DVD authored in DVD Pro looks good on Sony T.V. bad on Imac. Why?

[Ralph nixon]

Alright, I have a project that I encoded with compressor in mpeg-2 24fps 2pass Best Quality and when I play it on my old 35" Sony it looks good. It looks and sounds professional. But when I play it on my Imac it looks soft, and washed out, and there's a pulse to it, especially in full screen.

Now when I watch say Woody Allens "Match Point" it looks fine in full screen on my computer and on my T.V.

How do I get similar results? What are the settings? Where did I go wrong?

I want to make sure that itlloks good in both on LCD progressive T.V's and older Interlaced ones.

Thanks for your help?

 

[queenkellee]

I'm not (yet) familiar enough with compressor of dvd studio, but from previous experience with other apps it sounds like somewhere you have automatically let the video colors be squashed to tv safe (either in compressor when you made the mpg or in dvd studio pro when you compile/created the dvd. Or if it has out of range colors in DVD STudio Pro it might just automatically adjust it. when it's done by software usually it's not nearlly as well done if you brought the colors/brightness down in final cut indvidually for each asset.
most important (most often the culprits) are very hot whites, hot yellows and reds, although any very saturated color can be a problem. it's much better if you adjust these colors in final cut and/or your image editing program (for stills) you get the results you are looking for. you can test this in final cut with the scopes (read the manual for how to use the scopes if you aren't sure).

Good luck

 

[Fuboy]

Well, your iMac monitor has a much higher resolution than your TV so all of the imperfections will show. I don't know what the resolution of your monitor is, but if you're watching it full screen you're magnifying it 2 or 3 times. Remember that DVD res is only 720 x 480. The pulsing you see is from the compression. You will see it pulse on every i frame which is usually every 15 frames. Your "Match Point" DVD was probably encoded with something a lot more powerful than Compressor. And don't forget the source material. A DVD that started out as film is typically going to look better than something that started as DV video.

 

[cinemakinoeye]

Digital video on a computer display will always look different than on a television set. The gamma of the two are different. The phosphors on a television gives it a unique color, different from a computer display, and the television is interlaced, while the comptuer screen is progressive. The contrast ratios are also different. Put all of these factors together, and you realize why you'll never get a perfect match between the two.

Ideally, you would master a computer version, SD version, and HD version of any project. Or, to be more practical, consider looking at both computer and calibrated CRT broadcast monitor and color correct so it looks perfect on the broadcast monitor and as good as it will get on the computer screen. My experience with the Apple Cinema Display, for example, is that colors are always more saturated and the gamma makes the image darker than when compared to a broadcast CRT monitor. When it comes to SD or HD video, only a properly calibrated broadcast-quality monitor should be used for critical color, contrast, and brightness adjustments. Also, don't forget, computer displays can be calibrated too, so before any critical viewing is done, calibrate your computer monitor too. And don't forget, ambient lighting conditions also play a factor.