2 hour 720p/24p video to FCP, what the best route?

[Jay Rodriguez]

I edited a 2 hour and 16 minute performance video (concert) and need to export it to an SD DVD but the route that I took produced horrible results. I went from FCP to compressor using (if I remember correctly) DVD>150 minutes option. I'm not sure what I should do to maintain maximum resolution on a project this large.

Anyone care to share some knowledge?

Thanks a million!

Jay

[kgimedia]

Did you us ac3 for your audio? Try changing the Video and Audio bit rate to match your footage length and you could also try DVD-DL discs.

[ullanta]

Sorry but... put it on two discs.

DL discs have compatibility issues; single-sided discs don't have enough space to encode that much video nicely. I usually consider 90 minutes the limit for decent results...

[grimrebes]

If its extremely important, you could send it out to a facility to do a hardware compression, which I doubt will be much better than something done properly in compressor, but they may have better luck with creating a DL disc...

[David Saraceno]

Use a DL disc at about 6.5 mbps and ac3/dolby 2 audio.

[Jay Rodriguez]

Oh so let me see if I understand this correctly. Before DVD Studio Pro burns the movie to the DVD it reads the DVD to see how much it should compress the movie? Is that why you guys are suggesting DL disks?

[ullanta]

No... but DVDSP has settings for the media type that you can change. Somewhere in there...

But don't ignore my warning! DL discs have a lot of compatibility problems and shouldn't be distributed to the general public. Two single-layer DVD-Rs are more reliable, more compatible, faster to burn, and cheaper...

[kgimedia]

But don't ignore my warning! DL discs have a lot of compatibility problems and shouldn't be distributed to the general public. Two single-layer DVD-Rs are more reliable, more compatible, faster to burn, and cheaper...

In general I agree, but all burned or replicated DVD's have compatibility issues. If you are cutting a DVD for sale, bite the bullet and have it replicated by a professional. If you are making copies for the band, screeners or some to sell at a gig, burned DVD's will be fine.

[ullanta]

DL DVDs are a lot worse than single layer DVD-Rs in this regard.

[David Saraceno]

Oh so let me see if I understand this correctly. Before DVD Studio Pro burns the movie to the DVD it reads the DVD to see how much it should compress the movie? Is that why you guys are suggesting DL disks?

Fitting 136 minutes on a single layer DVD requires significant compression and compromise of quality.

Nothing is going to look very good.

Break it into two DVDs, or consider a a dual layer DVD recordable. Remember, some set tops don't like DL.

For example, 60 minutes on a DVD5 usually should be encoded at about maximum of 6.5 mbps with dolby 2 audio.

To get 136 minutes with dolby 2 audio on the same DVD, you will have to halve the rate or more