As always, thank you - NEW QUESTION - My footage looks great on my HI DEF monitor, but pixelated on our Plasma

I must be doing something wrong in out-puting the final through compressor.

My footage is 1080 from the HVX 200, 23.97

When I make a DVD from Studio 4 and play back from DVD player I see pixels based on the lines of the plasma screen. It's like there's unfixed interlacing that's happening.

Is there some setting I'm missing from Compressor that should do some sort of smooth interlacing for DVD? (I'm guessing... I'm just one mane trying)

Obviously I can't take a screen shot from the plasma screen but I'd like to post two jpegs for your to consider that might help. How can I add a screen shot to this post? I'll post and hopefully I'll get some answers...

g-

The image I'm seeing on the plasma looks like I'm previewing footage that has the GREEN bar in the timeline.

It doesn't show up on our NTSC monitor which leads me to believe that the PLASMA screen has issues. HOWEVER, if I play a DVD of any other movie those movies DON'T show the lines.

I'm so confused. Can anyone shed some light?

g-

In Studio Pro 4, when I play the movie in the time it looks great. Smooth edges around hi-lights, etc.

But when I go into SIMULATE mode, it's then that I see the pixelation. Like it's not rendered. It's subtle in the SIMULATION preview window, but when I watch the DVD on the plasma it's incredibly exaggerated.

Is there some setting in DVD studio Pro I'm missing? I believe it should be set to 16:9 not 4:3 or pan and scan. But what I'm trying to achieve is the quality of the video in the timeline preview of Studio 4. Not what I'm seeing in the simulate window.

Again, the strangeness is on a NTSC monitor the DVD looks fine. But a standard DVD (Bourne Identity) playing from the same DVD player onto the PLASMA screen that weird looking UNRENDERED look isn't there. Please help. Very confused.

Hi Geno

I had the same problem with DVDSP and 1080i footage to PAL and NTSC using either compressor or DVDSP

The way around it for me was to make a DV-NTSC timeline in 16:9 anamorphic and to render a copy of the 1080i sequence out to a standalone Standard Definition DV file.

In fact I also did this with a 8-bit uncompressed SD timeline as well but you need to make sure its 720x480 and NOT 720x486 as DVDSP doesn't seem to encode D1 NTSC correctly.

I haven't had time to look into this properly yet, so apologies for the long-winded work-around but you should find this will work.

As for the plasma screen I'm not sure what that could be apart from another manifestation of this same issue.

Let us know how you get on.



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Ben,

1) is this an issue when we take our drives in to have an HD CAM master made?

Will they know how to make a clean HD CAM master from my current hi def timeline?

Or is that not even an issue to worry about regarding 1080i to HD CAM?

2) When you drop your 1080i file into your 720x480 NTSC timeline, you had to resize it to fit the new dimensions, correct? Am I missing something?

g-

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1) is this an issue when we take our drives in to have an HD CAM master made?

Nope only in DVD SP when making a Standard Def DVD

2) When you drop your 1080i file into your 720x480 NTSC timeline, you had to resize it to fit the new dimensions, correct? Am I missing something?

You shouldn't have to resize no. If your 16:9 HD sequence is dropped into a DV NTSC 16:9 Anamorphic then it should automatically be shrunk to fit the Standard Definition size then you will need to export or render then export.

You need not export an HD movie for this.

? In your HD project.

? Go to easy setup and choose a DV-NTSC Anamorphic setup

? Drop your HD sequence from the browser into the DV-NTSC timeline - this is called nesting a sequence.

? Render or mark in/out and export the movie using current settings

? import into DVDSP and make your Standard Def NTSC DVD as normal.



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Doing it as we speak. Didn't render first. Had the green line. Just exporting using Compressor.

Another question Ben, where can we go, and what should we expect to pay, to get an HD CAM master made from our drives?

I'm sure you guys know the hot ticket.

Please advise.

thanks,

g-

You are in LA so take it to one of a gazillion places. DR Group is in Culver City

Michael Horton
-------------------

Woah! no need to export via compressor simply export a self contained movie...

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where can we go, and what should we expect to pay, to get an HD CAM master made from our drives?

Thats a bit open - where? when? how long is the programme?



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Whoa! Will DVD Studio Pro take that movie if it's not an M2V?

That was my understanding of what DVD studio Pro needs in order to create a DVD. Have things changed or did I just not get the memo?

g-

> Whoa! Will DVD Studio Pro take that movie if it's not an M2V?

DVD Studio Pro can do the MPEG-2 encoding on its own. You get more control with Compressor, but it's not a crucial step.


www.derekmok.com

No you can either make an m2v in compressor or in DVDSP my preference is in DVDSP but if you are happier with compressor thats fine too.



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So - to be clear...

If you output a QT file USING CURRENT SETTINGS you'll end up with a single file on the desktop.

Import that into the assets and drop in to the DVDS timeline. It sees the audio? Yes? No need for separate AIFF?

Then when you burn a DVD (MUX etc.) it creates the necessary VOB for and AUDIO TS and DVD?

That's nice. If you create a DVD with menus and what not like this, will DVDS consider all the movies and compress appropriately to fit on 4.7 disc?

Just trying to get it.

Please advise.

g-

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If you output a QT file USING CURRENT SETTINGS you'll end up with a single file on the desktop.

Correct - make sure to select Make Self-contained upon Exporting...

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Import that into the assets and drop in to the DVDS timeline. It sees the audio? Yes? No need for separate AIFF?

Correct - the PCM Audio will be taken directly from the Movie File

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Then when you burn a DVD (MUX etc.) it creates the necessary VOB for and AUDIO TS and DVD?

Correct

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That's nice. If you create a DVD with menus and what not like this, will DVDS consider all the movies and compress appropriately to fit on 4.7 disc?

Not exactly - you still have to define the datarate on single pass encoding or the maximum/minimum datarate on VBR encoding.

Look at the top right of the DVDSP pro interface (when in advanced layout) and you will see the DVD Capacity and the bar graph showing how full the encoded DVD will be based on the assets in the project layout (no the assets window).



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First try not successful

THis was the 720x480 output from Compressor as an MP-2. Though I didn't render it in FCP. I just output it so I'm wondering if the blurry pixelation this time is because it wasn't fully rendered?

AM going to try that tonight and retest in the morning. Plus any other thoughts you might have for me to test.

The best thing I've got so far is the 1080i Hi Rez QT. THAT LOOKS GREAT PLAYING FROM QT.

Now to knock that down to fit on a DVD and still look that good. I'm referring of course to this pixelation issue I'm seeing. Not Hi Def values compared to 720x480. I know the difference between compression loss and radical pixel lines. It's like it's doing some sort of really bad de-interlace kind of thing.

COuld it be 23.98 to DVD and it needing to be converted back to 29.97? Am I missing step?

Help if you can. I'll be back in the early am. Got a meeting about life insurance at 8:00 tonight.

... I'm serious.

g-

One post recommended VISUAL HUB... this looks like it could be really cool.

Whether you render on your timeline shouldn't affect the export at all.
Resizing 720x480? was it resized in compressor? If it was, on the "resize" tab, did you select "better" or "Best"? Read somewhere that "Best" introduces unnecessary artifacts into your video.

What GOP are you using? As a general rule, the shorter the better.

23.98 fps? I don't think DVD accepts 23.98 fps- it's either PAL (25 FPS) OR NTSC (29.97 FPS).

On the contrary, exporting via compressor should yield slightly better result, as it forces a render straight from your timeline. It takes longer to mux in DVDSP if you're importing a .mov file, because it's now going to encode the file into mpg2.

Ben - no matter what I do I seem to get that jaggy, low rez looking in DVDsp.

Even just opening the 720x480 file from my FCP output in Quicktime looks jaggy. The only thing that looks clean and unjaggy is the 1080i footage.

SO - I dropped THAT file into DVSP set to 720x480 and it looks great. In the upper right hand corner as I get ready to make the DVD it says capacity 4.5 gigs. I know that's close but I'm trying a burn now.

I'll look into the advanced tab after this burn to see what you were talking about in your last post regarding the settings...

Thanks,

g

Oh - I guess my question is, I sthere a problem with dropping the 1080i footage into DVDSP and just burning the 720x480 DVD directly from there?

Tried it - still jaggy.

Something's wrong or my expectations are too high.

All the DVD's I'm burning I can still see visible horizontal lines that look like fields not properly interlaced. Or more accurately it looks like footage in the timeline that has the green bar. Unrendered preview mode.

I know what compressed video footage should look like. Blotchy at times. Even soft. But not this obvious pixelated look.

g-

Any chance of a screen grab or photo?

Is it that you are viewing Standard Definition on an HD monitor?

Some HD TVs are extremely poor at showing SD...

Have you tried the DVD on an NTSC CRT TV?

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On the contrary, exporting via compressor should yield slightly better result, as it forces a render straight from your timeline.

Only if you go to another format from your current settings before going to MPEG-2 otherwise not.

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It takes longer to mux in DVDSP if you're importing a .mov file, because it's now going to encode the file into mpg2.

This process gives you a master file with which to encode separately in DVDSP or Compressor and you can do this in the background rather than hold up FCP with a lengthy export.

Again its up to the individual what you would rather do, however I have found this method to be far more reliable than exporting directly from FCP to Compressor.



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Think I've solved the issue Geno...

Have posted here: [www.lafcpug.org]



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

23.98 fps? I don't think DVD accepts 23.98 fps- it's either PAL (25 FPS) OR NTSC (29.97 FPS).

Strypes,
This is NOT the case. Read THIS

Go down to where it says "24p Delivery. I have used this method and you save 20% disk space by staying in 24p. The DVD player adds the pulldown back for viewing on TV sets.