Exporting HD to SD DVD

David Del Real

David Del Real

Well-known member
I know, this has probably been asked a million times. I did a search and found a couple of posts but they didn't really answer my question.

I'm editing a 1080p30 sequence in Final Cut Pro 6.0.6 and I need to export for a SD DVD in DVD Studio Pro. I can't seem to get it right. I've tried exporting the self-contained movie and using Compressor to create the files for DVD. Looks terrible. I've tried using export using Quicktime Conversion. Looks terrible. I've had this problem for a long time and I've finally decided to ask around for help. The video looks fine in FCP, it even looks fine after export - in any format - but when I drop the file in DSP it looks terrible. HELP??? PLEASE???
 
Thanks for the reply.

The interlacing is making the footage look terrible, very unclear.

I tried burning many dvd's to see what it looks like on tv and the interlacing is terrible. My exported movie doesn't look like that before I burn to dvd.

I shot in 1080p30 on my HV30 (I know it's in a 60i wrapper), I was instructed to still use a sequence setting of HDV 1080i60 and export as 30p. I've tried exporting just a reference movie and using Compressor to create the files for DVDSP. I've also tried exporting a self-contained movie, same problem. I've also tried using export using Quicktime conversion and using the AIC option - same problem. Even tried exporting 16:9 SD....same problem.

I'm going nuts here.
 
There are many issues with downsampling HD footage to SD DVD. All along the chain you can run into issues with:

* De-interlacing - Even if you shot progressive, Your NLE might try to de-interlace the footage since it's in an interlaced format
*Scaling - NLE's tend to do a bilinear scale, which is very low quality and doesn't look sharp when downsampled.
*Color Space Conversion - HD footage is shot at rec.709 gamma and color space. SD DVD is Rec.601. A proper conversion must be done or you will not have accurate colorspace/gamma
*Quicktime Gamma shift - Quicktime in certain configurations tends to shift the gamma inproperly because of 1.8 vs 2.2 gamma issues.

If this is for a paying client, I'd suggest you find a professional compressionist. I'd point you to one, but I'm not a paying sponsor of DVXuser, and for some reason the Admins can't respond to any of my emails, or PM's to the boards admins.

If you can post some screenshots, maybe I can determine what the problem is. Try to post a screenshot from your Mac's Desktop in FCP. That tends to have the most accurate gamma when saying "This is my original" Then post a screenshot from the encoded result.
 
You did not mention what MPEG2 setting you are using in compressor, make sure you use the maximum bitrate that the duration of your project permits.
There is one alternative solution doesnt seem so bad, i only tested once:
Make a self contained movie, build & burn it with Roxio toast.
(Under Video---> drop your movie into DVD-video window in Toast)
You wont have access to a detailed menu, but you'll have access to custom compression settings. In DVDSPRO maximum avarage bitrate you can use is 6.8Mbps regardless of the duration of your project(if you pass 6.8 Mbps, your actual maximum bitrate will pass 8 Mbps barrier, which is not recommended for compatibility) whereas with Toast you can crank avarege bitrate upto 7.7 Mbps before hitting 8Mbps barrier.
Try this if it doesnt work I'll suggest another one.
 
Demistate said:
There are many issues with downsampling HD footage to SD DVD. All along the chain you can run into issues with:

* De-interlacing - Even if you shot progressive, Your NLE might try to de-interlace the footage since it's in an interlaced format
*Scaling - NLE's tend to do a bilinear scale, which is very low quality and doesn't look sharp when downsampled.
*Color Space Conversion - HD footage is shot at rec.709 gamma and color space. SD DVD is Rec.601. A proper conversion must be done or you will not have accurate colorspace/gamma
*Quicktime Gamma shift - Quicktime in certain configurations tends to shift the gamma inproperly because of 1.8 vs 2.2 gamma issues.

If this is for a paying client, I'd suggest you find a professional compressionist. I'd point you to one, but I'm not a paying sponsor of DVXuser, and for some reason the Admins can't respond to any of my emails, or PM's to the boards admins.

If you can post some screenshots, maybe I can determine what the problem is. Try to post a screenshot from your Mac's Desktop in FCP. That tends to have the most accurate gamma when saying "This is my original" Then post a screenshot from the encoded result.
Click to expand...

VGurcu said:
You did not mention what MPEG2 setting you are using in compressor, make sure you use the maximum bitrate that the duration of your project permits.
There is one alternative solution doesnt seem so bad, i only tested once:
Make a self contained movie, build & burn it with Roxio toast.
(Under Video---> drop your movie into DVD-video window in Toast)
You wont have access to a detailed menu, but you'll have access to custom compression settings. In DVDSPRO maximum avarage bitrate you can use is 6.8Mbps regardless of the duration of your project(if you pass 6.8 Mbps, your actual maximum bitrate will pass 8 Mbps barrier, which is not recommended for compatibility) whereas with Toast you can crank avarege bitrate upto 7.7 Mbps before hitting 8Mbps barrier.
Try this if it doesnt work I'll suggest another one.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys for your response, I really appreciate your time. Sorry it's been a while since answering back. So, now I'm also using my T2i for shooting and still getting crappy dvd's.

*Demistate:
I actually get it to look okay using the simulator in DSP, it's when I view on my 40" Samsung HDTV that things look horrible. (I know, sd on hdtv but I'm not even in the same ballpark as rental dvd's). The interlacing applied to the mpeg2 is awful looking. There's got to be a better way to get that nice progressive look on dvd.
Help?

*VGurcu:
I'll try Toast (I think I have a lite version with EyeTV) and see what that does for me.

Thanks again guys, if I had hair I'd pull it out...
 
David Del Real said:
*Demistate:
I actually get it to look okay using the simulator in DSP, it's when I view on my 40" Samsung HDTV that things look horrible. (I know, sd on hdtv but I'm not even in the same ballpark as rental dvd's). The interlacing applied to the mpeg2 is awful looking. There's got to be a better way to get that nice progressive look on dvd.
Help?


Thanks again guys, if I had hair I'd pull it out...
Click to expand...

When you use the simulator in DSP it doesn't actually show you what your result will be. It just plays back any media you're using.

The t2i shoots progressive, so make sure that you aren't accidently de-interlacing the footage. If you shot 60P you will have a difficult time getting it into a 29.97 interlaced format as that will require some special processing.

Post some screenshots, or even better, sample clips so we can help you troubleshoot.
 
Demistate said:
*Color Space Conversion - HD footage is shot at rec.709 gamma and color space. SD DVD is Rec.601. A proper conversion must be done or you will not have accurate colorspace/gamma
Click to expand...
Wait what? Perhaps out of DV footage this is the case, but in practice this is rarely the case. Nearly all of my DVDs (Hollywood) have been 709, obviously stemmed from HD masters, and this has been the case for years...
 
Demistate said:
When you use the simulator in DSP it doesn't actually show you what your result will be. It just plays back any media you're using.

The t2i shoots progressive, so make sure that you aren't accidently de-interlacing the footage. If you shot 60P you will have a difficult time getting it into a 29.97 interlaced format as that will require some special processing.

Post some screenshots, or even better, sample clips so we can help you troubleshoot.
Click to expand...

I'll try to post some screens, but the challenge is mostly with viewing on the TV.
Even playing full screen on my 23" Apple display (1920x1200 which is more than my 1920x1080 TV) doesn't look as bad as the TV. There is still some crappyness, kind of like interlacing artifacts or something, but still.
 
Well, got a screen shot of the quicktime movie (looks great) but Grab won't let me screenshot the DVD Player. But again, it doesn't look as bad on my computer monitor it just looks like crap while playing on my dvd player hooked up to my TV.
 
Last edited:
David Del Real said:
Well, got a screen shot of the quicktime movie (looks great) but Grab won't let me screenshot the DVD Player. But again, it doesn't look as bad on my computer monitor it just looks like crap while playing on my dvd player hooked up to my TV.
Click to expand...


What do you mean "as bad" ? That implies it still has problems on the PC / PC monitor

Have you tried playing the DVD on another setup (eg. at a friends house)? Maybe your DVD player/ TV has some configuration issues? What about other retail DVD's - do they play ok ?
 
PDR said:
What do you mean "as bad" ? That implies it still has problems on the PC / PC monitor

Have you tried playing the DVD on another setup (eg. at a friends house)? Maybe your DVD player/ TV has some configuration issues? What about other retail DVD's - do they play ok ?
Click to expand...

Bad as in flickering and interlacing artifacts. It's not that bad on the computer monitor. At other's house, it plays bad as well. One of our cousins said it played okay on her Blu-ray player but I didn't personally see that. Retail DVD's play beautifully on my DVD player.
 
Well, I guess I'll scrap DVD distribution and go Blu-ray. SD DVD is not worth this amount of effort...

I'm on an early '08 8 core MacPro so I guess I'll use Toast Titanium Pro 10 to do this.
 
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