Opinions on Highest quality encode for DVD

I am doing a 16:9 Loop DVD for a tradeshow display. It will be shown on a 50" Plasma screen. I am trying to get the best quality encode on the screen. The project is 50 Sec long (storage & encode time not an issue) and contains both graphics and video elements. Video elements were shot on HDV. Compositing done in After Effects at 1920x1080. There does not seem to be a direct way to encode from AfterEffects to MPEG2, probably because the frame size is not MPEG2 standard. What would be the absolute best workflow to get to MPEG2 with as little artifacting as possible? I'm thinking uncompressed 10bit 4:2:2?
G5 2.5 Dual Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Someone here said once that 10 bit was overkill and that there may be issues with some encoders's conversions from 10-bit down to 8-bit.
Having said that, I'd use either 10-bit or 8-bit uncompressed codec. You probably want to resize your After Effects render down to 720x480 on export from your render queue, rather than have the MPEG2 encoder do it. Then take the uncompressed 720x480 file and MPEG2 encode away. Since it's only 50 seconds, I'd do a 7.5Mbps CBR 16:9 encode (if delivery is via DVD-R).

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Wanting highest quality result for DVD

I intend for my projects to be viewed on TV. Are there 'essential' steps and or settings I need to pay particular attention to in order to have a crisp clean product? For instance, during ...
Capture
Production
Exporting/Burning
These are not necessarily artistic projects, home video of children, christmas', vacations, etc - just want a respectable result.

I use both iMovie 08 and iMovie 06, if I want to make a DVD I prefer iMovie 06. iMovie 08 is not as DVD friendly as iMovie 06.
iMovie 08 has replaced "Share to iDVD" with "Share to media browser". Also iMovie 08 cannot set chapter markers, this has to be done with another program.
When using iMovie 06, one mouse click will set a chapter marker EXACTLY where you specify. In just a few seconds set all your chapter markers. When you are done editing just "share to iDVD 08" and all of your chapter markers will be there!
iMovie 06 and iDVD 08 is a terrific combination.
Your primary workflow is editing DV clips and making DVDs, iMovie 06 is better suited. Your movie will arrive at iDVD 08 in DV format, which is an ideal match for making a DVD: same resolution, same pixels aspect ratio, and original quality. If you share your movie from iMovie '08, it gets re-rendered at 640x480 or less, and then iDVD upscales it back to 720x480. The end result is obviously not as good.
Apple includes iMovie 06 as a free download to iLife 08 owners. (THEY WANT YOU TO HAVE IT!)
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovieHD6.html
The Web site below has a good comparison of iMovie 08 and iMovie 06.
http://www.geethree.com/slick/imovie8.html

Video Encoding for DVD

I've been struggling to get more videos on a DVD. Since I'm not an expert on this. Most of my vides are about an hour long and are mostly PowerPoint slides and screen capture of programming demonstrations.
I just keep wondering why DVDs I get to watch TV shows can have 4-6 hours of media when I can barely get two.
Any help would be appreciated.
David

Hi David,
Now we're making some progress, thank you for sharing more info. As a CC user, you are able to download and use Encore CS6. Adobe has stopped further development of Encore so there is no CC version, but you are welcome to use CS6. Here's some instructions - http://www.streamingmedia.com/Producer/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/RIP-Adobe-Enco re%3B-and-How-to-Install-and-Use-Encore-CS6-with-Adobe-Premiere-Pro-CC-93119.aspx
There are some issues with your encoding settings. To begin, the Source resolution is not a standard video resolution, which would be for instance 1920x1080, 1280x720, or 720x480. Nor is it even a computer screen resolution. How did you determine the Sequence setting in Premiere to start the project? Is that the resolution of your stills or screen-recordings? I went through this myself some years ago when tasked with creating a training video, so I understand how confusing it can get! This will affect the final quality if the downscale proportions come out weird. Note that DVD is SD and what looked nice and crisp on the high-resolution computer display will look muddy on DVD, but quality loss can be minimized with good workflow practices.
Next issue, you are encoding to .mp4, when in fact DVD requires MPEG-2 for DVD. So any other format you encode to will just need to be transcoded (re-encoded) in your DVD software again. More quality loss. Also, source is 30fps but Output is 24fps.
In AME, for FORMAT, please choose "MPEG-2 DVD", and then preset "NTSC Widescreen Progressive". That should be the best bet, and using 29.97 frame rate. Looks like the program is 58 minutes, so you ought to be fine with CBR encoding at 7 or 8 setting. Touch nothing else in the encoder besides bitrate. The export should result in an .m2v video clip, and on PC the audio would be .wav, for Mac might be .aac, not sure what they use there. In any case, Encore would convert audio to Dolby. I don't know how iDVD works, sorry.
Looking at the filenames you are using, I would avoid putting periods in the name, as the file extension typically follows the period, such as .jpg, .mov, .m4p etc, this can confuse the software sometimes. Use underscores or spaces instead, such as _.
Good luck with all this
Jeff

Audio drifts out of sync encoding for DVD

I am using Compressor 3.0.5.
I have a DVCPRO HD file I'm trying to encode for a DVD.
Even if I use the default settings in "DVD: Best Quality 120 minutes," the audio and video are completely off by the end by several frames.
The source file was generated from FCP6.0.6, and that file doesn't have any drift issues. I have even successfully used Compressor to encode an H.264 file with no drift using the exact same file.
Why then are the m2v and the ac3 files so off then? They are even different lengths by several frames.
I've tried re-encoding the audio separately at 48K 24bit, (same as FCP settings) and that generated an ac3 that was 32 frames longer than the video, which was exported with the exact same in and out point.
I've even tried breaking it up into 5 separate reels to encode each one individually and then join them in DVDSP, but then each of the 5 separate reels are each off as well, anywhere between 5 to 8 frames by the end.
I spoke to Apple tech support, and they don't know why this is happening. Yet I see many people who have this experience and I can't find the solution. Please help!
I read one post that mentioned it might be using a cluster and multiple cores, so I'll try using a single next, but if anyone has a solution please let me know.
Thank you!

I've had the same issue. It seems to only occur when outputting a 23.98 sequence to Compressor using the cluster.
Another related question: Do the sync issues occur whether you use a reference Quicktime or self-contained?

Encode for DVD: AC3 + MPEG2 are different lengths

I'm using Compressor's DVD:Best Quality:90 Minutes setting to encode a 30 minute NTSC 29.97 Self-Contained Quicktime for DVD. I bring the AC3 and MPEG2 files into DVDSP, and the MPEG2 is longer than the AC3 by several seconds.
I'm flummoxed. Any ideas what might be going on here?

Aha! I didn't have the Drop Frame box checked in the SD Encoding Preferences for DVDSP. I checked the box, and the duration now matches. You are a champ, thanks.

Best quality compression for DVD

Trying to compress a 7 minute project from Final Cut for best quality on a DVD, type 5. Been using the pre-set "Best quality: 90mins", but wondering if there is a higher quality compression I can get for such a short project? Have most up to date versions of Final Cut, Compressor and DVD Studio Pro. Thanks!

You can duplicate any preset you want, then adjust it to suit your needs.
-DH

Best quality conversion for DVD with audio?

This has to be easier than it seems. I have an hour long video I want to compress with the best resolution for DVD, but Compressor help tells me I "must convert the video into MPEG-2 (SD and HD projects)," but this is video only.
I just want to compress this 60GB video losing as little quality as possible and throw it on a DVD with audio, but I just can't make sense of Compressor to find the best way to do this.
Thanks for your help!

Thanks for the response. I did try this, save for the Create DVD Job Action, but it just creates one audio and one video file. I'm trying the Create DVD job action now, so hopefully that will work.
Here is a screenshot of my batch. Does this look correct?
Thanks again.

Highest Quality Possible for PDF

Main Question: ignoring the size of the illustrator file, when you save the file as a PDF, intended for commercial print, what are the absolute best settings possible?
Before answering “Press Quality Preset,” (thank-you I know that already) maybe I should provide further detail. Where to begin...
This was the initial hitch that prompted further inquiry
I was trying to save an illustrator file (CS6 in case that makes a difference) as a PDF for print. Naturally I selected the Press quality preset. However, when I examined the settings for this preset, I found that my ‘Color Bitmap Images’ are using a JPEG compression. Sure the Image quality is set to the maximum, but it’s still a JPEG compression- thus prone to image degradation if it needs to be resaved (or at least that’s my understanding). It seems reasonable that the simple answer would be to just change the compression from JPEG to the only other option- ZIP, in order to maintain the quality. Duh!
However, I’m left wondering why JPEG is the automatic choice for the press preset if the ZIP compression provides better quality (possible answer- File Size). Furthermore, if the compression setting is not actually set for the highest quality possible (in an attempt to keep the file size down), then what other settings have been lowered in addition to this one.
My hope, as a result of posting in this forum, is to create a new PDF preset in illustrator that will optimize the quality of all possible aspects for any illustrator document. For ***** and giggles let’s just assume the document was originally created with an 1/8 inch bleed, using CMYK color mode, and a 300 ppi raster effect. Plus, this document has utilized every aspect of illustrator in some way (no this is not a real document- but rather a hypothetical document that is being used to identify the best possible settings available, no matter what the content is).
Will these settings be overkill for the majority of documents created in illustrator? Yes! But that’s not the point- the point is, I’m exhausted of having to sift through mountains of information, to figure out the reasonable and the friendly-file-size settings I “should” use for every document I create.
Now, I’m just looking for the big *I WIN* bomb that’ll cream all future documents, regardless of the content, transparency, effects, fonts, etcetera… etcetera (that’s a fact).
Maybe I could’ve skipped the story- but it just seems like people always end up having to go back to explain themselves anyway.
Input on... any of this would be greatly appreciated

PDF/x-1a -- No need to change anything other than maybe the marks - color bars, etc. But the overall comrpession and color settings are already appropriate for press.

How to Produce the highest quality picture onto DVD or Blu-Ray

I have recently started looking at new video cameras and software. I will soon purchase FCS. One thing that I cant get a clear answer on is how to produce a high quality DVD / Blu-Ray Disc.
I stumbled upon a cinematographer by the name of Ray Roman. He is producing the kind of wedding videos that I want to produce in the near future. I see that he answered one of his followers by saying he shot the wedding with Cannon 7D DSLR cameras.
Here is a link to the video I am speaking about.
Ps. You need to scroll down a little to see the video.
http://rayromanblog.com/2009/10/stephanie-tims-wedding-in-big-canoe-georgia/
Can anyone tell me if they believe that was shot with a DSLR type camera, and if so what steps do you believe were took to create such a high quality final product.
1. What type of software is needed to produce this?
2. Does it have to be a Blu-Ray disc to hold that clarity?
3. Does FCS support Blu-Ray?
4. If FCS does not support Blu-Ray can I Export the project to Roxio 10 Pro to make the Blu-Ray disc?
If I am totally off in left field Please Please Please let me know your opinion as to the best methods you have found to end up with a high quality product like that.
What I really need to know is
1. What camera will capture the correct info to start with
2. What software will edit it and encode it without losing all that high quality data
3. What way to burn the project to disc to again retain all the clarity, brightness, sharpness etc...
Thanks for you help Ron...

I'm at work so I can't see the video, but I can answer some workflow questions for you. If you see lots of shallow depth of field shots it was probably shot on an HDSLR. That's about the only thing they have going for them video wise.
1) Without watching it I'm willing to guess it could all be done in Final Cut Studio or seeing CS4 in your signature, Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium/Master Collection (Premiere/After Effects).
2) DVDs only show SD video. You can do anamorphic video to get widescreen video on a DVD, but anything 720p and up will require more than a DVD disc. You can also letterbox your video to get faux widescreen on a DVD.
3) FCS doesn't really support blu-ray. Apple in general does not support blu-ray. You can export to a codec that is blu-ray friendly but there is no blu-ray authoring software, nor can any Mac be purchased with a blu-ray drive to my knowledge.
4) There are lots and lots of ways to export from Final Cut Studio. I'm sure you can find several wrapper and codec combinations that Roxio will accept. The level of compatibility is a different issue..do you need subtitles, chapter markers, etc. If you need more than a video clip you'll probably hit some hurdles.
1) I'd avoid an HDSLR to get started out. They are a pain in terms of workflow. You have to transcode (convert) all the video from the nasty H.264/PhotoJPEG codecs they record in (H.264 for the Canon cameras, PhotoJPEG for the Nikons) if you want them to be friendly in Apple's Final Cut or Adobe's Premiere.
It is important to understand video comes in a few types of formats, acquisition formats, editing formats, and delivery formats. A .mov file is a wrapper can be contain perhaps hundreds of different codecs (only one at a time), AIC, ProRes422, ProRes4444, Animation, the list goes on and on, it is the codec used that is important. H.264 is a compressed, lossy video codec developed for delivery and now used for acquisition in consumer devices. Editing software wants something simpler to edit with, like Apple ProRes422 or AIC for Final Cut. Transcode it and you won't have to render out every frame (let the computer build a preview video in an editing codec so it can play it back smoothly), then re-render when you do so little as add a cross dissolve.
That also doesn't even begin to look into the audio issue. Using an HDSLR for video capture basically says you need a separate device (and likely another operator) for audio acquisition. These will have to be synced up in post.
I'd say do yourself a favour and get a video camera if you want to shoot video. When you've got a feel for the workflow and a better understanding of what you're up against an HDSLR can liven up your shooting with some shallow depth of field effects.
2) Final Cut Studio and Creative Suite 4 will both work with 7D video, but the 7D doesn't shoot "high quality data." The video it shoots is H.264, or compressed. Think of it as though every frame has gone through Photoshop and been saved as a JPG with the quality setting at 3 or so. It looks pretty good if you blow the background out of focus, but it has inherent issues that make it not the best for every situation.
3) The best way to retain image quality is good workflow from beginning to end.

Image quality standards for DVD

Hi, just made my first simple iDVD. I included an iPhoto slide show. The results where not good at all. I used psd images, tiff images and jpg, all of them in high resolution and size. The smaller file size was 8mg. I will like to receive a word of advice on how to get a perfect image quality on my slides dvds. In mine, all images looked a bit unfocused or blured. Moving efect changed too much the quality of the images. The result was not good, certainly unusable for commercial purposes.
Also, I used an iDVD premade menu. The shadows of the texts created a pixelation of the background animation. Can this be fixed. Can we get perfection with iDVD? IF not, wich will be the software to use.
Thanks a lot

I called Apple's tech support and was basically told that this is the way it's suppose to look (which is terrible compared to DVDSP3) and that if I don't like it, I should experiment with filters. The guy pretty much made me feel like I'm stupid and just imagining this. If I'd been there in person, I'm sure he would've used finger puppets to try to explain what NTSC is, as that is the only thing he would talk about. I used the de-interlace filter and ended up with the same poor results. I've been using DVDSP3 for two years and have never had any problems. The Tech Support guy really didn't care. I'm wondering if maybe something went wrong in the install process. Since I have deadlines on several DVDs, I had to remove DVDSP4 and re-install 3. Now everything looks fine again. Thank you for your help though. I'm glad I tried the de-interlace filter; at least it helps to narrow down what the problem might be. I'll post more if we ever find out what was wrong.
Mac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

I want high quality SD for DVD

alright, i've got a 1.1 gig video about 5 minutes long that is in the .mov format (raw out of fcp). I'll let you know what I have already done and if you could, please let me know where I could improve. I took the .mov video and put it in compressor. Told it to convert to mpeg-2 and make a 2-pass VBR best quality. After being compressed, I dropped the .m2v video and dolby soundtrack into dvd studio pro and burned the baby. Looks pretty good, anything I should do to make it even clearer?

Check out this site:
http://osxdaily.com/2012/04/22/format-drive-mac-pc-compatible/
That will show you how to format a USB stick for use on both PC and Mac.
If the problem continues take it to an Apple store and have them check it out.
>Also what s exFAT?<
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExFAT
"exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table) is a Microsoft file system optimized for flash drives.[3] It is proprietary and patented."
That first site explains it at length.

Highest quality video for streaming

I have a series of training videos shot in HD. They will be hosted on YouTube and and Viddler and embedded in blog posts.
My source video is very high quality. I would like some guidance concerning the optimum settings when I encode the videos. My final image size will by 640 x 426.
Thanks for any assistance!
Joe Parsons

It's not very big. I'd recommend editing and exporting at the native 1080, then using the HTML5 <video> tag for inclusion on the web page. You can specify the size of the 'player' to those smaller dimensions, but this leaves the option for people to full screen it at the native 1080 for a better image.

How to export a complex Keynote to high quality video for DVD?

I have had dozens of attempts to turn a complex Keynote into a high quality video.
Either they turn out disappointiingly way low res
or they are very choppy with half the transitions gone
or they Cannot make the video at all
HELP.
I need to turn this project in to my client today.

If you use the DVD export in Keynote 3 with a self playing movie, the quality will be fine...just don't trust what you see on your mac screen, play it on a DVD player to check the quality. I did a test a while back and it was only the pauses that looked bad.
Read about it here:
http://www.keynoteuser.com/news/?p=135
pay close attention to what I complain about...it's just the slide pauses, not the normal motion playback, which means selfplaying stuff looks pretty decent (though never as good as the original, but that's the fault of the DVD format, not Apple).

What settings give the highest quality video for playback on an ipad?

Hello there,
I have had success exporting movies and playing them on my ipad by simply selecting the size that shows is compatible with ipad in the share/export format choosing chart.
However, knowing that I have more control by exporting using quicktime, I'm wondering what the best video type and best settings are for ipad viewing?
thanks in advance
Marc

If you Share to Media Browser you'll see the largest available iPad format for your media.

How to...highest quality mpeg4 for youtube?

I have posted video's on youtube but they always have poor resolution. Any suggestions on how to improve these?
I've seen some other videos that look very good, but when I transfer my QT to MPEG4, the res changes significantly.
If you help me, I'll give you a dollar.
Regards.
Mac OS X (10.4)

Since the file upload to YouTube becomes the source of their exported "Flash Video" you don't get much control over the end product.
If you've given them your "best" and they give you "**" then that is what you'll get from any export.
Try the Export to iPod settings (H.264 and AAC audio). They may butcher these too but it's the best you can send to them.

Opinions on Highest quality encode for DVD

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