IDVD. Poor quality video in drop zones

Video's added to drop zones in iDVD menu themes look terrible, before and after burning the iDVD projects to DVD.
Every video looses quality. They "blink/jump". For example the eyebrows or cheeks of people jump up and down and are very noticeable. It's as if the footage has been scaled up from a smaller image.
Does anyone know how to handle this? Is there a workaround?
This issue has been adressed before, and it seems there's no solution:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/1902931#1902931
https://discussions.apple.com/message/21604603#21604603
https://discussions.apple.com/message/10396039#10396039
I'm using iDVD 7.1.2 - and iDVD 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 themes.

Just tested the drop zone in the same theme that you posted with a video created with PhotoPresenter and it was very sharp.
Try this basic troubleshooting fix:
1 - delete the IDVD preference file, com.apple.iDVD.plist, that resides in your
User/Home/Library/ Preferences folder.
2 - delete the contents of IDVD'S cache folder: User/Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.iDVD.
3 - launch IDVD and try again with a new project with the same theme.
NOTE: In Lion and Mountain Lion the Home/Library folder is now invisible. To make it permanently visible enter the following in the Terminal application window: chflags nohidden ~/Library and press the Return key - 10.7: Un-hide the User Library folder.
If you're running Mavericks, 10.9, go to your Home folder and use the View ➙ Show View Options menu to bring the this window:

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Quality Issues with Drop Zones - Newbie ALERT!

Hello!
First post for me here...
Just started working with Final Cut Studio 5.1 and I have some issues that I have been running into. In DVD Studio, I am grabbing a menu template (Panes Blue) and I am creating a simple text animation in Motion (720x480) NTSC and saving the Motion file then importing the Motion file into DVD studio and setting up the drop zone asset to my motion file. When I preview, the text quality is very poor! At first I thought it was just the preview, but it still looks horrible on the TV when I burn.
How do I get the best quality when creating an animation in Motion that I would like to use in a DVD studio Drop Zone?
Please let me know if you need further info!
Jason

here's the issue:
DVDSP doesn't encode progressive scan. it doesn't matter what your encode settings are. I've done extensive testing on this issue. here's what happens:
I made an element that fits perfectly into a specified drop zone. the menu Background image or movie is rendered progressive scan (not interlaced). I drop the element into the drop zone and hit Simulate. Since the Drop zone and it's element need to be encoded to Mpeg2 in order to play properly, DVDSP interlaces it to make it work. Result: bad image compression and the drop zone area is badly interlaced while the rest of the image isn't.
This was something that frustrated me for weeks while i was trying to find a solution. As far as I know there is only one solution; Since DVDSP uses Compressor to encode files on build, there must be a way of intercepting the process and changing the settings that DVDSP uses to encode it's files. There is no preference for this and since the encoding takes place in the background, there is no way of changing this without getting a programmer to figure out how to do it, and even then, i don't know if it's possible. If someone can figure out how do do this, there'll be a lot of Happy people wanting it.

IPhoto album to iMovie to iDVD, poor quality of projected images

I am preparing a slide show of digital photo images. The finished product shows poor quality images. I am import the images as an album to iMovie, add a few title slides, then export either to media file or directly to iDVD. The results remain unacceptable when projected on a flat panel HD TV. Where am I going wrong?
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OT

Video in drop zone breaking menu transition...

this seemed simple.
i have a drop zone on my main menu with a quicktime in it. no interactivity. also on the main menu is a text button. that button triggers a custom transition/wipe that i built in motion. eveything worked fine, until i placed the drop zone with the quicktime: what happens is that when the menu button is selected, the drop zone clip jumps to a different point, then applies the transition and goes to the track. but that's not all. when going back to the menu, the drop zone clip will go to somewhere in the middle of that clip, then go to the head...
the menu length is set to the length of the qt in the drop zone.
if i delete the drop zone, the trans works fine.
any ideas?

Hi:
The transition in your final disc will be a MPEG-2 video file, it will not be created on the fly while playing. That means that DVDSP will use a frame from your menu as starting point to create the transition "to the movie" video file and another one to create the "from the movie" transition. The same happens when you use a movie as background in your menu.
I don't know what rule uses DVDSP to select what frame to choose to build the transition, but you cannot expect that your transition will start in the frame that you are seeing in any moment. Do you know what I mean?
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Adding Pictures/Video to Drop Zones

Hello All,
I've created a drop zone in motion and saved it as a master template. However when I bring it into FCP I have no idea how to place my footage into the drop zone. Whenever I drag something into the canvas it just overwrites the template.
Also, can images/footage be resized and animated within a drop zone?
Thanks!
rT

Thanks Jerry, I can't believe I missed that.
It seems though I can only animate the drop zone as a whole and not the picture/ video inside the drop zone. Is there a way to do that. For example I may want a picture inside the drop zone to scale up a bit. However the scale parameters on the motion tab only control the drop zone as a whole - not what is within it. Is threre any way to resolve this?
Thanks.

Scripting video in drop zones? possible? necessary?

is it possible to have different video play in a drop zone when a viewer returns to the menu. is this something that can be scripted? Or do i have to create a separate menu for each diferent piece of video in the drop zone and assigne that menu as the return point for the next menu with a different video in the drop zone at the time of returning from the end of a chapter? what do you think?
-trevor

You can target loop point from the track and the drop zone will be the same length in - in other words lets say the drop zone is a 30 second clip and you set the loop point in the menu to 20 seconds into the menu if you target the loop point via a script as a return the drop zone will play from 20 seconds on (as will the rest of the menu)
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The script is
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I may have an MP3 a friend gives me of a orchestra performance. The original recording took place in a studio, mastered via a huge 48-track console. I may want to go back and extract just the trumpet- easy enough with the source material- but not something that can be realistically done with a very compressed MP3.
Mike

Poor quality video and choppy

When I import into imovie with my Sony DCR TRV130 handy cam the quality is poor it is also choppy and speeds up at times. When i connect it directly to the television,it looks fine and the replay speed is fine.
New Imac 121 Gig free
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Transfer via firewire
imovie 08
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Make sure the QuickTime Player is set to high quality playback.
With the QuickTime Player running, select QuickTime Player>Preferences>General and make sure the 'Use high-quality video setting when available' box is checked.

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Ernie Horan

They lose a lot of resolution...
they have to ...
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if camtasia doesn't support dv, try a less compressing codec (mpeg4?)... try to come close to the video specs as possible...
last word about quality:
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Lining up image or video inside drop zone

Hi,
So I've created a drop zone and I've put a still image in it. The still image is a little bigger than the drop zone itself, so I'm trying to position the image in the drop zone so that hte right part shows through. Anyone know how to do this? In the inspector I can see controls to manipulate hte size of the drop zone, but not how to move the image within it.
thanks!

Figured it out. Shift + alt + click

Output 16:9 QT to iDVD w/ chap mkrs-poor quality video-WHY?

I imported ftg rom Sony HDV (shot as HD 1080i) as DV NTSC anamorphic. edited the project. then added chap. mkrs. now I want to export this as 16:9 into iDVD. I have heard all the problems associated with doing this. I am very confused as to how to complete this project. When I increase the quality of the export through qt conversion I seem to loose the chap mkrs. so I guess I will export as standard qt movie w/ chap mkrs. then I will put this thru the "anamorphisizer". then import this new file into iDVD. Is there a better way to do this to improve the picture quality?

Are you looking at the output on a video monitor? Are
you talking about after the DVD has been burned, or
the QI player of the exported file? Is the QT player
set to high quality? exporting to QT Conversion will
not not improve the image, even if you use a lossless
codec. Don't be confused by what you see on the
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I'm having problems embedding video content in a pdf whilst retaining its quality. I have a presentation document at A3 size in indesign, on which there is a video on the page at 400x224mm (or 1138x638px if I change the unit of measurement.
We have been getting frustrating results when using a .mov with h264 codec where frames are dropping and the quality is very poor compared to the original. We have tried plenty of iterations, sizing the video to the exact proportions of the box it is placed in, larger HD sizes, using f4v, and altering bit rates, but with similar results.
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Thanks for your swift response Dave, really appreciate the help.
We looked into using a floating window, but the documents are for sending out to clients without knowing what size of screen it will be viewed on. This meant that in certain circumstances the poster frame would sit larger on the page than the video itself, creating a bit of an odd composition.
The widget sounds very useful, although I'm hesitant as it would need to be rolled out across a large number of computers in our organisation. So I'm keen to explore any other alternatives (if there are any!) first.
You mentioned:
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Since we tried creating the video at the exact dimensions of the media box do you know why it is still rescaling it? I've heard there's a bit of a discrepancy between indesign and acrobat with pixels vs vectors, but have never quite got my head round it.
Let me know if you can advise further,
Thanks

Poor quality video when burning a DVD

Hi All,
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ATR,
Thank you for helping me out.
To answer your questions:
--Do you really need NTSC DVD-VIDEO standard 4:3 on DVD disc or is NTSC DVD-VIDEO widescreen 16:9 on DVD acceptable?
I was told that product specs require 4:3 aspect ratio for DVD. (Unfortunately footage was all shot in 16:9 before I found out about the 4:3 finished requirement.) I want to generate the highest IQ possible in this format.
--Is your 1920 x 1080p 30 or 25 or something else?
All video was shot at 1920 x 1080p 60fps. AVCHD.
Video Source Properties as obtained from the Timeline:
Type: MPEG Movie
Image Size: 1920x1080
Frame Rate: 59.94
Source Audio Format: 48000Hz – compressed - Stero
Project Audio Format: 48000Hz – 32 bit floating point - Stereo
Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1.0
--What exactly is set as the Premiere Elements project preset for the project that has this 1920 x 1080p footage on its Timeline?
PROJECT SETTINGS
Editing Mode: AVCHD 1080p square pixel
Timebase: 59.94 fps
Frame Size: 1920x1080
Pixel Aspec Ratio: Square (1.0)
Fields: None (progressive scan)
Display Fomat: 60fps Drop-Frame Timecode
Title Safe Area: 20% horizontal, 20% vertical
Action Safe Area: 10% horizontal, 10% vertical
Audio Sample Rate: 48000Hz
Display Format: Audio Sample
--When the project preset was set, did you use NTSC or PAL section in the new project dialog?
I didn't make any choices. I didn't use the new project dialog. I imported media and started working. When I saved, I made no choices. Since I'm in the US and bought this from Amazon, I assumed it was NTSC, and that appears to be the case.
--Is your program version 12?
Yes.
Motivated by a different thread regarding titles and 4:3, I did create a test "movie" (not DVD) at 4:3 and all the titles fit within the image area. (I even made a point of inserting a couple of titles that ran outside the "safe" area in the PRE Titler; these also all fit on the image although they came closer to the edge. Not crowded, but perhaps not as aesthetically pleasing as those that were created within the limits.

Poor quality video after rendering in CS6

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IDVD. Poor quality video in drop zones

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