compressing for dvd

Guys, I have done this i billion times today the universe is kicking me in the ass.

System;
Mac dual 2g
FCP5
external lacie hds

i am compressing a 30 sec spot for broadcast. I am trying to compress my file for dvd
I have done this many times before, don't know what I am doing wrong today.

Steps:
- copied timeline into new seq, named nestedseq
-Nested, mixing down audio, 720x480 NTSC 4:3
-DELETED UNUSED TRACKS
I try to export using Compressor, COMPRESSOR TELLS ME "SELECTION CONTAINS NO MEDIA

>>>>>WHY?"

I TRY TO EXPORT USING QT COMPRESSION
-EXPORT TO QUICKTIME CONVERSION
-H.264
-BEST QUALITY
-KEY FRM RT 24
-FRAME REORDERING YES
-MODE MULTIPASS
-DIM 720X480 (640X480)

AUDIO
-48khz
-16bit
-L-R

I THEN DRAG THE FILE INTO TOAST, TO BURN DVD,
TOAST SAYS, " CDROM-XA OR AUDIO TRACKS CANNOT BE WRITTEN TO DVD

>>>>WHAT?

AT WITS END
ROB

Way, way too many steps. All you need to do to take your timeline to DVD is export it to a self-contained Quicktime movie, then drop that Quicktime on Compressor. Choose a DVD preset that suits the length of your timeline, and off you go. That gives you MPEG-2 elementary streams that can be used in DVD Studio Pro.

Going from Final Cut out through an export-to-Compressor (which never works very well) and then to H.264 and then into a third-party program? Needless complexity.

This will go to broadcast, just concerned about best quality. will convert to H.264 in compressor, right?

Rob, try to avoid using ALL CAPS when you post. It gives the impression you're yelling.

First, Export Using Compressor:
- Did you check to make sure you don't have In and Out points set on your timeline?
- What was the point of nesting your edited sequence into another sequence first?

Export Using QuickTime Conversion:
- You are losing quality for no reason using the above steps. If you want to export a QuickTime movie and then put it into Compressor outside of Final Cut (which is my preferred method, as well as that of most people in here), use Export - QuickTime Movie, Current Settings, which will produce a movie file that matches your timeline codec, frame size and quality. I prefer Self-Contained for maximum stability, but for your purposes a reference movie will do. Drag that into Compressor.
- Don't use H.264 for any purpose other than actual final web delivery. It's a heavily compressed format. For DVD, you'd be compressing your footage twice (once for DV to H.264, once again from H.264 to MPEG-2).


www.derekmok.com

ok, when i drag the QT file into Compressor, it says

ERROR TRYING TO OPEN SOURCE MEDIA FILE

no go here

Make sure you're creating a self-contained Quicktime, not a Quicktime reference movie.

>ok, when i drag the QT file into Compressor, it says
>ERROR TRYING TO OPEN SOURCE MEDIA FILE

Does that file open in Quicktime Pro?



www.strypesinpost.com

Ok, Derek, Sorry for the screaming.

-thank you so much for helping me out.

-copying to new seq/ mixing down, old habits die hard

-i did have ins and outs, will try without

This job will be broadcasted, and the station is requesting a DVD.
I have never had this much trouble before.

-will try your steps and get back to you.

yes it opens in QT pro.
Compressor still says "Error trying to open Source media file"

>copying to new seq/ mixing down, old habits die hard

Hmm... I don't trust nesting, and that may just be why Compressor can't render the file properly.

>yes it opens in QT pro.
>Compressor still says "Error trying to open Source media file"

If it's a quicktime export, you may want to export a self contained quicktime movie instead to simplify matters.



www.strypesinpost.com

I have done all that has been suggested and I am getting
the same problem in COMPRESSOR

I also try to drag and burn in Roxio Toast Titanium and I
get the message: CDROM XA or Audio tracks cannot be written to DVD

I wouldn't trust a third-party piece of kit in this setting. We're trying to troubleshoot, so I'd take out all the unknown quantities.

What codec are you using in your Final Cut timeline?

1, did you skip the nested sequence?

2, if you're exporting a self contained movie, and it opens in QT, double check if the audio is pcm 48khz and the video is dv (or whatever codec you are working with)

3, it may be a Compressor issue. Trash preferences. [support.apple.com]

4, export the movie file to your internal hard disk.



www.strypesinpost.com

DV NTSC 48Khz

ok will do

yes, no nesting

yes audio is pcm 48khz

cannot even find my compressor preferences, found compressor.plist, but thats not it

Then bypass Compressor altogether. Put the self-contained DV NTSC QuickTime movie into DVD Studio Pro and encode there. You can backtrack and figure out why Compressor's cranky once you've passed the deadline.


www.derekmok.com

DEREK,

you saved my day, all it was was the in and out points were in my timeline. i have been doing this for years and never realized that could be a culprit. can you explain why the i/o points held me up?

Thank you so very much to everyone for the help, you guys are the best!

Rob

I'm guessing your In and Out points were identical, which meant you were exporting a file with no actual media but had QuickTime markers in it.


www.derekmok.com

im kind of curious why a broadcast facility wants a DVD...?...?...???

If the markers were placed at the same spot, he won't be able to export either via Compressor or do a QT export.

If he exported straight from timeline, and the markers are placed away from each other, it may have been the case of Compressor somehow misunderstanding the marker positions.

Like Jeff mentions, when troubleshooting, always remove the unknown quantities and potentially problematic areas, then try isolating the source of the problem- whether it's an FCP export issue, or a Compressor issue. Exporting from FCP via Compressor would mean that it involves both FCP and Compressor. Exporting a self contained quicktime would mean that the video will have no links to the original source clip or FCP, if Compressor is unable to read that, and QT is able to read that, that probably means that either Compressor preferences needs trashing (or something more deeply rooted).



www.strypesinpost.com