Delivery Format? HD possible? DVD sucks

toddmcm

toddmcm

Carbonite Member
I'm giddy like a school girl after seeing the A1 hooked directly up to my 60" Sony. I don't need no stinking Discovery channel!

So how in the world do I deliver quality like this? I have no idea where to begin? HD-DVD / Blue Ray?

What are the options to get my footage to people at this kind of quality?

Is there a workflow for this HD stuff yet?

So, the big bummer was how the plain ol' DVD looks. Maybe I'm not encoding correctly, MPG2 HIGHEST quality on all settings and it still doesn't touch the quality of the camera connected directly to the TV. I can get H.264 QT's that are good, but how to deliver that for viewing on TV?

Can anyone help me get the most out of my delivery method? I currently use DVD Studio Pro 4.
 
you can use a lappy to playback the quicktime encodes in fullscreen(dvi-hdmi). ofcourse that would mean you would need to buy a lappy if you dont have one.
 
You can buy BluRay/HD-DVD burners and blank media, but the problem is that no one has the players to play the media. If you're looking for an HD distribution method, the only ones I know of are broadcast and internet download. We'll all just have to wait until one format wins the war and players become more widely owned.
 
Well, our typical job costs 100K to clients, so buying a PS3 to run the presentation would be no big deal.

I simply just need to know if there is a workflow to actually produce the Blue Ray discs.

I've heard that Avids newest DVD program supports it... I'd much rather stay with Final Cut Studio but I don't know if it's possible at this time.

SO, I'm not worried about who has the player... I simply want to know how to go from recorded tape at 60i or 24f to a final Blue Ray disc that will play in a PS3.
 
One of the younger guys here just told me I'm an idiot... to which I didn't argue... he says that if we go the PS3 route that discs aren't even necessary.

He claims there is a way to play HD content straight from the PS3. He wasn't sure about natively playing, but that with an install of a special version of Linux that it's no problem.

This could actually work out great if he's right...

Toast burns Blue Ray discs, but I don't think it will conform a disc to the standards. I can already burn content to BD, just not a playable disc.... I will look into that more though.
 
toddmcm said:
One of the younger guys here just told me I'm an idiot... to which I didn't argue... he says that if we go the PS3 route that discs aren't even necessary.

He claims there is a way to play HD content straight from the PS3. He wasn't sure about natively playing, but that with an install of a special version of Linux that it's no problem.

This could actually work out great if he's right...

Toast burns Blue Ray discs, but I don't think it will conform a disc to the standards. I can already burn content to BD, just not a playable disc.... I will look into that more though.
Click to expand...

Why not connect the computer directly to a projector via DVI? Skip the PS3 alltogether?
 
Several reasons actually. Projector and DVI do not do true HD content justice in my opinion... or at least until you get into the projectors that cost 10K and up. Secondly to have a computer that will output true HD to a Monitor is also in the several thousand dollar range.

PS3 is $500, portable, and fool proof if we set it up before sending it to the client.

It just seems an easy way to get it done... plug in an hdmi cable, turn it on, select the movie from the main interface and it's up and running.

I will be testing this tonight and will post my findings immediately after testing.

Stay tuned!
 
OK, you find me a $500 computer that will play 1080i via DVI that looks as good as my original 2GB file and I'll be a beliver.

Then try to teach the client how to use it. I'm pretty sure I'm on the right track for what we do over here.... I can get the highest quality available, with NO setup other than a power cord and HDMI cable... and it's $500 and looks cool.

At this point I don't think there is anything better than the PS3.

It's actually WAY better than dealing with the discs... no authoring required. Make my file, load it via network to PS3... ship it out.

AWESOME...

So spend a grand on a computer or 500 on a much cooler looking ps3... if you were my client which would you prefer?

http://ps3mods.blogspot.com/2007/01/create-avch264-video-for-ps3.html
 
how about you update your computer to play those 1080i files. A good video card can have high resolutions for gaming and videos you just need to find a good output device, projector, hd set, etc. like i said earlier dvi-hdmi would work really well and newer motherboards now offer optical out for audio.

thats as far im willing to recommend, this topic is just cat and mousing around now.
 
sorry... the computer idea is just lame. I have a computer science degree, and once again you are not going to find a PC that will compete with the PS3 in terms of playback ease for a client with virtually zero knowhow. Let alone the "coolness" factor which is important when someone is giving you $100,000 for some 3D animation.

Like I asked before, what would you rather receive; a POS PC, or a PS3 that you can take home to the kids after the presentation?

Bottom line= Time is money... I don't have to mess with the PS3 in any way for it to work.


Anyhow, thanks for your input.
 
And delivering a 100K film on a stylized product like the PS3 will probably earn you another "Wow!" from the client - I´m totally with you on that one todd...
As mentioned appleTV might be another cool solution...
And yes, you can play HD on a 500$ compi...
 
Doesn't look like there is a way to get a PS3 compatable file at 1080.

I can get 720P to work but there is a clear difference between 720 and the raw source from camera at 1080

any ideas how to get an AVC compliant file at 1080 out of Final Cut?
 
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like i mentioned before, appletv does 720p and more compact and simple than ps3. apple will be giving it free upgrades and will probabl add 1080 down the line.
 
So for whatever reason you can trick the PS3.

I have been doing LOTS of different encode tests.

Turns out, that if you reduce the size by cropping slightly to 1920x1072 it plays just fine on the PS3. If you take the time to do a nice progressive conversion, it looks fantastic.

On to my next question (that I have asked before):
I'm still dealing with conversion to progressive. If you leave it to compressor, it takes FOREVER.... it seems that the settings in there effect the time dramatically.

I ran one for the PS3 at 1920x1072 with frame controls on, and the progressive setting to the fastest one, and it took a few hours for 5 minutes of footage.

I'm running one at highest quality conversion settings right now, with mild compression to get the best looking web file that I can. Compressor is telling me 48 hours to encode 5 minutes of footage on my dual 2.5 G5 with a file size of around 120MB.

Am I on the right track or am I just wasting time and computer resources?


ALSO: FWIW... converting A1 footage from 60i to progressive sure does look good but seems that it takes significantly more processing power to playback smoothly. I tested on an older PC here and it wouldn't even play. Any input on that? Makes me doubt the $500 computer playing it back.(more likely my file output, I'm guessing my bitrate is WAY too high)
 
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Hi todd. In that case I would use the Apple Intermediate Codec. Also I think theres some confusion, seems people believe you currently cant play HD on your editing system and are thus recommending upgrades, whereas your point is delivery to clients with a system that can play the files. Personally I like the ps3 idea. Clients would pretty happy to get one included Id imagine.
 
Ohhh, LOL... my ediiting system is definately in no need of un upgrade. Have I not mentioned the whole Decklink HD / Huge System Raid / MacPro setup?

Anyhow, I've now done some rather extensive testing and the PS3 won hands down.

It's odd that I can't get true 1920x1080 to play on it though. Same compression, same format, same settings all the way through EXCEPT for the final size of 1920x1072 and it works perfectly. Some odd glitch, possibly to prevent pirating?

Anyhow...

Even the guys in the studio were impressed I had it running on the PS3.

So thanks to all that gave me input and got me going in the right direction!
 
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