Avid -----> CinemaCraft -----> 24P NTSC DVD

DC

DC

Cinematographiliac
Michael Phillips put together this nice tutorial for Sorenson Squeeze.

http://24p.com/downloads/24p_DVD_creation.pdf

I'm looking for one similar as I'm having a heck of a time exporting my 720PN sequence from Avid and encoding with CinemaCraft Encoder SP2. Can anyone give me a step-by-step tutorial?

I need to know what settings for Quicktime should be used. And can I create a QT Reference instead of a whole movie file? Also, any particulars about CinemaCraft?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks . . .
 
It seems to support QuickTime as an input format so it should support QT reference as well. It does not indicate support for 720 as an input frame suze though...

I suggest you try the following:

1. Export your 720PN as QT ref
2. Import the QT ref into a NTSC 23.976
3. Select resolution
4. Export imported QT out again as QT ref, now NTSC frame size
5. Import into CinemaCraft.

Michael
 
I forgot add a step. Consider it 2a in the steps outlined above:

2a: Do not select observe aspect ratio in the import settings. You want the QT ref to be a full height anamorphic SD clip.

Michael
 
Thanks, Michael. I will try that soon. I'm going around to the forums to get a wide variety of input. As much as I dig Avid, I wish that I could encode high quality MPEG-2's and author DVD's directly within the interface. It bugs me that I have to go into another program because that's when things seem to get wonky. I do realize that the Avid Studio products take the load off a bit though. I just wish it was all done directly in Xpress Pro. Maybe someday, eh? :)
 
Ok, here is where I'm at . . .

After I exported my initial QT Ref, I tried launching it in QT Player to see what would happen. I got a black screen with the audio. I went ahead and imported that same QT Ref into an Avid NTSC 23.976 project. And this time, I got a white screen with the audio. This sort of thing has always been my main problem working with QT Ref. What might be causing this to happen?
 
Make sure "Use Avid DV Codec" is selected in your QT Ref export settings. If I don't do that I get a white screen, guaranteed.

George
 
GeoMar said:
Make sure "Use Avid DV Codec" is selected in your QT Ref export settings. If I don't do that I get a white screen, guaranteed.
Click to expand...

Thanks, but I've tried that. In fact, when I use the Avid codec, I get nothing at all playing.
 
MichaelP said:
Hmmm... need to make sure you have the DVCPRO HD codec installed.
Click to expand...

I assumed that that was installed with my Avid Xpress Pro HD. I mean, I've been editing native MXF's the contain DVCProHD with no problems. I'm going to try to re-install the Avid Quicktime Codecs LE that is on the install disc. If that doesn't solve the problem, then I must be doing something very fundamentally wrong during the process.

I've always used Mojo to send my projects via Firewire to my DVR. Never had problems. Now I'm trying to author a real, nice quality DVD and just cannot seem to get it right. Everyone says it's so easy, and I'm sure it is . . . but what am I missing??
 
I think there is something missing with the QUickTime codec for DVCPRO HD. Let me see what I can find out.

In the meantime. do a video mixdown of the entire sequence and open that file in an NTSC project... might be a workaround to get 720p media into SD.

Michael
 
Update:

I re-installed the Avid QT codecs. I finally got a QT Ref file to play in the QT player but ONLY when I had selected "Use Avid DV codec" when exporting. Overall, it looked pretty good except for the framerate being a bit choppy.

I then decided to experiment and use Cinemacraft to encode. This time it seemed to work. It said it was going to take 4.5 hours for a 28 minute sequence. This is probably because I selected 3 passes at a CBR. I left the computer going overnight. When I woke this morning, I checked it to find that about 2/3 way through, an error popped up saying that Cinemacraft couldn't access the WAV file because another program was accessing it. Weird. I clicked "ok" and Cinemacraft seemed to continue.

I still have a few hours left to go on it so I will see what happens . . .
 
Resolved (?):

Ok, I was able to actually create a DVD video! After encoding, I got a .mpv file. It seems that CinemaCraft didn't like that WAV file for combining them into one MPEG-2. I checked that rejected WAV file and found no audio within . . . .weird. So, I used a WAV file from a previous QT Ref export attempt when I imported it, along with the .mpv file, into DVDLab Pro.

I've overcome some big obstacles in this process and I've learned some things doing so. But I still am a bit baffled as to why the WAV file came out ok one time and not the next. Perhaps I should use AIFF for audio? I think I just need to keep playing with the settings. Only now, I will probably test this stuff using a 10 second sequence instead of 28 minute sequence!


BIG thanks to everyone who has been helping me out with this . . .
 
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