Creating output for DVD from DVmini.

[lukemilnes]

Hi,

Ive got 2 questions really.

I've put together 4 short films around 4 minutes each which i shot with a XM-1 DVmini camera. Its all been edited in FCP5 with DV PAL 48Khz as the capture preset.

I now want to convert each film into a suitable format that will allow all four films to fit onto 1 dvd, with 2 formats of dvd, a PAL and NTSC version. So thats 2 dvds with 4 films on each.

I'd like the films to be compressed into the highest quality possible using FCP5. Does anyone know what settings should i be using for each PAL and NTSC compression?


The second question. I also want to keep an uncompressed or premium quality copy of each movie in a viewable format, each on separate DVDs to maintain highest quality. So thats 4 films 4 dvds in PAL. What settings should i use this time?


If anyone can help that'd be great.

Thanks alot guys.

[bigbossbmb]

first off, putting the films on seperate DVDs will not allow you to encode them at a higher quality. there is a maximum bitrate that most DVD players can read. With every setting on high, you will definitely still fit all four onto a single disc.

As for compressing for DVD when you are in a sequence you want to export, go to File>Export>Using Compressor. Then select the encoding scheme you would like (you want 90 min best quality video and dolby 2.0 audio, DO NOT USE AIFF). With the exported files, you can drop them into DVD Studio Pro and make whatever menus you want and burn. This will create a PAL DVD (assuming all of your software is defaulted to PAL).

I have never converted between NTSC and PAL, but this might work for you... change your sequence settings in FCP to be for NTSC and then drag your PAL sequence directly into it, then export with compressor as you did before and take them into DVDSP. In DVDSP, you will need to change the preset from PAL to NTSC before you start making your project.

[tk421]

Originally Posted by bigbossbmb

first off, putting the films on seperate DVDs will not allow you to encode them at a higher quality. there is a maximum bitrate that most DVD players can read. With every setting on high, you will definitely still fit all four onto a single disc.

That's not what he said. Notice:

Originally Posted by lukemilnes

I now want to convert each film into a suitable format that will allow all four films to fit onto 1 dvd, with 2 formats of dvd, a PAL and NTSC version. So thats 2 dvds with 4 films on each....

The second question. I also want to keep an uncompressed or premium quality copy of each movie in a viewable format, each on separate DVDs to maintain highest quality. So thats 4 films 4 dvds in PAL. What settings should i use this time?

So to answer the second question: I always keep uncompressed backups of my films. You can export Uncompressed 10-bit files for the best quality. Since it was shot on DV in the first place, you could keep a copy using the DV/DVCPRO codec and it would probably be about the same. Of course that depends on if you added graphics or did any effects, etc. In any case, if you're not worried about space, Uncompressed 10-bit will give you large files with no loss of quality. And all four films will not fit onto one DVD in the format.

[lukemilnes]

I dont understand why, but i have followed that procedure and my files are AC3 files and theyre only about 5.1 MB in size. Im sure this is not large enough to give anything like quality!?

I have previously encoded these films onto DVD using
Batch Export >
Format > Quicktime Movie >
Settings > DV PAL 48Khz
And the file size output was around 800Mb, surely compressor cannot be that efficient!?

Help!

[lukemilnes]

Thanks guys. tk421 thats the trick i wanted to do, i want the uncompressed format to save premium quality for my records.

But im still not sure what format to use when putting all 4 films onto a DVD for playback?

[bigbossbmb]

Originally Posted by tk421

That's not what he said. Notice:



So to answer the second question: I always keep uncompressed backups of my films. You can export Uncompressed 10-bit files for the best quality. Since it was shot on DV in the first place, you could keep a copy using the DV/DVCPRO codec and it would probably be about the same. Of course that depends on if you added graphics or did any effects, etc. In any case, if you're not worried about space, Uncompressed 10-bit will give you large files with no loss of quality. And all four films will not fit onto one DVD in the format.

When he said "viewable format" on a DVD, I assumed he was talking he meant normal dvd mpeg2, and not an archival file.


as for the compressor output, you only exported the audio (that is the AC3 file) you didn't export the video. when you export as quicktime movie, you are just saving it in the standard DV format which is not the same as DVD.