Smallest compressed size (H.264) to make a DVD?

sonic freak

sonic freak

Well-known member
I've got a situation-

My partner lives in Green Bay. I'm in CA. I'm sending footage to him of a recent project and he's burning the DVD's- but he can't see it because it's uncompressed HD footage. (that's OK- he's only got FCP express- clips uncompressed come up as white screen w/ audio) SO- I want to lightly compress the final export with H.264 so he can see it and then he can burn a DVD from that... but...

Here's my question:

1. What's the SMALLEST size you can make a DVD from to still get the BEST quality?
2. Do you even have to use the BIGGEST possible size to make a DVD since it's being converted to SD?

Even though I am using Yousendit (which can send monster files- up to 2 Gigs) I don't want to be over sending the footage if he only needs a certain size to burn it.

BTW- HVX-200 for the footage & iMovie for the DVD's. (while we're at it...does iMovie's quality of burning DVD's blow compared to DVD Studio Pro?)

THANKS!
 
I wonder if there's not a little confusion going on here. If you're sending it as a DVD-ROM, i.e. a data disc, you can make the files whatever size you want, with whatever compression you want. You can put high-def uncompressed clips on a data DVD if you wanted (you just couldn't put very MUCH uncompressed high-def on a data DVD!)

If you're intending to send a playable video DVD that would play in a DVD player, then you can't use h.264 at all. DVD video is MPEG-2.
 
Thanks for your response. Now I'm more confused... I think..:huh:

All I want to do is send my final cut to Green Bay over the internet so my partner can make the DVD's for the client. (To make a DVD, I guess I was under the assumption that you needed to make it from a big uncompressed file/movie.)
 
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Hey Sonic Freak all dvds need to be Mpeg 2 files and audio can be AC3(dolby) or PCM files. If you do the encoding in compressor from your uncompressed files then they should fit on a dvd data disk so you can send him these files that he can author in DVD

Studio Pro or what ever program hes working with. Its all math on figuring the amount of Mpeg2 data that will fit onto a disk and wether you need to use single layer or dual layer or 5gig or 9gig disks accordingly. Video takes up some space and audio takes

up some space. If its a short video then you should have plenty of space to use PCM audio with the project. If its a long project then use AC3 which is like 1/8th the size depending on your settings. There is info in the FCP books on figuring how much space

you have on different disk sizes and how to figure the space to fit the audio. Its always better to compress to Mpeg2 form the uncompressed footage for a client job. There have been projects that we have used Imovie and Idvd to create DVDs from. FCP and

DVDSP gives you much more fexibility and creative power. We haven't used the newest version of Imovie and IDVD but it seems that some things have gone away with the new programs.

Good luck.
 
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Ever since I upgraded my FCP to 6, I've had nothing but problems. It fried a logic board on my tower (500 bucks), and it's screwed up my laptop too. I can't use compressor now and I did a bunch of manual fixes and it still doesn't work. I get this:

Unable to submit to queue. Please restart your computer or verify your Compressor installation is correct. (and this is the second problem with it- updating software solved the first) To me the new FCP upgrade has caused a lot of headaches I didn't have with FCP 5. I'll reinstall and hopefully that will do it.

Anyway, I appreciate the help. I'm no DVD authoring expert. First of all you do understand that I'm preparing this for the INTERNET only. I'm not sending any physical disks. Ok, cool.

What I think you're saying is that I should compress it with mpeg2 and dolby in compressor and then send those files to him- which seems simple enough, but within compressor there are a bunch of choices. Why so many different kinds of DVD: Best Quality choices? 120,150,90? You can choose those same minutes for Faster Encode...?

Which one would be best for me do you think?

Running time on this particular DVD will only be 3-5 minutes. SD. It's a training tool for a company.

Thanks in advance
 
since your final project is so short, you should do best quality DVD 60 min (or 90 min, i can't remember off hand if there is a 60 min setting anymore) That will give you the best quality and you can send it to him over the web either through FTP or if you have some space up on the web for file downloads.
 
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