Widescreen HDV to Widescreen SD DVD

We have a film that is finished in HDV 1080i50 on FCP at 1440 X 1080 (16:9). We now want to create a PAL SD DVD that gives us pure 16:9 rather than 4:3 letter boxed. What are the exact sizings for this and where should i be resizing?
I have found another post on discussions that reccomends using the method I employed below but I am unsure that this produces a perfect 16:9 video.....
I've been exporting a QT using the export command and the default settings of HDV1080i and that gives me a QT which is by 1920 X 1080. I then brought that into compressor 2 and used the apple setting of high quality 90min 16:9 preset. I altered the .m2v preset so that the filed dominance was upper layer, I changed the "frame control" to be custom (in "resizing control" I selected "best" on "resize filter" I changed it to "top first" and finally I changed the "deinterlace" to "best".
I then imported the encoded project into a SD DVDSP project and burnt it.
When watching this it seems ok but this method seems a little convuloted to create a widescreen movie. I am not sure if this produces a perfect 16:9 SD movie. What is the correct workflow?
Many thanks for anyone who can help me.....
Fred

As mentioned I in your other thread, your workflow is correct except for Field Dominance - it should be set to Lower.
I don't think your workflow is convoluted but that's just me...

Similar Messages

Flash - SD Widescreen PAL DVD

Hey everyone, I did post this one level back as another topic, but then started reading around and figured this may be a better place to post. I apologize for the double post, won't happen again - I'm new to the user forums here and I admit that this is a bit of a desperate plea for help. I apologize in advance.
So, I've been working on a project recently that's been kind of difficult for me to test since I don't have access to the platform I'm trying to develop for. I was hoping somebody might be able to help guide me to the information I need, or let me know outright if I'm on the right track or completely out to lunch with my thinking here.
Anyway, shorthand version of what I'm trying to accomplish: I'm trying to design a 16:9 wide screen video animation. I built the animation using Flash CS3. Originally it was built for NTSC but now needs to be burnt to DVD in a PAL format. I re-sized my animation to be 1024 x 576 (square pixels) at 25 FPS and exported it from Flash as a .mov using the Animation Codec. (Exported with 16:9 PAL settings at 720x576 with a pixel aspect ratio of 1.422.) I brought the new rendered file into Adobe Encore and set up my chapters etc. All footage has been interpreted as SD PAL Widescreen 1.422 PAR.
When I view the Movies I export from flash (off my desktop) they are 1024 x 576 square pixels ... they appear distorted and aliased. After burning the videos to DVD with the footage interpreted as previously mentioned, I tried viewing them on my computer. The screen capture resolution is 720 x 404 ... which is kind of odd to me. I would expect 720 x 480 or even 720 x 576. Overall though the quality is pretty nice and doesn't look greatly distorted.
I guess what I'm trying to ask is: Is that normal? Is that right? wrong? Ultimately though, does anyone know what a Widescreen PAL DVD would look like viewed on a windows XP machine? (In Windows Media Player with a DVD Codec?)
Any guidance or help on this would be greatly appreciated. If there is any other information I can provide you with to help with understanding my plight, please let me know.
I'm a web designer backed into a corner here and really don't have a whole lot of video experience. I'm also living in Canada and don't have access to a PAL system to watch the final product on ... so I'm just trying to get my settings as accurate as I can on my end.
Thanks in advance.

>The screen capture resolution is 720 x 404 ... which is kind of odd to me.
On playback the movie is displayed with square pixels. If the DVD plays 720 pixels wide then the corresponding height will be 405 for a 16:9 movie.

Converting HDV FCP projects to burn standard widescreen PAL DVDs

I film and edit HDV footage from my sony hdr-hc1e on Final Cut Pro 6. I want to be able to burn PAL DVDs of my projects that will work on a normal DVD player.
In the past I have exported using quicktime conversion from FCP and used the size PAL 16:9 which gives 1024 x 576 size video files. Then my problem was these would not show up as widescreen in iDVD so i was advised to use an application 'Anamorphisizer'. That worked and i was able to make widescreen DVDs. I don't know what changes I've made but Anamorphisizer no longer works. I feel there should be a much simpler way anyway. Anyone know one?
Thanks very much,
Ross
Message was edited by: Ross Harrison

Hi Ross
Just thinking but I started a PAL project
Capture my material
In Browser - I expanded this on it's right side and far to the right I could select anamorphic. I did for each Captured sequense and the movie project.
Think that this worked after Export as QuickTime.mov
• No QT-conversion
• Not Selfcontained.
Yours trying to remember Bengt W

How do I prevent a 16:9 sequence from being "super-widescreened" in DVD-SP?

I shot a project in 16:9 and edited in FCP4, which transferred to DVD Studio Pro just fine. I recently upgraded to FCP5, after which I added a sequence to the project. I must have got the initial settings for the new sequence wrong, since it comes out in DVDSP as "super-widescreen": narrower from top to bottom and stretched horizontally.
When I examine the sequence in FCP it looks fine -- but it turns out that this is because "anamorphic 16:9" is NOT checked in sequence settings (as it is for all the other sequences in the project). If I do check "anamorphic 16:9" in sequence settings, it looks "super-widescreened" in FCP too.
Even if I export the sequence to DVDSP as mpeg2 in 4:3, it still comes out squashed and stretched. Same thing if I create a new sequence in FCP with a 16:9 preset and copy all the clips from the original sequence.
Is there any way to get this sequence back to the right aspect ratio without starting all over from scratch?
Many thanks in advance!
PowerMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Is there any way to get this sequence back to the right aspect ratio without starting all over from scratch?
Try this...
Alter your Sequence Settings and check the Anamorphic 16:9
Once you've done that, select all your clips in the Timeline (press Command-A)
Press Option-Command-V to bring up the Remove Attributes dialog. There, select Distort from the Video options, then click OK.
Your clips should now fill the 16:9 frame (unless there is some issue with the anamorphic flag at the clip level).
Also, please be aware that if you've created any freeze frames from the timeline, they will have to be re-created, the Remove Attributes trick doesn't work on them (since they were created as 4:3 frames).

....exporting 720p to Widescreen 16x9 DVD

I have video that was shot in 720p format using the Panasonic HVX200. When you open the clips in Quicktime and check the information you can see that the Frame size is 960x720 (1248x702). The Frame size is at 1248x702 but once imported into FCP where the the squeeze takes place you then see its 960x720. Okay now to finalize out of my timeline, I want to go through compressor and export a high quality widescreen 16x9 file that I can play on my 42 inch widescreen plasma....
Sorry for writing like this. It's just that I been searching for existing results on my problem within the forum and have found nothing. Most posts I dont even understand what is trying to be encoded. Ok back to ...
I did an encode where I used the High Quality Widescreen preset and it burned properly. When played on a standard television it creates the black bars on top and bottom, nice. When played on the big plasma it fills the screen perfectly, nice. Now here is my problem. There are some pixelation issues in quality. Some areas not so much but overall the quality is quite bad for being born in HD.I know its being burned to SD but is there a way to encode this with optimal quality? Help, tips,sugesstions, spells to get this playing properly is greatly appreciated. Here is the specs on the video in my timeline:
DVCPRO HD 720p60 960x720

Ricardo,
know you posted this a while ago but I ran into a different issue, and this info might help:
http://www.cineform.com/products/TechNotes/HVX200Resolution/HVX200Resolution.htm
Seems like the HVX200 does not record "true" HD 1280x720, but rather compresses to 960x720. The pixels aren't square, they're anamorphic and thats why they playback at 1248x702 (quicktime makes the adjustment so they view correctly).
The solution they offer is to upres to native HD 1280x720, then output your film to DVD. This should help.

Can't get SD DV to view correctly on widescreen HD DVD player/TV

I'm having a problem getting a DV project to look right on HD setups. The video should generate "windowbox/pillarbox" black bars on the side of the screen to preserve the original DV aspect ratio. Instead, the DVD player/TV expands the video making everyone in the video look bloated. There don't seem to be settings on either the TV or the DVD player to auto-correct this. What do I need to do in DVD Studio Pro to get the content to play in its true aspect ratio, with black bars on the sides? Apologies if this has been answered before, but I have not been able to find posts on this particular topic.

On my set up these are either/both the function of the set up menus for the television and set top player

Correct workflow for HDV to anamorphic SD DVD?

My current workflow amounts to building HD videos in Final Cut Express 4 (FCE), exporting HD MOV files for use in Encore CS3 to create standard DVDs.
To be clear (correct my verbiage if I'm wrong) when I say HD this is what I'm working with:
1920 x 1080
Interlaced
29.97 fps
Originally, before I got an HDTV, I would simply drop the finished HD timeline into an SD timeline in FCE, and create the DVD using these movie files. On a typical CRT 4:3 television, this actually works okay. But once I got my HDTV and watched how the 4:3 picture was simply placed in the middle of the screen, I realized I was doing this the wrong way.
Ultimately, I want to create the DVD so the video adjusts to the width of the screen, where the black bars you see aren't actually embedded in the video itself. Is this called an "anamorphic" DVD?
I've done my best to do this on my own, but any movement in the final videos on the DVDs contain horrible jaggedness, as if you were watching interlaced video on a computer monitor, even if I'm watching it on a CRT 4:3 television.
Here is what I'm doing:
Export 1920x1080 MOV
Import MOV into Encore CS3 project
Transcode Settings:
Format: MPEG2-DVD
Pixel Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 16:9 (1.200)
When I'm in the transcode settings panel, in the output preview window, I can see the jaggedness and can't get rid of it by changing any settings. If I change the PAR selection to "Standard 4.3 (0.900)" it gets better, but again I don't think this is what I want to do.
Can anyone see the problem in my workflow? Should I be exporting something different from FCE?
Thanks in advance.

Ann -- Thank you for the response. After digging a bit deeper into this forum, I found the HDV --> SD DVD Workflow? thread and it gave me this idea as well.
I created a project using "DV - NTSC > Widescreen 48 kHz" as the timeline preset. I was able to drag the final HD 1920x1080 MOV that I created in Final Cut Express onto that timeline. Then, I used the Adobe Media Encoder to export MPEG-2 files, which gave me many more options that the same step in Encore.
A while back, Apple removed the ability for Quicktime to export MPEG-2 files, for some reason, and I was never happy with that. I'm excited to see that Premiere Pro is able to do this, so I might start migrating over to Premiere Pro now. I just needed the right kick in the butt to get around to it, I guess.
I'd still like to hear any other suggestions, though. Thanks.

Problems with "Author once" workflow, can't transcode HDV to BD and DVD

Adobe claims that with Encore CS3 you can
"author once, deliver to three formats" -- Blu-ray, DVD and Flash. I have been doing some research and testing, but have not been able to get it to work.
It seems as though Encore is not capable of taking HDV 1080i60 footage and transcoding it for both Blu-ray and DVD. The Blu-ray looks great, but the downconverted transcode for DVD is completely unusable.
Link to screen shot of HDV to DVD transcode. (Note: this is a frame at 100%, so the "comb teeth" really are that big.)
I have seen some pretty pathetic downconversions from HDV to DV resolution, but this is the most creatively useless one I've come across so far.
I have been able to use Dynamic Link to get an almost acceptable "author once" workflow from HDV footage. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a way to get Encore or After Effects to render fields for the DVD transcode, so fast-moving graphic elements and text have jerky/strobing motion.
FYI, I got Dynamic Link working well for non-fast clips by doing the following:
Make sure that "Separate Fields" was set to "Upper" in "Interpret Footage" for the HDV clip.
Set the clip's frame blending mode to "Frame Mix" ("Pixel Motion" works, just take longer).
Enable Frame Blending for the comp.
(Enable Motion Blur for the comp if any layers are using Motion Blur).
If only there were a button to enable field rendering for the comp along with Frame Blending and Motion Blur, as both of those options directly affect how the Dynamic Link renders/transcodes in Encore.
I noticed that without Frame Blending enabled for both the clip and the comp, the motion in the transcode was very jerky, even though the clip had not been time stretched/remapped.
Does anyone know of some way to get the mythical "author once" workflow to work? Perhaps it's only for progressive workflows and not interlaced? Could this be a Mac-related problem (I have not been able to test on Windows)?
I know I can downconvert first, then import into Encore, and that does work fine, but that completely negates the wonderful concept of "author once".
Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.
-Joel Granholm
Details:
Encore CS3 3.0.1.008
After Effects CS3 8.0.1.8
Premiere Pro CS3 3.0.1
Final Cut Studio 2
Mac OS X 10.4.10
Mac Pro 8-core, 8 GB RAM / MacBook Pro 17" 2-core, 4 GB RAM
Shooting/editing in HDV 1080i60
Trying to create:
BD: NTSC, 1440x1080, 29.97i (upper field first), H.264.
DVD: NTSC, 16:9 Aspect Ratio, 29.97i (lower field first), MPEG2

Ruud,
Gspot showed there was a problem with the file. What it said was of the 130K frames, most were not needed. I went back to the editor and reconstructed the 130K file. Had problems trying to export to M2v. PPro 2.0 would freeze every time, sometimes in a few minutes, sometimes just short of completing, approx 2 hours(this was a 2 pass vbr setup). I experienced problems just trying to make an AVI file for importing into Encore 2.0. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since I first started this journey(over 300 hours). My first shot at elation occurred when I decided to try an m2v at vbr 1 pass instead of 2 pass. It worked. I say this because of late I have successfully made an Avi file, Imported the timeline and in fact satisfactorily made an m2v file (2 pass). The m2v was also brought into Encore 2.0. Though I have 4 HD's, it seems to me that as I am moving toward a successful product, I'm finding that I've located all my assets on one HD. Is this the way to go? I'd like to thank the alert for using Gspot. And I will, always. I believe that if I had used Gspot earlier I would not have been trying to fix the problem using a bad asset.
I've been able to make an iso file, though having trouble making a playable disc.

HDV outputting to SD DVD... + mixing with XDCAM

Hi
Earlier this year we shot a documentary on a Sony PDW-F350L HD XDCam (great camera, stunning footage - 35Mbps). Working in FCP has been fine.
We're doing a follow up and budget and logistics dictate that we sadly can't use 350s again (where we're going, carrying 2 Z1s for example is going to be a lot easier). We're also on a fairly steep learning curve (being relatively new to FCP, Compressor etc).
So I'm looking at options. We know that there are significant differences between say a Z1 and a 350 but from my research so far and from some relatively simple testing mixing Z1 footage (native) and 350 footage on FCP, at least editing on the timeline doesn't seem like it's going to present any problems (although thoughts on that welcome).
The issue seems to be outputting. In the first instance we'll be outputting to SD DVD. Yes, that old gem...
Searching round various forums, it seems this problem (HDV - SD) is fairly universal. Solutions seem to range from not working in Native HDV (suggestions vary on the format to ingest in - AIC etc); outputting to different formats first (eg DVCPro HD) and then to MPEG-2; outputting the timeline to tape (DV), re-importing; using some thing like a Matrox MXO to output and others...
We're aware of the shortcoming of HDV and the compressed nature of the format and our expectations, given our kit are realistic. I've even tried putting some PD150 footage on the timeline but that's just not going to cut it.
So, I've got to put a kit list together by next week and wondered if anyone had any thoughts on:
1) Mixing XDCAM and HDV on the timeline and any gotchas we should watch out for.
but more importantly
2) Any suggested routes I can look at to get some reasonable output with these two formats on the timeline - particularly HDV (don't think we'll have time to look at the Matrox route right now).
Many thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Thanks Andy, Michael
That's good input. From an editing point of view we seem to be ok. Although, Michael, I take your point and that's a good suggestion.
The main problem is the workflow to create a decent SD DVD without the artefacts caused by compression/motion etc in HDV (and to some extent XDCAM).
Have read the prores whitepaper at
http://images.apple.com/finalcutstudio/resources/whitepapers/L342568A_ProResWP.pdf
And looked a little more into understanding GOP structures and it seems that ProRes will help in terms of editing.
The white paper seems to suggest that converting to ProRes, because it uses I frame–only encoding "Ensures consistent quality in every frame and no artifacts from complex motion. "
We'll try some tests but, does anyone know if this is true?
But it also seems that deinterlacing may solve some of the horrendous vertical edge rippling we're getting on the HDV footage when outputting to SD DVD - although if I'm honest I'm not sure how we achive that with our current setting.

Transfer hdv directly to a dvd from camera

I read that Imovie won't allow the one step transfer with HDV. Is there a way I can do it in FCE without having to download all the footage in to the computer?
Thanks for any help!

No way.
You have to capture the footage to FCE before you can move it on to iDVD etc.
The only way you can do a direct transfer is if you have a domestic DVD recorder but you will have to make a standard definition DVD.

HDV to Dual Layer DVD

I have 2.5 hrs of video shot with SONY Z1U in HD mode 16:9 format on MiniDV tapes.
-Can you please tell me what settings to capture it with?
-What Sequence and etc?
-Also, I will be using this 2.5 hrs of video on Dual Layer DVD.
Please tell me how to get best quality as this was shot in HDV and I will be putting it in Dual Layer DVD.
The whole workflow from FCP Capture > Compressor > DVD Studio Pro will be appreciated.

You are kidding, aren't you?
If not, there are literally hundreds of posts on this forum that are relevant. There is also Ken Stone's site as well as Lyndia.com.
Happy reading!
x

SLLOWWWW encode for HDV to SD for DVD

I am now in the 2nd day of waiting compressor2.3 encode a 2 hour program I shot & edited in HDV.  I am outputting it for a SD DVD.  The longer I watch it encode the longer the time remaining grows and slower the encode process seems to be.
When I went to bed last night it was at 48% complete only to wake up this morning and it is now at 49%.
I set the encode tabs using the apple settings for encoding a 150 minute 16:9 video.  I believe it is a 2 pass setting. I am only processing the dolby 2.0 (which has completed) and the mpeg-2 vid.
I don't recall if I chose to de-interlace the video, but now on second thought if I did that may have been stupid because I'm not sure 1080i is interlaced...
My question or concern is, is this length on compression normal?  I haven't compressed a full HDV program before.  But even my longest SD compressions were under 24 hours.  I expected this to take a while but at this rate I am worried it won't be done until next Friday and then, who knows if it will have worked and I need to get it to a client by next week.
Thanks for your input.

FWIW, an improved FCS 2 (fcp - compressor) workflow with HDV content (I have a HVR-Z1P).
On advice from others and other forums, I do the following when working with FCP and HDV in FCS 2.
(option A) -
• import/ingest the footage as HDV.
• batch convert the HDV and RENAME the footage (from CAPTURE) in to APPLE PRORES 422 codec
• work the time line with output codec APPLE PRORES 422
• submit sequence (s) to COMPRESSOR (works fast)
• when finished, use MEDIA MANAGER to consolidate footage, and purge the HDV footage (if you have limited disk space)
(option b) -
• in FCP log the footage
• import the offline footage using APPLE PRORES 422
• work the project in APPLE PRORESS 422
• submit PRORES 422 sequqnces to COMPRESSOR
• watch cmopressor work this.
I dont have a tehnical explanation fort htis ony an optinion that for HDV to a MULTIPASS H.264 AVC transcode from FCP takes ages on this dual QUAD core (and worse on my old g5 QUAD).
Other methods you could try vary to taste.. THese are:
• from the HDV sequqnce - expoert a QUICKTIME REFERENCE MOVIE - sometimes is quick but most of the time takes ages... then
• set up a QMASTER VIRTUAL cluster with an instance for every two (2) cores you have on all machines in the cluster (plenty of info on this) in these forums. . On this octo, I have 4 x instances for example and one instance on each of the MBP's (unmanaged services).
• submit thereference movie to this compressor cluster.
Others have found better experience submittimg a SELF CONTAINED QUICKTIME movie as above.
post your results.

Preparing a HDV project for a DVD

I've finshed a 80 min HDV project in FCP.
I also have compressor and DVD studio pro.
What is the best way to just the project to DVD-r?

Another question to add. I have edited a hd video that is about 30 minutes. When I export to Compressor, it takes FOREVER. I am on the second day of rendering, and it says that there is going to be about 3 more days. After reading a thread on here, I am not even sure that, even if I get it to a manageable file size to fit on the dvd, the dvd will even work in any dvd player. Any help?

Exporting HDV with compressor to DVD Studio Pro

Could someone tell me what I'm doing wrong? When I export an HDV project using compressor for DVD Studio Pro and choose the 4:3 ratio, my video ends up squeezed horizontally. I would like to "chop" off the sides so that my subjects don't look unnaturally skinny. I just need a sample workflow to see what I am doing wrong. I'm rather new to DVD Studio Pro, so appologies blah, blah, blah. Thanks in advance.

Ooops, sorry
Open up Compressor
Click on the Preset You Want In General (or make a new One)
That will open Inspector, then click on the second icon from the right (geometry) The crop is there

Should HDV, being exported to DVD, be UFF or LFF?

I know that HDV is upper field first. We capture and edit, and then use the Adobe Media Encoder to export a .m2v.
What gives the best quality? I'm partial to clicking 'Deinterlace' and setting the Fields to 'Progressive'.
Is that the best way to export HDV to DVD? Should I be deinterlacing? Or should I leave it interlaced? And if I do, should it be UFF or LFF? AND, if it IS interlaced, won't it look all mucked up if the DVD is played back on a computer?

Alright, I just tested it.
Here is what I found.
I had an HDV file with a really "bad" pan in it where I quickly swept from one subject to another. I put no effects or anything on it.
I went to the Adobe Media Encoder with the following settings:
NTSC
Interlaced
Quality: 5
Bit Rate: CBR, 8 Mbps
I made one UFF and one LFF. I burned them to a DVD, and watched them back to back.
They were both so identicle that there was absolutely no difference between me and 3 other employees looking at the footage. Visually, there was no difference.
So then I imported both .m2vs into Premiere. I loaded both of them into the Source monitor, so I could look at individual frames.
The LFF one had a "dropped line" at the very bottom. As if the very last field was missing, and appeared as solid black, although I have a suspicion it might actually be alpha. In Encore, it actually showed up as a very thin line of garbled reds and greens and blues and whites. But only in the preview. Nothing appeared on screen.
The UFF seemed a bit more accurate. The fields spanned from top to bottom, with no "jiggling" at top OR bottom.
I went to the middle of a quick pan, and put matching frames from both files on top of one another, then quickly went back and forth to compare differences.
The LFF file seemed to have some "mushing" in the quick pans. As if someone went in there and kind of rubbed out some of the detail. The UFF still appeared sharp, and still had very concice interlaced stepping all the way through.
Therefore, on a screen, I saw NO difference. But in Premiere, comparing both, it seems that going UFF is a bit sharper and a bit more technically accurate.
If anyone wants to try this out for themselves, please share.
But in my oppinion, with HDV footage going on to DVD, here are the best export settings:
.m2v
(leave it interlaced)
quality of 5 (out of 5)
CBR, 8 Mbps
Field Order: Upper Field First
Let me know what you think.

Widescreen HDV to Widescreen SD DVD

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