IDVD output quality

I'm trying to create a slide show with music using iDVD ver 7.1.2 running on Mac OS X ver 10.6.8 and the output quality is very poor. I'm using high quality jpg files some from Lightroom and others from Photoshop CS5. Both are highest quality when saving or exporting. I've tried all thee encoding settings in iDVD with no noticable difference. I've tried to drop the photos directly into iDVD and also tried to put them in iPhoto and export them to iDVD...nothing works for me. What am I doing wrong?

Hi
There are several layers to this
• DVD - is as Standard (whatever program used) - interlaced SD-Video - and can not be anything better than this.
• How material was created to iDVD matters
iMovie'08 to 11 - is not the tool of choise if quality is of importance - as they can not export interlaced video any way known to me - but does this by discarding every second line resulting in a sever quality loss
iMovie HD6 and FinalCut are so much better - as they can deliver 100% interlaced video over to iDVD
• How material is sent to iDVD matters
Share to iDVD - I NEVER USE as this makes iMovie any version to render (badly)
iMovie'08 to 11 - Share to Media Browser and as Large (NOT HD or other resoultion as this too degrades final quality) - forces iMovie to NOT RENDER and iDVD to do this (and so much better)
iMovie HD6 - just close it and import the movie icon into iDVD and iDVD renders.
Else my notes on DVD Quality
DVD quality
1. iDVD 08, 09 & 11 has three levels of qualities. (version 7.0.1, 7,0.4 & 7.1.1) and iDVD 6 has the two last ones
• Professional Quality
(movies + menus up to 120 min.) - BEST (but not always for short movies e.g. up to 45 minutes in total)
• Best Performances
(movies + menus less than 60 min.) - High quality on final DVD (Can be best for short movies)
• High Quality (in iDVD08 or 09) / Best Quality (in iDVD6)
(movies + menus up to 120 min.) - slightly lower quality than above
Menu can take 15 minutes or even more - I use a very simple one with no audio or animation like ”Brushed Metal” in old Themes.
About double on DL DVDs.
2. Video from
• FCE/P - Export out as full quality QuickTime.mov (not self-containing, 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 and the Ken Burns effect NOT is used. Instead just drop or import the iMovie movie project icon (with a Star on it) into iDVD theme window.
• iMovie’08 or 09 or 11 are 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 speed as possibly e.g. x4 or x1 (in iDVD’08 or 09 this can also be set)
This can also be done with Apple’s Disk Utilities application when burning from a DiskImage.
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). For SD-Video - if HD-material is used I guess that 4 to 5 times more would do.
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) - DVD-R play’s on more and older DVD-Players
7. Keep NTSC to NTSC - or - PAL to PAL when going from iMovie to iDVD
(I use JES_Deinterlacer to keep frame per sec. same from editing to the Video-DVD result.)
8. Don’t burn more than three DVDs at a time - but let the laser cool off for a while before 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 short-lived 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-Player.
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 playback
The BD-encoded DVDs can be play-backed 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 record 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 JES_Deinterlacer_3.2.2 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 play-backed 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 choice 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 e.g. Energy-Saver
• Don’t let HD spin down or be turned off (in Energy-Save)
• 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 screen-saver 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

Compare output quality with DVD Studio Pro 3 and iDVD 08?

Can anyone one tell me if there is a difference in output quality between the new iDVD 08 and DVD Studio Pro 3. I have not bought DVD Studio Pro 4 as it is not available as a separate purchase. I am wondering if I should bother with iDVD 08 if the output is the same or less than Studio 3.
Thanks, Ed

I'll add this. I came to the forum this evening on this very subject. I have been using IDVD for years producing promotional DVD's that have been lauded by all my customers. I recently popped for FCP and DVD-SP to improve the quality of my productions. Yet, here I am, trying to figure out why DVD-SP is delivering terrible artifacts on high speed movement in the video. This is regardless of the settings for the encoder. They're better at the higher settings, but they're still there. Now I think (hope to find a different answer here on the forum) I have to encode with Compressor, re-import the track and re-link all 80 of the chapter links. The same video showed absolutely none of these artifacts when encoded in iDVD. The finished product looked identical to hooking up my miniDV camera to the television. The flexibility of menu construction in DVD-SP is amazing, but Apple needs to scrap the fancy built-in encoder and just use whatever is working in iDVD.

How Do I Change Video Output Quality When Capturing .DV Video From Camera?

I am experimenting with both this Premiere Elements 10 trial, as well as other brands of software, finding the best one to purchase for my needs.
In some other software, I not only indicate the source quality, but the output quality to the computer. If I want to upload the full quality video files to edit for retransferring back to a DV video tape, that's fine, but I will take up a lot of computer memory, relatively speaking. On the other hand, if I know that I'm going to be editing the video for replay on the computer or over the web, I can tell the program to upload to MPEG4 or some other conversion.
I am not seeing this as an option with the Premiere Elements. Can anyone tell me where, if possible, I can alter the output quality before the program begins the download? I certainly can find the input quality (such as .dv 4:3 ratio). I'd prefer not to always have to download the full quality video, THEN have to covert it as a separate step.
Thank you!

The PRE workflow is (1) Create your project (2) import your assets (3) sequence and edit your assets (4) create your menus (5) share your project.
The quality of intended output has no effect on your project settings which should match your source footage. Done this way optimises PRE's performance - as it can internally process far more effectively when matched to a 'native' format.
For standard definition the ideal format for PRE is DV-AVI Type 2. This is almost lossless and operates at around 13GB per hour.
Compression to an output format (e.g. DVD, or an iPod, or viewing online) is managed through the share process.
You could:
Import your footage - e.g AVCHD, HDV, DV-AVI, VOB
Share it to a compressed format - e.g. MP4
Delete the original capture source (in Step 1)
Work in a new project using the compressed output (in step 2).
But if you do this your final output quality will be lessened through working with a compressed original that you will then compress again. I can't see what you feel you will gain by this - disk space is so cheap now why wouldn't you want to give yourself the best quality source to work with.
Note that once you are finished with a project you can archive it off to free up your disk space.
Cheers,
Neale
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

I burned my first iDVD andpicture quality is not good. Originals are excellent. My photos are shot in raw or jpeg, both are not sharp when I view my DVD. I viewed it on my 1080 dpi tv and my new apple computer.

I burned my first iDVD andpicture quality is not good. Originals are excellent. My photos are shot in raw or jpeg, both are not sharp when I view my DVD. I viewed it on my 1080 dpi tv and my new apple computer.

There are many ways to produce slide shows using iPhoto, iMovie or iDVD and some limit the number of photos you can use (iDVD has a 99 chapter (slide) limitation).
If what you want is what I want, namely to be able to use high resolution photos (even 300 dpi tiff files), to pan and zoom individual photos, use a variety of transitions, to add and edit music or commentary, place text exactly where you want it, and to end up with a DVD that looks good on both your Mac and a TV - in other words end up with and end result that does not look like an old fashioned slide show from a projector - you may be interested in how I do it. You don't have to do it my way, but the following may be food for thought!
Firstly you need proper software to assemble the photos, decide on the duration of each, the transitions you want to use, and how to pan and zoom individual photos where required, and add proper titles. For this I use Photo to Movie. You can read about what it can do on their website:
http://www.lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.php
(Other users here use the alternative FotoMagico: http://www.boinx.com/fotomagico/homevspro/ which you may prefer - I have no experience with it.)
Neither of these are freeware, but are worth the investment if you are going to do a lot of slide shows. Read about them in detail, then decide which one you feel is best suited to your needs.
Once you have timed and arranged and manipulated the photos to your liking in Photo to Movie, it exports the file to iMovie as a DV stream. You can add music in Photo to Movie, but I prefer doing this in iMovie where it is easier to edit. You can now further edit the slide show in iMovie just as you would a movie, including adding other video clips, then send it to iDVD 7, or Toast, for burning.
You will be pleasantly surprised at how professional the results can be!
To simply create a slide show in iDVD 7 onwards from images in iPhoto or stored in other places on your hard disk or a connected server, look here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1089

The SOLUTION to bad iDVD Photo Quality

I have been a fairly silent member of this forum for a long time now, and have seen many supposed "solutions" with the known issue of how iDVD compresses, and ultimately destroys, image quality in DVDs. Granted, much of this compression is normal, considering a full-quality photo from iPhoto looks quite different after being smashed into the standard NTSC 720x480 format of a DVD and compressed to a variation of MPEG-2. That being said, this workaround has been well-tested, and will give you a very high quality slideshow that you can play on your TV. (take note that low quality TV will come into play in making the final product look bad, not the slideshow itself!)
NOTE: I only tested this in iPhoto 6/iDVD 6 on a 10.4.8 PowerMac G5. I would love to get confirmation it works on Intel Macs and other machines.
1. Select an album or group of pictures in iPhoto
2. Go to File > Export and click the Quicktime tab
3. You will have several options...
- Width/Height: Defaults to 640x480 (4x6 image). This will result in about 100kb per image file, which gives you over 90 pictures for a 10 MB slideshow that you can e-mail to your friends.
- Display image for: Obviously controls how long each image is displayed in the slideshow.
- Background: Can be an image or a color. This is what you will see as a border if the slideshow image is smaller than the window.
- Music: This is actually kinda complicated. What is the "currently selected music?" When you select an album and press the "Play" button to do a quick slideshow, there is a tab for Music. Whatever is selected here will be added to the slideshow when you export it.
4. Click 'Export', choose the filename and location, and then save it.
The resulting Quicktime file will be quite small, while still retaining the quality of your images. It uses a default crossdissolve transition that can't be changed. It keeps this quality when you drag the Quicktime file into iDVD and burn a disk/save a disk image.
Downsides...
- no ken burns
- can't use different transitions
- no other advanced slideshow options
But it gets the job done! If you're wondering why this works while other methods don't, it's all in the .Mov container that's created. If you open the file in Quicktime and got to Window > Show Movie Info, you will see that it lists each JPEG within the package, along with a transition component. It doesn't compress the images into a video file, but rather references the original images within the .Mov package! Cool huh?
Let me know if this works for you guys. I've offered this advice to many people with good results, which is why I'm posting it here.
smi1ey =)

Smiley,
What you suggest isn't really a SOLUTION to bad iDVD photo quality, because you aren't creating a DVD that can be played back with a DVD player.
You are simply suggesting an alternate approach for distributing slideshows which requires the receiver have a computer. iPhoto/iMovie give you several options on prepairing slideshows/movie for various methods of distribution (CD, email, etc).
Some DVD players will also play jpg files from a CD or DVD and that avoids the mpg-2 compression quality loss, but a TV set image is still a TV set image.
which gives you over 90 pictures for a 10 MB slideshow
A lot of email programs aren't happy with a file that size, and of course, since you have created a QuickTime movie, your PC friends will also need to install QuickTime. The Flip4Mac Studio application will let you convert your QuickTime movie to a WMV movie for those with PCs.
I'm glad you found an approach that you are happy with.
If you open the file in Quicktime and got to Window > Show Movie Info, you will see that it lists each JPEG within the package, along with a transition component. It doesn't compress the images into a video file, but rather references the original images within the .Mov package
BTW, there are several different CODECs that can be used in the .MOV file container - Photo JPEG is just one.
QuickTime Pro offers more saving options than the standard version, so I recommend you invest in QuickTime Pro. You will be able to create your slideshow directly in QuickTime Pro.
F Shippey

"lower than intended output quality: frame blending DISabled"???

When I print to tape, after all conforming processes have finished I get
"Note: The following conditions exist in this sequence which may result in lower than intended output quality.
The following can be adjusted using the Render Control tab in the Sequence Settings:
- Frame Blending For Speed is disabled"
??? Frame blending, if anything, will lower the quality even further?
And, if I turn ON frame blending the warning does not disappear but I get the additional warning
"There are sections that are rendered at proxy quality"
***???

When I print to tape, after all conforming processes have finished I get
"Note: The following conditions exist in this sequence which may result in lower than intended output quality.
The following can be adjusted using the Render Control tab in the Sequence Settings:
- Frame Blending For Speed is disabled"
??? Frame blending, if anything, will lower the quality even further?
And, if I turn ON frame blending the warning does not disappear but I get the additional warning
"There are sections that are rendered at proxy quality"
***???

Compressor Output Quality

Is there some way to control the output quality in Compressor besides picking the encoding method? I am exporting as an Mpeg2 60min fast encode standard quality and the file is 1gb to large for a single layer disk? I would like to reduce the video quality slightly so the file will fit on a single layer disk.

Assets in the bin don't get attributed to the DVD unless they are in a track or a menu. You can tell if they are being used when you try to delete them and Compressor tells you that you can't because they are being used.
In your original post you said you had a 1hr and 12 min video, yet you used the 60 min. preset. The 60 min preset will make a 60 min video fit on a single DVD, but not a 72 min video. For a 72 min video you would need a 72 min preset... use the 90 min preset. No need for the 120, unless you have a ton of video menus.
As far as the timeline issue goes, press shift-z with the timeline active. Does the end of your sequence go to the end of the timeline interface? Or do you have lingering elements out in the extremes that you forgot about? If the former, then don't set any in or out points, just send the sequence to Compressor, or export a Quicktime movie and drag that into Compressor, apply 90 in setting, and go.

IDVD image quality v.poor

I have just bought iWork 08 for iDVD as I need the improved quality for slideshows, however the so called "professional quality" is balony! after you have set this quality level then put the dvd into your player and play it, its rubbish, the quality is worse than iDVD 06!
For a few new features this is a waste of money, no better performance in fact its worse!

For the highest quality slideshows, I use FotoMagico. It gives you an option to encode a DV file at a high quality level. When the movie file is used in iDVD, slideshow quality is improved.
See http://homepage.mac.com/prof_pixel/FotoMagico.jpg
BTW, the 'Pro Quality' encoding only make a difference if your content is over 60 minutes. Under 60 minutes, 'Best Perfotmance' give the best quality.
F Shippey

Poor Output Quality DVD vs. Mpeg

I recently scanned some slides at 360 dpi to a 4 by 6 size when I place them in the timeline they looked perfect. When I burned a DVD the quality was off a little bit especially at 1080p. When I exported as a computer file " MPEG HDTV 1080p 29.97 High Quality " and played it on the TV it was perfect...any suggestions why the DVD output quality was a little off (faces appears to be mottled and lines are pixelated).
I've tried different project settings and the results are the same except anything that's interlaced seems worse, more pixelated.
The Properties for most of the slides are as follows
Type:Jpeg
File size: 1.8mb ( and higher )
image size: 2159 x1439
Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1.0
Bill

fader5
Could you please clarify your question and its details because I am reading your details as 1080p formats as AVCHD DVD versus HD MPEG2.mpg file.
I am interpreting your question with no involvement of DVD-VIDEO on DVD disc.
I think that you have burned some photos in Premiere Elements
Publish+Share
Disc
AVCHD
with Presets = H.264 1920 x 1080p NTSC Dolby
and would like to see a bit "better" when at playback on your TV's player.
The following
When I burned a DVD the quality was off a little bit especially at 1080p
same except anything that's interlaced seems worse, more pixelated
forces my focus away from
Publish+Share
Disc
DVD
where there are no progressive offerings, just interlaced ones.
I am assuming that your player is a Blu-ray player that supports AVCHD DVD or one of the multi media players that supports AVCHD DVD.
Now when you export the Timeline content to file
Publish+Share
Computer
MPEG
with Presets = HDTV 1080p29.97, the MPEG2.mpg that you obtain displays better on your TV. What is the MPEG2.mpg on...USB Flash
Drive or memory card?
Please review and consider and clarify. Please excuse if I have misinterpreted your question. If I read it correctly, then I will offer comments
for the possible whys.
Thanks.
ATR

Newbie FMS Output Quality

Hi there.
Just installed FMS3.5 and obtain very low output quality. On
a side-by-side comparison of the capture and output ( FMS start
page ) the stream on the output size is big time choppy and
pixelized.
I read that FMS is doing automatic bandwith detection but
even that, I'm testing on localhost. Is there some specific setup
on server side ?
Thanks for help.

Since you're using the flashplayer as the publishing client,
you can expect crappy, blocky video at any bitrate under about
500kbps. Sorenson spark (the encoder that the flashplayer uses)
produces very low quality images at low bitrates.
Your publishing bitrate is determined by the
camera.setQuality method on the client side. If you are not
explicitly setting the bitrate, video will be encoded at the
default 128kbps... very low quality
The reason the preview image looks better than the final
image is likely because your are looking at the uncompressed camera
image in your preview (i.e attaching the camera directly to the
video object).
Also, make sure the camera supports 320x240 natively (most
do, but one never knows). If it doesn't, the flashplayer will
capture the camera at the camera's closest native resolution, in
which case the image has to be scaled to fit in a 320x240 area. Any
such scaling has a negative impact on image quality.
On the note of automatic bandwidth detection... the included
server side methods do nothing more than determine a client's
server-to-client bandwidth. It's up to the programmer to take the
results of that bandwidth test and apply it to client side
actionscript (for example, choose a specific version of a video to
play when bandwidth is limited). FMS doesn't do any sort of
recompression of streams, so you would need to publish multiple
streams at varied bitrates to take advantage of bandwidth targeted
content delivery.

Can't select paper type or output quality when printing from new imac....

Not sure if I'm in the right place to post this question....
When I try to print (from ANY app; Photoshop, InDesign, etc.) to my hp business jet inkjet printer, I get a print menu, but no where on the print menu (or any pulldown tabs) do I have an opportunity to select paper type or output quality. I am unable to print photos, for example.
The printer worked fine with the old PC; there is no driver to d/l for mac.
Only from iPhoto can I select paper type (from a limited number of choices), but not from any other app on my imac. I mostly use InDesign and print flyers and brochures, many with photos, and can't select anything other than plain paper. Do I need a new printer? Genius bar 'help' said they had no idea why it wasn't working....
HELP!!!
Thanks!

Hi Duane,
Yes, I opened the Printer Driver package, and then pulled up my test InDesign file and selected File>Print, and here's the screen i get: (hope this works, I'm trying Skitch for the first time)...
[img]http://img.skitch.com/20100219-8ywf49rxkh7heg86n25gefbydc.preview.jpg[/img]
Click for full size - [color=#A7A7A7]Uploaded with plasq's Skitch[/color]
when I click on "Setup" in the print menu box, I get this screen:
[img]http://img.skitch.com/20100219-pgqjnjt1anrx2xic3pih9def3y.preview.jpg[/img]
Click for full size - [color=#A7A7A7]Uploaded with plasq's Skitch[/color]
I've clicked on each topic on the left on the Print menu, and still there is no where to select paper type or output resolution.
The same thing happens when I print from Photoshop.
Thanks.

Output quality of blu-ray, can it be changed?

I've already started a discussion on this issue, but i cant seem to reply to their answer. So i had to open another discussion. Apologise for any mistake.
Quote by Bill Hunt;
Re: Can we change the quality of the output for Blu-Ray? & 6 Channels Audio output?
I am confused on your workflow here. It seems that you are Importing material that is already in fully BD-compliant form, but then are Transcoding again?
Can you step us through the exact Assets that you are working with, and the steps that you are taking with those Assets?
Also, if you have a muxed MPEG source file, I would rip it to the elemental/elementary streams, as Encore has some issues with muxed MPEG source files. Also, you will want to rip the two Audio streams, and Import those separately. These Assets should show Do Not Transcode, if they are 100% BD-compliant. If they do not, you should be able to force Encore to NOT Transcode them, so the quality should match that of the Imported files exactly, and no more work should need to be done. Remember, that is if they ARE 100% BD-compliant - very important.
If you already have your dual-Audio streams, you will not need the SurCode DD 5.1 SS encoder plug-in, in this case, as that encoding has already been done, or at least I think that it has been done.
Good luck, and we'll be looking for details on your workflow,
Hunt
My reply;
I am working with m2ts files from another BD. I'm trying to create a Music BD. I'm extracting the songs from multiple BDs.
I wanna create my own menu and pop-up menu(i will create another discussion for this issue)
The output quality is far inferior that the input file, like 10 times worst. I want to know if there is something i can do to overrride this thing.
Thanks.
Arshad

You would export to full quality in whatever format it currently is (probably AIC). Then you would put this into Toast (with the Blu-ray plugin installed). You can adjust the encoding settings in Toast.
Bitrate affects how much data is used to construct video. DVDs are encoding in mpeg2 video, with a bitrate around 4.5 Mbps (megabits per second; take this and divide by 8 to get megabytes per second). Do the math, and you will come up with around 2 hours of 4.5Mbps fits on a 4.7GB DVD.
Blu-ray uses three possible video codecs: VC-1 (basically a new windows media), mpeg2 (like a DVD, but high def), and H.264 (also called AVC). Toast allows mpeg2 or H.264. H.264 is more compact but takes a LONG time to encode. A very general assessment of mpeg2 and H.264 is that both offer the same quality, but H.264 can use about half the bitrate of comparable mpeg2, at the same dimensions.
You have to decide how low you can go before the quality worsens. As I said, I would say in general you could set the bitrate as low as 11mbps for H.264. If there is a lot of action, or detailed textures such as moving grass or water, it might need to be higher.
I just opened Toast and starting dropping movies into an AVCHD disc. With the bitrate in encoding settings up to the max of 26mbps, I can put 40 minutes on. So you could play around with it, and see how your footage looks.
Clean, well-lit, tripod shot footage with noise filters and professional cleaning can compress very well. Professional BD sometimes go as low as 6mbps in scenes. Home movies have more noise and shake, and need more data to be compressed.
50 minutes fits, with a bitrate of 11.5mbps, with audio in 448kbps Dolby Digital.

Settings for pdf-output-quality of WebApplication Designer Diagrams

Dear All!
Is it possible to set-up the quality of pdf-output-quality of WebApplication-Designer Diagrams. If we are using 10pt Chars the pdf-Output no longer readable.
thank you for your comments..

Carsten,
I looks like you posted in the wrong Forum.
Greetings,
Ed Wenmakers.

Photo quality from Aperture to iDVD output problems

What is the best option for burning a simple slideshow to a disc for viewing with a DVD player. I have tried several ways resulting in a disc that does play without problem but the quality of the photos is very poor, nothing even close to the preview in iDVD itself. My settings in Aperture is for high quality previews, I believe it is the previews that iDVD uses. I'm not sure of the correct settings for iDVD. Any suggestions or helpful links would be appreciated.

As I just told another poster in the iDVD Forum:
DVDs are LOW resolution devices by today's standards. An NTSC DVD image is 640x480 pixels (768x576 pixels PAL). This is about 0.3 megapixels!!
If you want to make a HD format disc, a 854x480 image is squeezed into 640x480 when a DVD is made.
When (and if) Blu-ray discs become readily available, things will get better.
See: Preparing images for iDVD slideshows at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iDVD/7.0/en/6675.html

FCP to QT to iDVD output dilemmas

Hi everyone,
I've searched for an answer to this problem for weeks, but my ignorance/specificity of the problem has made it impossible for me to get an answer. Here is the situation:
I have created a couple of two minute videos in FCP 4.5 HD. Both have several fast video transitions. I export to QT with "Using Quicktime Conversion." When I output, I use the H.264 codec. All the .movs playback fine when I view them on my computer using Quicktime 7.1.2. However, whenever I try to burn the projects to DVD, either using iDVD 5.0.1 or Toast 7.0.1, the fast transitions are choppy. They play in real time, but it almost appears that frames are missing or compressed... a wipe will look choppy, not smooth as it does in both FCP and QT playback. I also notice that the video in general looks choppy, but it is extremely noticeable on quick transitions. All the video is there and the untrained eye may not notice, but I definitely see that the transitions are bumping along.
I have transferred other FCP projects to DVD using iDVD without issue, but these particular projects are troublesome. All my projects have sequence settings of 720x480 NTSC DV (3:2), NTSC - CCIR 601/DV with QT Video Settings as DV/DVVPRO - NTSC...
HOWEVER, the editing timebase is different for the two problematic videos. They have an editing timebase of 23.98, whereas all other projects have a timebase of 29.97. I have tried to cut/paste these projects into 29.97 sequences, but I get a lot of missing frames and incorrect in/out points throughout. This is non-time coded footage transferred from a DVD to QT and imported into FCP, so I can't redigitize in 29.97. Also, just as added info, I have exported both as "Quicktime Movie..." using current settings, but that does not solve the problem and actually screws up an edit in one of them.
Maybe the editing timebase is not the problem (the QTs come out fine on the desktop), maybe it is iDVD or Toast or my RAM or something (I am running 10.3.9 on a 1GHz PowerPC G4 with 768 MB DDR DRAM), but it is the only discerible difference I can find.
Anyone who has a solution, please let me know. I am dying to make DVD copies that look as good as the QTs on the computer.
Thanks,
Mike
Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.8)

If you're going to iDVD, DO NOT export to H.264. That is basically a web delivery format and you'll lose massive quality - you're compressing twice into different formats. If you plan on going to iDVD you NEED to use Export QuickTime Movie... and keep it at Current Settings.
Where you're likely to run into problems is in the frame rate. I'm unsure how iDVD handles 24fps material. iDVD 6, because it handles HD, is more likely to do it properly. Here's where I suggest you take advantage of Apple's amazing crossgrade offer. If you've got FCP 4.5, upgrade to the full studio for $199. It's a limited offer, so don't wait too long.
I can't say if you'll get it looking just like the desktop, it plays there at its native frame rate. On a TV, it's gonna need a pulldown inserted to convert 24 to 30 fps...
post back,
Patrick

IDVD output quality

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