HELP converting to MPEG2

[smelni]

Hey all,

maybe i am not the only person here having a very difficult time converting to MPEG2 - I wanted to see if anyone has any advice.

I editing using avid in a 23.xx timeline.

I exported to quicktime reference.

I have sorenson squeeze pro v4.0 - when i convert to 24 p mpeg i lose significant quality - i have se tthe bitrate to 8 kbits.

I have tried then importing in premier to use their exported but no matter what setting i cahnge i get interlace artifacts.

I am even trying adobe encore to transcode - but they dont seem to support 24p.

Please any tips or help?

seth

[GenJerDan]

8 kbits?

If that isn't a typo, that's your problem: it should be 8 Mbits.

[smelni]

sorry - that was a typo - i have pushed the data rate as high as i can and its still not crisp

[GenJerDan]

Oh, well. I know nothing about Avid or Premiere. :(

But it should be pretty straight forward. Just render as if you were going to be burning a DVD. There's got to be presets in both those programs for that.

[smelni]

i have used the basic dvd options which then require squeeze - but it still doesnt look crisp - looks ok - not terrible but it should look better

[Brandon Rice]

I am using Avid also. Export a QT reference file, and uncheck the "use Avid codec" box, and use these custom settings in Sorenson.

Video Output: MPEG2
Pixel Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Field Encoding: Progressive
Data Rate: 8000 kbs.
Method: Constant Bit Rate
Format: NTSC
I Frame Rate: 6 Frames

[Jarred Land]

Thanks briceman.. those are good settings.

i guess this will never be easy lol.. i thought by asking as an mpeg2 for a deliverable everyone would be happy.. cause i assumed everyone has done this for DVD creation. I realize now alot of people just dont do the DVD thing, and some people just are trying it out for the first time.

So i appreciate everyone that has the skills in specific NLE's to help people having difficulties.

[smelni]

I am pretty sure that is what I did - but the quality is still not what it should be - quite a bit of pixelation.

I am useing sorenson squeeze 4.0 - would that matter?

[Brandon Rice]

I am using Sorenson 3.5.

[lucidz]

I may have missed this, i asked earlier, is 720x480 acceptable or must it be 720x405?

[Jarred Land]

it shoudl be 720x480, but squeezed.

[lucidz]

so 720x480 AND with black bars?

I shot in letterbox mode, imported into 720x480 timeline, and resized to remove the bars. Did i mess up?

[smelni]

resizing changes the pixel aspect to 16:9 - then when you encode to mpeg you output 720x480 16:9 pixels so the pixels actually get uprezzed to fill then entire frame.

there should be no black bars at the end

[pastywhiteboy]

so 720x480 AND with black bars?

I shot in letterbox mode, imported into 720x480 timeline, and resized to remove the bars. Did i mess up?

So far, you're doing it right. Both 4x3 and 16x9 have 720x480 pixels. You have to make sure you have the correct pixel aspect ratio which is 1.2121 for 16x9... this should show up in your project properties dialogue.