have a Sony HDV-HC7 camera and record everything in HD. I've captured the footage into final cut pro as HDV - 1080i60, then did some editing on the time line. Then, I went to File + Export + QuickTime Movie... This is where I'm lost. What should my Setting drop down be if I want to import to DVD Studio Pro and burn to SD DVD.
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mdawg

Or....
#42 - Quick and dirty way to author a DVD
Shane's Stock Answer #42 - David Roth Weiss' Secret Quick and Dirty Way to Author a DVD:
The absolute simplest way to make a DVD using FCP and DVDSP is as follows:
1. Export a QT movie, either a reference file or self contained using current settings.
2. Open DVDSP, select the "graphical" tab and you will see two little monitors, one blue, one green.
3. Select the left blue one and hit delete.
4. Now, select the green one, right click on it amd select the top option "first play".
5. Now drag your QT from the broswer and drop it on top of the green monitor.
6. Now, for a DVD from an HD source, look to the right side and select the "general tab" in the track editor, and see the Display Mode, and select "16:9 pan-scan."
7. Hit the little black and yellow burn icon at the top of the page and put a a DVD in when prompted. DVDSP will encode and burn your new DVD.
THATS ALL!!!
NOW...if you want a GOOD LOOKING DVD, instead of taking your REF movie into DVD SP, instead take it into Compressor and choose the BEST QUALITY ENCODE (2 pass VBR) that matches your show timing. Then take THAT result into DVD SP and follow the rest of the steps. Except you can choose "16:9 LETTERBOX" instead of PAN & SCAN if you want to see the entire image.
Shane

Help getting HD footage to SD DVD

I have 1080p footage in pro res 422 (LT) and I am trying to find the best workflow for the best quality output to SD DVD.
Here is what I have been doing:
Once my sequence is finalized I export (command + e) to a QT movie, as a self contained movie. Close FCP.
Then I drag this file into Compressor. Load the MPEG-2 Best quality 90 minute setting. Take this file into DVD studio Pro, and that's all.
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Thanks!!

I have 1080p footage in pro res 422 (LT) and I am trying to find the best workflow for the best quality output to SD DVD.
Here is what I have been doing:
Once my sequence is finalized I export (command + e) to a QT movie, as a self contained movie. Close FCP.
Then I drag this file into Compressor. Load the MPEG-2 Best quality 90 minute setting. Take this file into DVD studio Pro, and that's all.
I know that going from 1920x1080 to SD there will be quality loss, but are there any suggestions that might help me get a little more boost??
Thanks!!

Optimal settings for encoding HDV 1080i footage to SD dvd

I have footage recorded from an HDV camcorder and edited in FCP 1080i 60. It is fast moving sports footage shot with a high shutter speed the total running time is 40 min. I have encoded it to DVD by taking the HDV 16:9 FCP sequence dropping it to a 4by3 DV sequence to get the window box 4by3 aspect ratio and exporting this sequence as an mov. This mov was then encoded with compressor dvd 90 min best settings
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The big problem however is how compressor has dealt with the high speed moving footage. Played from the DVD on a sd tv the motion is terrible. It looks like the interlacing is all off and the image doubled up. The slow mo footage used in the piece is fine.
What are the optimal settings to smooth out the motion?

this ones been discussed to death many times in the past John
most folks have found the following tutorials helpful:
http://www3.telus.net/bonsai/Step-by-Step.html
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/hdv_to_sddvd.html

Exporting HD Footage to SD DVD and WEB

I am working with HDV footage and DVCPROHD footage within FCP 7. I am having trouble with the quality of my movies when I export the movies to SD DVD and to the web.
Here's what I have tried. From FCP I export a quicktime movie then I take that into compressor. From compressor I have tried the DVD Best 90 min and the result is bad.
I am using an mp4 setting for Vimeo and YouTube, and the quality isn't too bad, but my files are still large and it takes forever to upload.
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Cody

You are still a bit vague. Different people have differing ideas as to what is good.
It may be that you are expecting too much and you may already be getting the best that's available.
Without seeing your results it is difficult to comment.
Regarding your DVDs, if your movie is under 65 minutes long you can probably tweak the quality by modifying the existing pre-set to give a CBR (Constant Bit Rate) of 7.5Mbps and change Multi-pass to Single-pass.
This will give you the highest possible quality in only half the encoding time. However, the improvement won't be startling but the time saving will be very welcome!
Message was edited by: Ian R. Brown

Authoring HD footage onto a DVD - is this possible?

Hello!
I have 720p/24 and 30 frame footage that I need to burn onto an authored, non-bluray dvd. I think I'm being told that DVDSP cannot do that and that instead I need to set my preferences to SD instead. Is this true?
So far I've exported my footage from FCP as an mov reference file and through compressor as an mp2. Each time I set my DVDSP preference to MPEG 2 HD and when I click to burn, it won't let me.
Thank you in advance for your advice.
Larry

I just want to be able to put the footage I shoot on HD onto a regular DVD and is able to be played on a regular DVD player so that whoever watches it can see it in the true HD
Ain't gonna happen. DVD-Video is STANDARD DEFINITION only, so DVD players will only play SD formatted material in SD. However, some DVD players can upscale the SD signal on output which stretches the image to HD dimensions. Not the same as HD by a long shot.
If you want to author and play an HD DVD, you can author/burn in DVD-SP, but you'll have to play it on a Mac or one of the two models of Toshiba HD DVD players that were discontinued a couple of years ago - if you can find one.
Or you can burn a Blu-ray disc with Adobe Encore, Toast 10 Pro, Compressor or FCP 7, which will play in HD in a Blu-ray player. Of course you'll need a Blu-ray burner as well. You can also burn HD material to a standard DVD-5 disc that will play in HD on a Blu-ray player, but it won't play in a regular DVD player.
But HD playing in a regular DVD player? It ain't gonna happen.
-DH

1080p HD footage to SD DVD discs

Not sure if this goes in Final Cut, Compressor or DVD Studio Pro. So I'll just post it here and someone can move it if it's the wrong spot. Second off, I'm real tired. Too much editing.
I swear I go through this cycle over and over again.
I'm trying to get the highest quality output from 1080 footage on a standard DVD. I followed Ken Stone's guide (http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/hd_dvds_on_sd_dvdsyoung.html), but to no avail. I just got the "Playback feature may not be available on this Disc" error when I put the DVD in the DVD player..
So here's my setup, and what I've tried.
Exported my FCP timeline to Compressor
Compressed to a 10.3 mbps h.264 file
Took that to DVD Studio Pro on an HD DVD project (I think that's the problem, given it's a standard DVD).
But when I tried putting the h.264 file in a SD DVD project in DVDSP, it won't accept the file. Hmmm...
So should I use compressor to get an mpeg-2 and burn the mpeg-2 in a SD DVD project in DVDSP? And is that the highest quality you can get when you go from 1080 footage to a standard DVD?
Thanks!

Tell them to get an Apple TV2 and stream the content from their home computer. All you need to deliver at that point is the m4v file at 720p. You can ship it on a data DVD.
Around 2000 we purchased a Sony 300 disk CD carousel player. As we purchased new disks or were given them by artist friends, we also put the material into an iTunes library. As the years went on we added airport expresses to connect all the stereos in the house and outbuildings (4) into one network. The practical result of this is the Sony CD player has not been turned on in 2 or 3 years.
The same thing is going to happen with video content. There are internet based delivery systems in place already that work and will only become more robust with time.
The audio/video server will be (if it isn't already) the core of the residential entertainment experience. Blu-Ray is not really part of that scenario. I really don't believe it will last all that long. Apple has taken the convergence path and done much to make it happen. They are getting it right.
x

HD footage to SD DVD jittery

I've been working on a HD project... I need to save it to a DVD to play on a DVD player...
I actually already did, and it looks pretty good, except for where we did some speed changes... That's where it gets shaky/jittery. After digging around in the forum, I have a feeling its related to interlacing.
My project settings are:
Apple Pro Res
1920 x 1080
Aspect: HDTV 1080i (16:9)
Square pixels
FD: Upper (odd)
29.97 fps
What's the best way to get it to look good on a SD DVD?
The way I originally did it was to export reference QT movie with current settings then in compressor use the DVD mpeg2 setting @ 90 minutes.... And like I said, it looked okay except for the jittering in the speed change areas.
Do I need to change the interlacing to upper (odd)?
Message was edited by: Christina Rodriguez

Yes... I'm going to burn a few test DVDs with the problematic areas only with different settings and see what comes out best...
Although somewhat unrelated... I did a test with www.kenstone.com tutorial (http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/burn_br_mac_superdrivestone.html) creating a "faux" blu ray DVD... I went to Bestbuy and snuck it into one of their bluerays on a beautiful 50" TV... Worked great...EXCEPT for the areas that look like crap because they have some speed variation going on... ALSO some what spots due to bubbles in the water (underwater footage) look jittery, I think I have to lower the white in those areas....

HD footage to SD DVD

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