HDV to DVD (MPEG-2) - best technique??

Hi lafcpug,

I'm looking for the latest consensus on the best technique to go from the FCP HDV timeline out to make a DVD master.

Three I'm aware of:

- dumping HDV onto a FCP DV timeline, and outputting through Compressor as DV to DVD?

- outputting HDV to tape, recapturing as downconverted to DV, then out through Compressor as DV to DVD?

- HDV straight through Compressor (but what codec??) to an MPEG-2 master?

Holding my breath (I've just done two HDV half hours, now awaiting mastering, vicious deadline.)

Ben

"- HDV straight through Compressor (but what codec??) to an MPEG-2 master?"

Uhh...you just said the codec. MPEG-2.

Hi Shane,

Got that. Straight to MPEG-2 in all the Compressor presets gets me a pretty bad DVD, weird artifacting, interlacing problems (frames seeming to double up). I've got a lot of time scaling, slow mo, fast action, in the half hour film. None of this translates very well to MPEG-2. Actually, even the 30 fps stuff looks ragged.

The only thing I've found that is half working so far is outputting HDV to tape (Sony Z1U), then sending that to a Sony HDV deck set to DV ... which requires me to put the image through those less-than-great RCA cables.

At least the DV tape now looks like DV. I'm not sure what it will look like when I recapture it back into FCP.

I'd love to know if anyone has been able to down convert straight from the HDV timeline to MPEG-2 -- and gotten a decent quality DVD?

there's been a fair bit of talk about that,
but none that generated conclusive answers, i fear.

i don't get why you have to go component.
if you've got HDV on tape, you can set your camera to play that out the FW as DV.

i would imagine that there'd be some better way to go than DV, though.
maybe reset your HDV sequence to a PhotoJpeg codec, set to 75%
and export that,
then process in Compressor.

just guessing.

nick

Make sure you don't use 2-pass in Compressor. It seems to be broken at the moment. Unless it's been fixed in 5.1.



All the best,

Tom

Thank you Tom,

I'd forgotten that, about the 2-pass VBR. I'll try another compression, 1-pass.

And Nick,

What's the menu setting (camera) that allows me to capture HDV as DV from the Sony Z1U? What is happening is that FCP won't recognize the camera if FCP is set to capture DV and the camera is running HDV. If I set the camera to DV, and it's got an HDV tape in it, it won't even run the tape. I see the 'down-convert to DV' setting in the Sony, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

The only way FCP 'sees' the camera is if both are set to either HDV or DV.

???

And I've heard that I can output HDV to the camera, and capture back DV, but I can't seem to find the right combination of FCP and Sony HDV menu settings.


Thank you gentlemen,


Ben

One pass VBR didn't help much. Every compression I've tried has yielded weird responses ... jagged lines, doubling up of the interlace etc. etc.

I'm mastering out to tape now, to a Sony Z1U ... but am having trouble re-capturing the HDV as DV ... because FCP and the camera won't communicate if FCP is set to DV and the Sony to HDV (even with the downcovert turned on).


Aie, yie, yie.

You convert the HDV to uncompressed standard digital and then make a QT movie, then open the .mov in Compressor 2 and do a conversion to MPEG2. You'll get the best results that way. Choose the best settings depending on how big is your movie. Use DVD SP for making the DVD in your G5 DVD burner.

Hi filmman,


"You convert the HDV to uncompressed standard digital and then make a QT movie,"

Long time later. I've been dumping the HDV onto a DVCPRO50 timeline and outputting that way.

By converting the HDV to uncompressed standard digital, do you mean exporting the HDV to an uncompressed standard format Quicktime and then dragging THAT QT into Compressor?