FCP to DVD?

That may be because you're still doing a Variable bitrate.
Choose constant bitrate and set it all the way to up to 9, just to see what it looks like.

By the way, when doing tests like this there really isn't a need to compress the entire file - you could just compress a 60 second chunk, or even 30 seconds, jsut to see what it looks like.
It's not like you have to worry about maxing out the disc.
 
I think the results aren't very far, if at all, from what one should expect. Remember that you're downrezzing your RED HD footage, which is probably 1080x1920 (right?) to 480x720 (or 480x640). That's a *six times* loss in resolution. You can't do that without a very substantial reduction in picture quality. That's what HD was all about...increased resolution compared to SD, which DVD is and will always be.

If you have access to a blu-ray burner, try it again as such and look at it on your PS3. I bet you won't be disappointed. Plus you'll get to watch that 6.7 Mb/s data rate jump well into the mid 20's. Low 30's even, if you dare : )
 
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Have to disagree with Louis.

The difference between 9 mbps for video and 7 mbps for video is indistinguishable and actually could lead to poor playback.

If it is 60 minutes or less, stay at 7.2 mbps for video and use ac3/dolby2 for audio
 
David S. said:
Have to disagree with Louis.

The difference between 9 mbps for video and 7 mbps for video is indistinguishable and actually could lead to poor playback.

If it is 60 minutes or less, stay at 7.2 mbps for video and use ac3/dolby2 for audio
Click to expand...

Actually I'm totally with you - my point was only that he should compress it out at that rate only to see what it would look like (not to actually use it), because theoretically that is as good as the image quality is going to get. And my guess was that at best it was going to look marginally better than what he had compressed at around 7mbps.

In the end - going from RED to SD DVD is going to lead to a pretty severe decimation of the image...no real way around it.
 
Agreed that pushing up to 9Mbps can cause playback issues. I never go above 8Mbps.

Also you could try using compression markers in Final Cut. Very time consuming but you can force compression, especially helpful when the scene changes very quickly from static to high motion.

I have found that my DVX-100 footage looks amazing on my PS3 and fairly bland on standard DVD player on my HD TV. Good luck!
 
What resolution did you shoot at and edit at? Because like Ted said, you are drastically lowering your resolution, so at SD, it is going to lose quality. I mean really, the first screen shot you posted doesn't look terrible. The FCP certainly looks sharper, but I would say that the compressed one is acceptable. I guess it depends how it is going to be shown... I made a mini-doc on my DVX and exported H.264 720x480 and put it into iDVD and when it was shown on a projector blown up to about 30' wide, it still looked fantastic!
 
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