Quality loss when burning HD quicktime data in DVD studiopro

beno

beno

Well-known member
I'm exporting a quicktime file out of FCP... with use current settings... which are HD 1080 DVCPRO

When I burn the DVD out the quality is slightly worse than that in FCP.. why is this... it doesn't look professional at all... I need it to be super smooth and look like it does in FCP on the clients end... how is this acheived...? Thanks
Ben
 
DVD encodes and compresses significantly to mpeg2. It won't look as good due to what mpeg2 does to the original footage.

Without knowing about your encode settings for video and audio, encoder chosen, and type and length of footage, it's impossible to troubleshoot.
 
cheers for the reply... I'm aware of the encoding quality loss and I'm by no means a beginner, I'm using 8Mbps in DVDstudio pro's encoding preferences.... the footage on a TV looks compressed, to my eyes and doens't do it justice, how do they make hollywood DVDS? I presume their is a lot of hardware involved?

cheers
 
Sorry, but you stated that "when I burn the DVD out the quality is slightly worse than that is FCP .. why is this . . . " That's why I explained mpeg2 compression.

8 mbps has no significance unless you indicate how much footage in total minutes was encoded, how you treated audio (ac3 or aiff), what brand blank media, what encoder, and what the DVD was viewed on.
 
so what compression do blockbuster movies use then?

When I say 8MBPs that's the setting I set in DVDstudio pro in preferences.. I'm exporting the FCP file as a lossless DVCPRO HD quicktime file.
 
Are you burning the DVD to a HD-DVD or Blue Ray burner? If not you are downconverting to SD DVD. Are you looking at the DVD on a HD or SD TV? The lossless export out of FCP will still get compressed when put through DVD studio pro, so as to fit on the DVD.
As far as the Blockbuster Hollywood DVD's, they have a lot of hardware based encoding machines that cost a lot more than DVD studio pro.
 
At the same time, i've got some really good results just using FCP and dvd studio pro. I do it by exporting directly from the FCP timeline using compressor, even the presets look pretty good as long as you choose VBR multi-pass encoding. Give that a shot. You can then import those already compressed assets directly to DVDSP without reencoding.
 
beno said:
so what compression do blockbuster movies use then?

When I say 8MBPs that's the setting I set in DVDstudio pro in preferences.. I'm exporting the FCP file as a lossless DVCPRO HD quicktime file.
Click to expand...


Again, the encode rate of 8mbps must relate to how long the video in minute is.

And you appear to be using uncompressed aiff files. Combine a 8 mbps video encode that occasionally spikes and aiff audio rather than Dolby2, and that can result in poor video because the player can keep up with the combined video and audio rate.

encoding should be done in Compressor or bitvice, not inside DVDSP
 
8mbps is too high, its going to give you problems most dvds are at 6.5....8 is too high and is going to cause the dvd player to have problems keeping up. U also should be ussing compressor not dvd studio pro....dvd studio pro is pretty awful at compression compared to compressor
 
JZalutsky said:
U also should be ussing compressor not dvd studio pro....dvd studio pro is pretty awful at compression compared to compressor
Click to expand...


I was under the impression that DVD SP uses the same engine as compressor anyway. It just does it in the background without actually opening compressor. Or is there some other software at work in DVD SP?
 
hi. yeah that's right I'm downgrading to SD... I did it in FCP before by dropping the footage into a DV-pal sequence and rendering it out, but for some reason because there is a lot of white in this clip it looks terrible doing it this way... if I export using DVCPRO settings and let DVDstudio do the encoding I thought it may cut out one session of compression.

I thought the 8 is mb per second so it doesn't matter how long it is? It's only 3 minutes long.

Is there any harware I can buy for under £1000 to improve the quality of my DVD burns then? At the moment I'm wishing I'd stuck with DVX, HVX on DVD doesn't look any better even though it looks sexy in FCP.

Is 8MBPS really too high? I've used up to 9MBPS in the past and I've never had any problems, but I was wondering about that though.

Thanks for the continued help and patience guys, much appreciated.
 
in actual fact, what I'm seeing I think is just the horrible compression which mpeg2 delivers, anyone?
 
ozduc said:
I was under the impression that DVD SP uses the same engine as compressor anyway. It just does it in the background without actually opening compressor. Or is there some other software at work in DVD SP?
Click to expand...

That is correct.

But the other SIGNIFICANT ISSUE is audio encoding.

A substantial additional issue is spiking for video encoding.

This isn't just setting a bit rate; it's part art and part science.

Have you encoded to AC3/Dolby 2 audio?

What brand blank media?

Have you looked at BitVice from Innobits.de?

What set top are you viewing on?

Have you reduced you maximum bit rate to under 7mbps?
 
beno said:
hi. yeah that's right I'm downgrading to SD... I did it in FCP before by dropping the footage into a DV-pal sequence and rendering it out, but for some reason because there is a lot of white in this clip it looks terrible doing it this way... if I export using DVCPRO settings and let DVDstudio do the encoding I thought it may cut out one session of compression.
Click to expand...

I would say downconverting to DV is probably causing a lot of your problem.
 
hi David, thanks for still trying to help me, much appreciated.

I haven't encoded to AC3, I used to always do that but the quality was always much lower, I'll do that now.

Set top? I'm using an apple cinema screen. And a big sony (about 4 years old) TV to view the burned stuff.

I'm using Panasonic DVDs, does this really make a difference? What do you suggest?

Do you think bitvice is better than compressor (im so sick of unable to connect to background process)? Worth the extra cash?

I've reduced to under 7Mbps,

thanks again, anything more advise you can think of would be amazing, cheers
 
thanks Oz, I'm not downconverting to DV though, I'm trying to downconvert to SD. Like commercial DVDs or anything which you see on TV which isn't HD.

cheers tho
 
beno said:
in actual fact, what I'm seeing I think is just the horrible compression which mpeg2 delivers, anyone?
Click to expand...
The MPEG2 on DVDs is 4:2:0, so it will never look as nice as DVCPro50 or DVCProHD with 4:2:2 color sampling.
 
You need to edit in the HD timeline, then export through compressor to an SD video.

You're compressing it too much the way you did it before...

Don't move the footage into a DV sequence.

My experience has been excellent doing it this way...

HD Timeline >export to> SD Mpeg2
 
^
What he said. Never add more compression than you need to. Remember, even the all mighty DVCPro HD is still compressed so adding DV compression over that (4:1:1) then compressing again as an MPEG 2 (4:2:0) isn't going to give you the best results. I don't use Mac so I don't know how helpful i can be but I simply export my timeline as a QT Reference then take it into the compressor and make it MPEG 2. That way the origional HD files are being compressed.

As for Hollywood, they tend to actually use 3-5 mbs normally, 7 mbs max, but they've got better hardware. They also have the advantage of having shot 35mm! 720p DVCProHD is nice but it's not the same as 2k or 4k scans with 4:4:4 color sampling. That said, I've seen stuff shot in 720p that looks on par with a lot of Hollywood films on DVD. I always compare my own stuff from the HVX200 to my professional DVDs and usually the only differences in quality I see is that they have been lighting, higher production values, and of course higher lattitude.
 
cracked it! thanks to everyone who replied.. especially david, I\ve been experinmenting with many more presets, Compressor takes about 10 times as long as just a straight export out of FCP and the results were unbelievably better. Also I used the Dolby 2 audio which I think helped.

So bottom line, don't export with FCP, and use dolby 2. I found the 90minute "best" setting to be great.

Thanks again
 
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