DVD Studio Pro Probelm

[phildavies79]

I'm really struggling getting a decent DVD imag quality using DVD Studio Pro (thier latest/final version)...

I thought it was something to do with shooting in PAL and trying to author to NTSC DVD but even when authoring to PAL it looks naff.

My settings:

- Shot in PAL, 1920x1080i
- FCPX project settings set to 1280x720p, 30fps
- Rendering in FCPX to ProRes 422 HQ (video only)
- Rendering audio in FCPX to AC3
- Authoring with DVD Studio Pro to NTSC
- 2-pass varibale bit rate encode, tried max bit rates as high as 9.0 and as low as 4.0 with various minimums.

Strangely, even when I just the render the menu item, which is just a graphic, it looks pixelated (this is the case for both a PNG and PSD format of various sizes from 1920x1080 downwards).

Any help would be much appreciated - I'm getting a bit desparate now!

Thanks,

 

[Keebler]

Hi Phil,

I've never used DVDSP to compress a file to m2v for a DVD.

I find it's best to use Compressor to compress using the share featured from within FCX. You have to buy Compressor of course, but if you're going to be doing this often, worth it.

From within FCX, choose your event then share - compressor.
When the settings window opens, choose Apple - Disc Burning - MPEG-2 for DVD.

When the file is done, drop them into DVDSP.

The other issue is that DVDSP has a max resolution of 720x480 16:9 so it won't matter if your timeline is 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720.

Hope that helps!

I would comment on the converting from PAL to NTSC within FCX, but I haven't done that yet so I don't know if that would be causing the image issues.

Cheers,
Keebler

 

[simsaladimbamba]

If the OP has DVDSP, s/he has FCS, thus Compressor.

Maybe this can help.

 

[phildavies79]

Thanks for your fast reply guys. I've seen the 720x480 before but this is a ratio of 1.5 not 1.77777 (16:9). Is that something to do with the pixel aspect ratio not being square for NTSC?

 

[LethalWolfe]

Thanks for your fast reply guys. I've seen the 720x480 before but this is a ratio of 1.5 not 1.77777 (16:9). Is that something to do with the pixel aspect ratio not being square for NTSC?

Yes. NTSC and PAL are 4x3 only, always and forever. If your source is 16x9 and you want it to stay 16x9 when you drop it down to SD your only options are to letterbox it or encode it as anamorphic (which changes the pixel aspect ratio but not frame size).


Lethal

 

[2jaded2care]

... Strangely, even when I just the render the menu item, which is just a graphic, it looks pixelated (this is the case for both a PNG and PSD format of various sizes from 1920x1080 downwards).

I doubt this is your problem since both video and menu IQ are not good, but if your menu duration is left at 00:00:00:00, the DVD menu will display only one field of the graphic and look pixelated (at least this happens to me on DVDSP4). Just a thought.