Workflow questions: HD downconversion to SD (DVD) using FCP

[noam]

Hey Guys,

I've recently completed a short film of mine titled unsound (some shots can be seen here: http://www.vimeo.com/21425568?ab )

It is finished in 1080/23.976p and I need to author it to DVD for festival submissions. The current workflow that I'm using has worked out reasonably well, but I've noticed that the titles look a bit "pixelated", probably due to the down converting process and bad handling of the text.

As of now, I outputted a master ProRes file in full HD 1080p. This was done using File - Export quicktime movie - self contained. I then brought that master file back into final cut, dropped it into it's own timeline, matched the timeline settings to the source file and used the share feature to author to a DVD.

Everything about the burned DVD looks great other than the titles which seem to have lost a lot of resolution. Also, on some shots where there is no aliasing on the HD version, the SD version seems to be having issues. For example a shot of the main actors hair is having aliasing issues on the DVD version.

I also tried outputting an SD file instead of HD, bring that back into final cut and using the share feature again. On this version the title looks better and the aliasing is gone, however the overall quality of the image is obviously lower and more compressed looking than the original version.

Anyone have better ideas for workflow? Not sure why this is happening... My only next option might be to output a 720p file and hope that in the process of burning the DVD, it looks better.

I'd like to avoid using DVD studio pro if possible, so ideally any suggestions within FCP would be appreciated. Thanks so much.

[awbacon]

Any time I have had to downconvert in FCP, I always retitled the piece in the downrezed timeline. It's been ALOT easier dealing with it that way. The downres always screws up the titles in my experience.

Just downres the film without titles (if you have the source fcp project file), then retitle it. Send to compressor, convert with the highest bitrate you can get away with (within the dvd standard and allowable dvd space) then drop it into DVD Studio Pro. Yeah this will take more time, but you will end up with the best results.

From there, I would imagine any festival you get in would allow HDCAM submissions, so you then just send off the full res version via HDCAM

Festival submissions via dvd are always a pain. See if they accept blu ray? Some of the festivals I have been looking at will now take blu ray as a submission format for high def films

[BenB]

Take original Sequence from FCP, Send To Compressor, use one of the High Quality DVD presets. It'll do a WAY better conversion than FCP can.

If your serious, get the very wonderful book, "Apple Pro Training Series: Compressor 3.5".

[ullanta]

Are the titles pixelated in the master ProRes 1080p file that you exported?