Apple Pro Res or 10 bit uncompressed for DVD

HI! I have a sequence that is sequence settings:
1920x1080 hdtv 1080i 16x9, pixel aspect square, field dom upper odd, 29.97, compressor settings apple pro res 422, quality 100%, 48khz, 16 bit

I sent this to compressor and used Best quality 90 min DVD setting. Then imported this to DVD studio Pro and made a DVD, when played on TV it doesnt look so good, with video lines showing etc, blurry a bit. I do have a very large tv 55" I think.

My sequence is 30 minutes long, mostly just video and some titles at end. Should I use different sequence settings and rerender? Or different Compressor settings? Just trying to get the best quality I can. Thank you so much!

Jennifer

You're converting interlaced HD to interlaced SD. This is an extremely difficult conversion to pull off well. You're going to need to make a custom preset in Compressor (just copying the DVD preset of your choice is a good way to start) and turn frame controls on. Be prepared to wait; the better scaling algorithms take much longer to process.

You may have to turn resizing to "best" to preserve the interlacing.



www.strypesinpost.com

Jennifer, do me a favor and export an 8-bit Uncompressed file from your FCP timeline and import that into DVD SR (without going through Compressor). Do this for the first trial. I'd appreciate it if you would report back as to the differences you noticed in the DVD resulting from this ... since you have a 55 inch TV -- that's why I'd like to know the result.

If you do this, you will notice the file size after DVD SP encodes the MPEG2 for you, that the file is a bit smaller than if you did the export to MPEG-2 with Compressor. The reason the file will be smaller is that DVD SP automatically makes room for the AIFF sound file, which is bigger in size than the AC3 sound file. What I usually do when I'm in a hurry is replace the AIFF sound file with an AC3 file that I create in Compressor separately. The AC3 file is preferable to the AIFF.

However, the best way to encode the MPEG-2 is in Compressor, but then you have to select a myriad of settings for the process, and here strypes and Jeff know a lot more than I do. Do this as a second trial.

I'm just trying to help you with a procedure that has worked for me when I don't have time to export through Compressor and then go through DVD SP encoding again. With 8-bit Uncompressed you only go through DVD SP once and you don't have to encode through Compressor at all. Just drag the 8-bit Uncompressed file directly into DVD SP assets window, then to the timeline field, and let DVD SP do the whole thing for you.

vic

filmman, you're trying to hijack the thread again.

She's working in ProRes HD. There is no reason to export to Uncompressed 8-bit anything in FCP. That's your setting for Standard Def.

Please stop assuming that the whole world goes through the same processes as you do.


www.derekmok.com

Thanks guys! Can you tell me a bit more specifics? So Im in compressor and just say DVD best and then turn frame controls on and then what do I do? Also derek what do you think best procedure is? Thank you so much! Jen

Im in compressor inspector and put frame controls on
how about the others?
resize filter- set to best
output fields?
deinterlace?
adaptive details
anti-alias slider
details level slider
rate conversion
set duration to 100% of source?

Jennifer, email me vic at felliniesque.com
I need to ask you something about pro res, since I don't have it and this is not my thread, so I can't ask a question outside the topic.

Vic, do us all a favour, and don't give advice on things that you don't understand very well. We've been through the explanation with you a lot of times, and it's been discussed to death already.

DVDSP doesn't encode anything that was already properly encoded.


>resize filter- set to best

Yup.

>output fields?

Same as source

>deinterlace?

Doesn't matter, since it isn't deinterlacing.

>adaptive details

Check.

>anti-alias slider

Slide this up a bit. It's really something you would run your test on. This helps get rid of the jagginess along the edges when you downscale.

>details level slider

I'll crank this up just a bit to compensate for the anti-aliasing.



www.strypesinpost.com

Thank you! I am trying that but it now says like 40 hours to compress? eek!

What machine are you working on?



www.strypesinpost.com

Mac Pro tower quad core Intel Xeon
2.8GHz
Mac OSX 10.5.8
Do you think I did a setting wrong?

Stop the encoding.

Go to system preferences, go to Apple Qmaster, select quickcluster with services, check share and managed. Click on options for selected services and change that to the maximum amount of instances you can choose, then click "start sharing".

Go back to Compressor, when you click "submit", you can choose between this computer and your cluster. Choose the cluster.



www.strypesinpost.com

Of course, before you encode, you do a test.

Also, you should be able to up the bitrate in Compressor. If you're in FCP 7, there's the auto detect setting.



www.strypesinpost.com

that gives me an error when i chose cluster?

Whenever I have set up a cluster, I have had to go to Qmaster Admin in the programs folder and set up a cluster.

Hit the plus sign on the middle right side of the window ( makes a cluster name it what ever you want)
You drag the name of the service from the bottom window (Qmaster Service Browser) into the Services tab, assign a controller ( this is your service) to the cluster,( the controller will be the service you set up) name the cluster and your good to go.
Quit Qmaster and start up compressor, now you should be able to choose from either this computer or what ever you name the cluster.

I am not sure if this work in our environment better since we have 4 machines all clustered. I do the same thing at home on my laptop with the same successful results.

If I have missed a step please correct me Moderators!

Hope this helps!
Andrew

How do I get to qmaster admin ?

If you're just doing it with one computer (to maximize the usage of all your cores), you can just use Quick Clusters in system preferences.



www.strypesinpost.com