Poor quality from burned dvds

i'm having trouble with the burned dvds i get from this software. everything looks great when creating the project, but after it burns, the menu and slideshow photos look very fuzzy/out of focus. i have tried using professional quality and high quality, but neither look presentable on the dvd either on the computer or the tv.
is there anything else i can do to improve the quality?
thanks,
d

The pixel content of a DVD is about 640x480 (in still digital image square pixel terms). I'll let you in on a 'secret' - that's only about 0.3 megapixels. They were designed to be viewed on the old, conventional CRT TV sets. When viewed close-up on a large screen set they 'are what they are'.

Similar Messages

  • Why are burned DVD's poor quality from the IDVD?

    I made a slideshow in iphoto and exported to IDVD so I could burn copies.  The show lloked great on screen but the first copies on dvd's were terrible.  The quality of images are very poor and seem to be depixilated?  Why would the copies be so poor?  Does the widescreen or standard have something to do with it??
    Help

    Hi
    There are levels in h*e*l*l*
    iDVD - is same as DVD Standard - Interlaced SD-Video
    Feeding iDVD progressive or HD material will not improve result but degrade this as from
    - iMovie'08 to 11 - as they can not deliver - but only every second line of the picture
    - iDVD downscaling from HD - is doing a bad job
    So by using a program that can deliver - best possibly DVD is the result
    - iMovie HD6
    - FinalCut any version
    - FotoMagico™ - (for SlideShows)
    If this is not enough - then DVD is no option as HD-DVD is rare and needs special HD-DVD-players - alt
    • Blu-Ray e.g. from Roxio Toast™ but still needs BD-Player as PlayStation3 etc
    • out in high quality to USB-memory to be played on device that can do this
    • Play via MacBook and out to a HD-projector/TV
    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 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 this to work I
    • Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up (Mac OS) hard disk
    • Use Verbatim DVD-R (absolutely no +/-RW)
    • Set down burn speed to x4 - less burn errors = plays on more devices
    • No other process running in background as - ScreenSaver, EnergySaver OR TIMEMACHINE etc
    • and I'm very careful on what kind of video-codecs, audio file format and photo file formats I use
    • and I consider the iDVD Bug - never go back to video-editor to change/up-date - if so Start  a brand new iDVD project
    • Chapters set as they should - NO one at very beginning and no one in any transition or within 2 sec from it
    • Lay-out - Turn on TV-Safe area and keep everything buttons, titles etc WELL INSIDE not even touching it !
    Try to break the process up into two stages
    • Save as a DiskImage (calculating part)
    • Burn from this .img file (burning stage)
    To isolate where the problem starts.
    Another thing is - Playing it onto a Blu-Ray Player. My PlayStation3 can play BD-disks but not all of my home made DVDs so to get this to work I
    • Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up (Mac OS) hard disk
    • Use Verbatim DVD-R (absolutely no +/-RW)
    • Set down burn speed to x4 - less burn errors = plays on more devices
    • No other process running in background as - ScreenSaver, EnergySaver OR TIMEMACHINE etc
    • and I'm very careful on what kind of video-codecs, audio file format and photo file formats I use
    • and I consider the iDVD Bug - never go back to video-editor to change/up-date - if so Start  a brand new iDVD project
    • Chapters set as they should - NO one at very beginning and no one in any transition or within 2 sec from it
    • Lay-out - Turn on TV-Safe area and keep everything buttons, titles etc WELL INSIDE not even touching it !
    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
    • No File Vault on - Important
    • NO - TimeMachine - during iMovie/iDVD work either ! IMPORTANT
    • Lot's of icons on DeskTop/Finder also slows down the Mac noticeably
    • Start a new User-Account and log into this and iMovie get's faster too - if a project is in a hurry
    • And let Mac run on Mains - not just on battery
    Yours Bengt W

  • Very Poor Quality when burning to regular DVD

    Can somebody tell me why when i burn to regular dvd the quality looks like a vhs video which is out of focus ?  When i burn to blu ray its crystal clear !!  I dont expect great great quality but i would expect something that is watchable !!

    Well if you are working with Premiere Elements 10 or above and want high Blue ray Quality content on DVD discs, then you have got the option of AVCHD disks in Share->Disc->AVCHD.
    But due to high bit rate, the amount of content that can be burnt on to AVCHD disks is much lesser than on to DVD disks.
    You can change the bit rate and increase the amount of content that can be burnt(but that will once again start diminshing quality)
    You will have to manage this quality-size tradeoff.

  • Low quality of burned DVD even if I drag&drop iMovie project into iDVD

    Hi all,
    I've a iMovie HD project that I want to burn via iDVD (7.0.4).
    If I click "Share with iDVD" the quality of the resultung video (which is burned to DVD) is rather poor. As I've read within this discussions, the preferred way is to close iMovie and "drag and drop" the iMovie project into iDVD.
    With this way, iDVD (instead of iMovie) will render the movie, which should give a video with far more quality.
    Unfortunately, the burned DVD with the "drag and drop" method has the same low quality as the video with "Share with iDVD".
    I've done a little research and noticed that the "shared movie" for iDVD (iMovie project->Show package Contents->Shared Movies->iDVD) for a 1:10 video has a filesize of only 32kb!
    Is there any way to set the "export" parameters for this "shared movie" (it is a quicktime file)?
    The quality of the completed DVD is acceptable if I export the iMovie project to "DV stream" an import this stream into iDVD. But in this case I lose all my chapter markers of the movie ..
    Is there any way to export the movie from iMovie HD and keep all the chapter markers for iDVD?
    Importing the iMovie HD project into iMovie 08/09 is not an option, as I lose the chapter markers also ..
    Thanks in advice,
    Kind regards.

    Hi,
    the iMovie project was created as "DV" project and I imported DV PAL clips. The iDVD preferences are also PAL (25fps) and the quality setting is "professional quality".
    I've also tried the setting "best performance" within iDVD (as suggested within this forum), but with the same poor result.
    I can see within the iDVD "project info" that iDVD will use "mymovie.mov" within the "Shared Movies->iDVD" of the iMovie project (Show package contents).
    As this converted movie is of low quality, I think this is the root of evil.
    If I export the movie from iMovie with "Export as DV stream" and import this converted movie into iDVD the quality is ok - but I lose the chapter markers ..
    Is there any way to keep the chapter markers?
    Kind regards.

  • Video quality of burned DVD way inferior to content viewed in iDVD program

    I notice the video and menu quality on my burned DVD is VASTLY inferior to video and menu quality when viewing menus and content in the iDVD program while building the presentation.
    Having encoded at "Professional Quality" to a single layer DVD which didn't look so good, a number of posts in this forum suggested that "Best Performance" actually renders the best video quality.
    I'm using high-quality media from Verbatim so that's not a problem. The DVD's burn fine.
    The content -- all high-quality QT movies with great resolution, color and crisp text and animation, look great in and of themselves, and when viewed in the iDVD program. The menus and clips embedded in the scene select buttons, all look crisp and clean.
    Burned to DVD however, the video looks noticeably "worn" and the clips in the buttons lack any kind of crispness or resolution. Definitely disappointing. The animations look herky-jerky.
    Anyone know what the problem is?

    Hi
    No iDVD has a fixed quality - as old time TVs
    • PAL 625 lines (720x576)
    • NTSC 520 lines (720x480)
    so Your Mac screen are way higher resolution.
    There are NO HD version of iDVD - yet
    *DVD bad quality*
    copy of an answer on a similar question - may be of help
    the iMovie 08 & 09 don't apply
    There are two problems in this question.
    • iDVD
    • iMovie'08 or 09
    iDVD - can only handle Standard definition TV quality - NO version can handle HD !
    SD-TV
    EU - PAL system = 625 lines analog display (no pixles) 25fps
    US - NTSC system = 520 lines and 29.97 fps
    That's the best iDVD can do.
    iMovie up to version HD 6 - could handle interlaced video (displaying every second line
    first then start over with the rest - 25fps = 50 frames of interlaced video
    less flickering.
    iMovie'08 and 09 has destroyed this by deleting every second line
    Result a resolution of
    PAL 312 lines
    NTSC 260 lines
    So photos displayed this way will look crappy.
    Improvment
    Use iMovie HD 6 or FinalCut Express or Pro
    Else only way I know of to get "full" quality is by using other tools all together.
    Roxio Toast™ 10 Pro (incl BR-component) and here the included FotoMagico™ for SlideShows.
    Toast™ also can burn Blue-Ray - even on standard DVD (but much less eg 20 min movie)
    These BR-DVDs Can only be playbacked on a Blue-Ray Player (eg PlayStation 3)
    But they look super.
    A more specific part reg. FinalCut
    I do in FC-Express or Pro
    • Export out as a QuickTime .mov file
    • Not selfcontained (not important but saves time and spaces)
    • NO QUICKTIME CONVERSION (Important)
    I use
    • Verbatim DVD-R disks
    • Burn at a reduced speed x1 or x4 recommended by many)
    • Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on internal boot hard disk for 4x3 SD video
    and my guess is that I would secure 5 - 6 times more for 16x9 HD
    (Still no version of iDVD can do HD)
    Yours Bengt W

  • Quality Issues Burning DVD's

    I am new to iDVD and iMovie.
    I am hoping to be able to burn a DVD that will play on a
    standard DVD player hooked up to a TV.
    I made a 4 minute movie in iMovie,
    then onto iDVD...
    Saved movie to HDD
    Burned DVDs via disk utility (one at all 3 speeds)
    Used high quality DVDs.
    The DVDs I created...
    only the 4x would play on my standard DVD.
    It plays in black and white, not color.
    It stops and starts frequently.
    Do I have any other options on my Mac?
    Should I copy the movie to miniDV and take it to
    a company that burns DVD's?
    Any advice would be very much appreciated.
    I posted this question in the iMovie forum as well...
    Thanks in advance,
    Kell

    What kind of media are you using? Are you using Verbatim or Maxell DVD-R and burning from a disc image at 4x or slower?
    Use Roxio Toast or apple's Disc Utilities to lower the burn speed. If your DVD or iMovie has B&W issues where it's not supposed to, then you have a shaky connection / loose cable somewhere. Check all connections (make sure all is snug).

  • Importing from burned DVDs

    Hi,
    I'm about to buy a Canopus ADVC300 to import old VHS home movies into FCE, but I'd also like to import footage from some full length burned DVDs so that I can add effects, titling etc. (They're school plays, so no copyright protections, etc.) Can I also use that device to import the DVDs? I'm not sure if it will work since the DVDs are technically already digital, but I'd like to be able to use the Canopus to clean up the inevitably shakiness and bad audio quality. Will this work? Can I just plug my DVD player into the Canopus the way I would a VCR? Is there a better solution that will maintain/clean up the quality?
    Thanks!

    Yes, you can plug your DVD player into the ADVC-300 just the same as your VCR.
    An alternative which will be faster is MPEG Streamclip to directly convert the DVD video to DV or AIC for editing in Final Cut. MPEG Streamclip is free and exellent. However you may need to purchase the QuickTime MPEG2 Playback Component from Apple ($19.99) if you don't already have it installed on your Mac. (The conversion is faster because the ADVC works in real time as you play back the video on the VCR or DVD player; MPEG Streamclip can directly convert the video and audio from the files on the DVD).

  • Setting quality when burning dvd

    Hi, I'm working on my first project on my brand new iMac. Finished creating the 23 minute movie, shared it in iDVD and burned it and found the quality to be quite low. I'll try a better quality dvd, but through reading these posts I've seen mention of settings that relate to the quality of a disk...where would this be in the process? Thanks for the help (and the patience!)

    Welcome to the Forum...
    Select "Project Info" under "Project" menu item...
    Select "Professional Quality" for "Encoding" for the best quality rendering to DVD. The "Best Perf" option is a misnomer...read below for details...
    More info from Apple Help file:
    +The encoding settings in iDVD are the following:+
    ◼
    +Best Performance+
    +When you select Best Performance, iDVD encodes your video in the background as you’re working on your project instead of waiting until you burn it. This can significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to create a finished DVD. This is a good choice if your project is an hour or less in duration (for a single-layer disc). You’ll finish your project more quickly, and the encoding quality will be excellent for the amount of video you have.+
    +Best Performance encodes your video at a preset bit rate that produces great quality for projects that can easily fit on your disc. If you have a larger project that needs to be squeezed onto a disc, you should select one of the other encoding options.+
    ◼
    +High Quality+
    +This is the best encoding option for larger projects that are between 1 and 2 hours long (for a single-layer disc). With this setting, iDVD chooses the best bit rate possible for the amount of data you need to fit onto your disc. It’s the only option that “squeezes” all the data onto a disc at a bit rate that ensures a high video quality in your burned DVD. Because iDVD does not encode in the background with this option, it takes longer to burn your disc. The encoding process begins when you burn the DVD instead of when you start working on your project.+
    ◼
    +Professional Quality+
    +The Professional Quality option uses advanced technology to encode your video, resulting in the best quality of video possible on your burned DVD. You can select this option regardless of your project’s duration (up to 2 hours of video for a single-layer disc and 4 hours for a double-layer disc). Because Professional Quality encoding is time-consuming (requiring about twice as much time to encode a project as the High Quality option, for example) choose it only if you are not concerned about time.+

  • Disapointed with picture quality after burning dvd

    Hi,
    I have iDVD3 and found the little "cheat" so yo could burn to an external DVD writer as I have a LaCie DVD writer. I duly burned my first project but have to say that I am disapointed with the DVD quality compared to DVDs I have burned with TOAST.
    I did notice that when burning my DVD on iDVD that it looked as though an error had taken place as a message appeared on screen saying that it couldn't write to the DVD and the tray to teh DVD burner opened however it already had.
    Any ideas?

    Hi
    58 min should put You in the situation of High Quality in iDVD but it
    depends greatly how advanced Your DVD-menu is. iDVD can guess that
    it is more than 60 min (together) and then put You in best performance.
    a. I would downgrade QT to 6.5.2 (Apple support downloads and so on)
    b. I don't use - Share to (iDVD, QT or what ever) from within iMovie (if it
    is this that You use) but close iMovie, locate project folder/icon and in
    this find folder -> Share movie -> iDVD -> use this QT movie in iDVD.
    - it doesn't render this way - which harms photos at least)
    (And I'm using OS X.3.9 - feel safe with this)
    Yours Bengt W

  • Can no longer copy files between internal drives or from burned DVD's

    This just started today as far as I can tell. We have 4 dual 2.7GHz G5's running 10.4.4. Two of them seem to work as normal. The other two won't let me drag/copy files from one of the internal drives to the desktop or the other internal.
    We have two internal drives, the one with OSX on it that works fine as in I can copy/drag files to the other internal drive (labeled "AV") or to the desktop. The AV drive won't let me copy/drag any files to the desktop or the other internal, I get the circle with a line through it. Also when I burn a DVD I can't copy/drag the files anywhere on any drive. If I put a previously burned disk (burned prior to today) in I can copy it fine to any drive.
    I have verified/repaired all disks, repaired permissions, and checked read&write permissions.
    Any help?

    OK, I figured it out (I'll admit to being a Mac n00b). I was using DVD+R's. So the act of trying to copy files from a DVD+R (even though it was burned in the same G5) changes something in the drives so nothing on them will copy.
    Ejecting the DVD+R and restarting without the disk in it got it back to normal. The problem was reproduced when I tried the DVD+R again (just to confirm the issue and solution). Again a restart fixed it.
    Moral of the story, don't use DVD+R in Macs even though they can burn to them.
    Anyway, if anything hope this post can help other n00bies.
    G5   Mac OS X (10.4.4)  

  • Audio problems from burning DVD's from Macbook Pro?

    Hey guys,
    So lately I have been having problems with burning DVD.  I use either iDVD or Roxio Toast Titanium 11 too burn movies to play on my television. After burnign them I notice all of them have audio problems.  It's as if the audio is faint for the dialogue but when background music plays its blaring! I checked my TV and its definitely not my Television because sound plays from both speakers.  I was wondering if any other Macbook users had this problem or users of either of these programs had this problem because it's such a hassle burning movies without really enjoying them.
    Any help is greatly appreciated!

    Try the Importing & Burning in iTunes for Mac Forum

  • PRE9 ? What is max Quality to Burn DVD from 1080i Source????

    Dont know if I worded the question properly.
    I just bought a Sony HDR-CX350v.  It is state of the art HD.  I am wondering...?  When I look at the quality of my recordings, its awesome.  I import to PSE9 and burn to DVD and the quality is significantly less than straight to the camera.  So it is recording via AVCHD...and then to PSE9 and then is it being compressed again to play on DVD?  I checked all the settings and it doesnt seem to allow to burn at the same quality as I import from camera.  Im sorry if this sounds extremely confusing or like I dont know all the variables...I dont.  Hopefully I have articulated my situation enough and someone can figure out for me what I am asking.  Thanks.

    RFMclaughlin3 wrote:
    I presume that if I connect the camera to my TV via HDMI (dont have right cable yet) that it will display in full HD.
    Correct.
    RFMclaughlin3 wrote:
    That being the casse, it would seem to me that there must be a way to import files into PRE9, edit, add titles etc and then save to a file without compromising quality of the original HD file?  My TV is networked, I must be able to play a file straight to my TV from my PC....?  Am I dreaming?
    PRE will always rerender a file when creating an output, but you must choose one of the HiDef output formats. Saving to DVD will always (by definition) be StandardDef.
    RFMclaughlin3 wrote:
    Also, I have tried using PRE9's presets to save the movie for uploading using Flash and MPEG and again the quality is very blurry/marginal.  I see great quality videos online, seriously clear productions.  How are these done?  How can I do the same?
    Take a look at John Cloudman recommendations towards the bottom of How can I get the best quality on YouTube? and see if that improves your quality.
    Cheers,
    Neale
    Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

  • Very poor quality when viewing DVD on TV

    Hello,
    I have searched this forum high and low, but every response I have tried to this issue does not seem to work. If anyone can help, it would be greatly appreciated. I am using FCS2 on a new 8-core Intel Mac Pro desktop. All of the footage is shot on High Def AVCHD Cameras and ripped from Log and Transfer in FCP. My video is about 1 hour, 5 minutes. The problem I have is that the quality looks great in the MOV file export, but when I burn it to a DVD, it looks like garbage. It's all grainy and the quality a really poor. Here is my workflow:
    1) Video is created in Final Cut Pro (no chapters at this point), its all 1 video
    2) Video is exported using Quicktime. I use the selected settings, and uncheck Recompress All Frames, and select use chapter markers
    3) I compress the video for SD DVD in Compressor, using 120min Best Quality DVD, default settings with this option.
    4) I put the audio and video file in my assets for DVD Studio Pro, then Drag them onto the video. I removed the menu item, and changed the video to "play first". I then click Format/Burn.
    The DVD formats and burns, and it plays fine. But the quality *****. The raw MOV file looks great. It's clearly interlaced yet at the time of export from FCP, but I am assuming that is normal. Any ideas, or am I doing anything wrong?
    Thanks,
    Brandon
    Message was edited by: Brandon Rohde

    Brandon,
    I suspect we are missing a few factors in your situation. Let me ask a few questions and make a suggestion or two so we can figure this thing out.
    1) What is the make and model of your TV?
    2) Are you telling DVD Studio Pro that the movie you've converted to SD is anamorphic?
    3) You did tell Compressor you wanted the SD movie to be 16:9, didn't you?
    4) To help troubleshoot, try this: In FCP, mark In to Out around a ten second portion of the Timeline, and go to File > Export > QuickTime Movie. Make it self contained but do not re-compress all frames.
    5) Quit FCP, open DVDSP and change the Preferences in DVDSP to create an HD DVD title. Import the QT Movie you exported from FCP, drop it into a vidoe track, make it a First Play on the disc and Format it onto your hard drive. Play it in DVD Player and tell us how it looks.
    6) If it looks fine, burn it to a DVD disc and play it in your Apple computer. How does it look?
    7) Now create a new project in DVDSP, make it a SD DVD project, import the same QT Movie you exported from FCP. Drop it into a video track, make it First Play on the disc, and Format it. Play it in DVD Player. How does it look?
    8) Then burn it to a DVD and play it on your Apple computer. How does it look?
    9) Now, play it in an external DVD player on am SD television. How does it look?
    Please do all that, then reply back to this thread with the answers to all of these questions. I think we'll be closer to resolving the problem after that.
    Do not reformat your hard drive or reinstall your OS yet. It is far too soon for that over-reaction. Maybe later, but I seriously doubt that will help anything.

  • Poor Quality Stills on DVD

    Forgive this old favourite. I've gone through lots of past threads and still would like some help please. I've also posted the same question on the FCP forum as I am not sure in which application the solution lies.
    I am making a 04'00" film in FCP from jpeg stills alone. Some are in boxes, other have motion effects, all have lots of layers of text / text boxes on them. In short it's a real fiddle and render nightmare compared to good old DV!
    Anyway, a couple of questions. My final delivery format is DVD to play on a flatscreen LCD or Plasma screen, so should I be proofing the quality of the image on my cathoid ray tube monitor or on the LCD monitor of my iMac? Does the final TV platform make a difference to workflow?
    So far, following back thread advice, I have changed the Field Dominance button to None and dropped the Whites level to 90% which made the image on the LCD timeline fantastic (it had been aliasing massively before) but it still aliases on my CRT.
    Also, when I export the rendered film as a Current Settings QT and then encode via Compressor and put it into DVD Studio Pro, the picture quality again looks fantastic on DVD Studio Pro Simulate but once encoded onto the final DVD, the shots with movement added are very poor, with lots of aliasing.
    Forgive the long intro, but has anyone got a workflow I could try to reliably turn moving jpegs (big ones c12Megapixels) of houses (ie lots of straight lines which tend to flicker when moving) into a DVD to be played on LCD or Plasma in which the straight lines look straight and there is no aliasing or flicker on the pan /scans?
    Thank you in advance.
    Hamish
    iMac 2Ghz intelduo FCP 5.5    

    Well, its obviously best to test your output on a source closet to your final display medium. You won't see the flickering of the thin lines on your monitor for several technical reasons, notwithstanding the fact hat simulator is not overly accurate (they even say that in the manual). Your monitor is not a substitute for how an image will look on an NTSC monitor, regardless of if its plasma, lcd, etc. Thin lines are usually killers, and taking time to thicken them in photoshop may not be your cup of tea. Jpegs are lesser quality picture format to begin with, but if thats the only way you have them, so be it. You usually run into a similar flicker problem when screen capturing websites to put on DVD. Webdesigners like to use thin, straight lines which flicker like crazy. Darkening and thickening can help, but again I don't know how much of a rush you are in.

  • Poor quality from iDVD

    I recently purchased an EyeTV device so that I could convert a bunch of VHS tapes to DVD, mostly half-hour programs recorded from TV. To start I captured four 24-minute shows. The files were 1.1GB each. I then imported into Toast. I could only fit three shows on a disk, but I went ahead and burned one. The whole process took less than an hour and the quality was about the same as the original VHS. I then converted the files to DV (4.9MB each!!) so that I could load to iDVD. This took quite a while, maybe an hour. I then imported them to iDVD and then burned a disk. It took more than two hours to do all of the encoding! To top it off, the quality is not as good as the disk I made with Toast. It's fine when nothing is moving, but when the scene pans or something moves, it looks pretty bad. Is this normal? If so, what is the value of iDVD?

    F Shippey knows much more about Eye TV products than I do. If I'm not mistaken their entry level Eye TV250 uses a USB interface. While their moderate to high end products do offer FireWire as well. I'm guessing they package the device/s with Toast Software.
    http://www.elgato.com/index.php?file=products_eyetv250
    However, I personally prefer and recommend staying 100% with FireWire when working with iMovie =>iDVD.
    So in that respect, have you considered a canopus fw - pci card? It imports analog / TV directly to iMovie>iDVD6. Looks like this:
    There are also firewire media converter boxes available that allow you to import analog to FW >iMovie>iDVD.
    A third option is to use a minidv camcorder with analog to digital pass thru via firewire (this is perhaps the most cost effective approach).
    Hope this helps and good luck.
    SDMacuser
    (3) G4 PM's/(3) S-Drives/Sony TRV900/Nikons/6FWHD's/PS7/iLife06/FCPHD/DVDSP/etc. Mac OS X (10.4.8) My ichatav AIM account is: SDMacuser1 (Please use Text chat prior to video)

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