Last minute project=Need help!

S

super spy y

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I was just handed a last-second project that needs to be finished tomorrow morning. I am extremely short on time to search all the forums, and greatly appreciate any help/suggestions.

The project is a DVD creation with a 1 hour & 20 min. sequence from FCP7 and 3 5-10 min. sequences that will be individual clips as extras on the DVD. I am not familiar with DVD Studio Pro and feel iDVD is the safest way to go with such a short time limit.

The question is what is the best way to export these files to put them in iDVD? I'm guessing I need to use Compressor to make these files small enough to fit on a standard single-sided DVD. But what settings should I use? It is a NTSC/29.97 FCP timeline.

I always try to find answers in the forums before posting a question, but I really don't have time on this one. Much praise and thanks to anyone that can help me with this.
 
If you're using Compressor I'd say to just use one of the SD DVD presets. That outputs audio and video into separate files though. Having never worked with iDVD, I'm not sure if those files would be compatible. It can be done very quickly and easily in DVD studio pro however.

Also, depending on how powerful your computer is, compressing a 1 hour and 20 minute sequence is going to take a good amount of time.
 
Thanks a lot for the reply. I'm working on a 8 Core MacPro. Never had to do anything this big, so unfortunately I don't know how long it will take in order to calculate how to use my time wisely. I was thrown into a sticky situation here, and feel a bit nervous about being able to deliver this on time.

I would like to use DVD Studio Pro, but I am so unfamiliar with it that I am afraid I will have the wrong settings, think I'm burning a finished DVD only to find out I have to do it all again.

Are there basic, safe presets in DVD Studio that I can just plug in and go? Really hate to be asking such novice questions, but as I wrote before my time to learn is extremely short.

Thanks to anyone with suggestions.
 
I have to disagree with pete.

Don't use Compressor to compress the individual video files.

120 minutes of video footage is all that will fit on a DVD5 in iDVD.

It's not the size of the movies files that is critical; it's the length of all the videos combined that is important.

If they total less than 120 minutes. If not, they won't fit on a SD DVD using iDVD.
 
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Thanks David S. What is your suggestion for getting the sequences from FCP in iDVD? The person that threw this in my lap had made a h.264 quicktime mov that was 18 gigs in size. The conversion looks terrible (not sure what his settings were), so I need to reprocess it to make the image better. Your (or anyone else's) suggestion?
 
Do not transcode anything or accept transcoded footage.

h.264 is heavily compressed. Use the original codec. Again, use the original footage codec.

And file size means nothing. Total time in minutes is the important factor.

You have to stop thinking about file size of the original footage. It's video length in minutes.

119 minutes of RED footage will fit on a SD DVD.
 
David S. said:
I have to disagree with pete.

Don't use Compressor to compress the individual video files.

120 minutes of video footage is all that will fit on a DVD5 in iDVD.

It's not the size of the movies files that is critical; it's the length of all the videos combined that is important.

If they total less than 120 minutes. If not, they won't fit on a SD DVD using iDVD.
Click to expand...

I merely suggested compressor because you have more control over settings to make sure you get the best quality compression. Whether you use compressor or you let the dvd authoring software handle it, the files must be converted to mpeg2 for dvd playback.
 
I think you're missing the fact that the OP wants to use iDVD for authoring.

iDVD will not import mpeg2 files, so Compressor has no part in the process for authoring in iDVD.

iDVD requires an unconverted movie file, which best achieved by a self contained export from FCP.

DVD SP will accept either a self contained movie files, or previously encloded m2v and AC3 files from Compressor or whatever encoder you use, ie BitVice, MainConcept, etc.
 
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