Why does my DVD look like crap?

G

Granville

Well-known member
I have to deliver a DVD of a 4 min. spot I shot for a client. I shot it on an EX-1 720 60p and exported as a QT movie (which looks great) but when I burn the DVD in DVD studio 4 it comes out looking worse than bathroom tile. I am using the highest quality settings. I don't know what I am missing. Shouldn't the DVD look as good as the QT movie? I don't know what kind of compression is going on or where to find that info.

Help, Please?
 
What settings are you using for the QT movie? And is the inherently very compressed SD DVD being watched on an SD TV or scaled up and watched on an HDTV? The DVD should look good by SD standards but it won't look nearly as good as HD.


-A
 
You're recompressing as MPEG2 in order to put it on a DVD, which can reduce quality. How exactly does it look worse than a bathroom tile? Compression artifacts? Check your settings to make sure it isn't compressing too much. I don't use Apple systems so I can't advise on the first export.
 
I exported the sequence to QT under "current settings" and also from the drop menu choosing
XDCAM EX 720 60p. Neither looks good. I am playing back on a 30" apple cinema screen. This is my first time using DVDSP so I am not sure about how to set compression other than the changes made in preferences in the encoding tab.

The footage looks like a quilt of squares all floating around making noise. It does not look like HD 720 60p but more like VHS . . . Yipes!
 
Of course it's not going to look like HD 'cause it's not HD. It's a very compressed, interlaced SD 720x480 image that you watching on a 2560x1600 progressive monitor that's not designed to show interlaced video. What does the DVD look like when played back on an SD TV?


-A
 
I can't make up from your story how you imported into Final Cut Studio Pro. Did you use compressor to make the MPEG2 or did you let DVD STP do that, because that would eplain the bad quality. Use compressor for that.

Next to that, you really have to see it on a TV screen in a normal DVD Player to really judge the quality of it.
 
I did not use compressor . . . went straight to DVSP . . . I have never authored a DVD so there is much that I am not aware of. I will try compressor. Thanks to all . . .
 
Granville said:
I exported the sequence to QT under "current settings" and also from the drop menu choosing
XDCAM EX 720 60p. Neither looks good. I am playing back on a 30" apple cinema screen. This is my first time using DVDSP so I am not sure about how to set compression other than the changes made in preferences in the encoding tab.

The footage looks like a quilt of squares all floating around making noise. It does not look like HD 720 60p but more like VHS . . . Yipes!
Click to expand...

This sounds like you have selected too low of a bit rate. Further, SD is 480x720, and so if that is 'displayed' on you scrreen at full 30" screen resolution... it will looked processed...

However, the blocking sounds more like too low of a bit rate even for SD... check if you have options to set the bit rate up to at least 7-8 Mbits. I can't recall the max spec for DVD, but its around there for video. Overall the max for DVD of combined video and audio is around 10-12 Mbits...

A thought just occured to me, if you are trying to get HD 720 out of this, that could explain a too low bit rate for the material... resize to SD, with appropriate letterbox formating, and select a bit rate appropriate for SD. MPeg2 can handle HD, but DVD max bit rate doesn't...

I've tried a couple of times to get AVCHD to work on DVD media for HD, and have not been successful to date...
 
I use the EX-1 and shoot 720p/24 and have been real happy with my results to DVD playing on a PS3 and Visio 1080p. Here's my rough export ways!.

1. From FC go file>Export>Compressor
2. Then in compressor you should see your project in the upper left corner.
3. IN the settings window just below, goto Apple Folder>DVD Folder> and drag the "DVD: Best Quality 90 minutes folder" up into the blue square area above.
4. Then goto Target>Destination> and place resulting files on your desktop or anywhere you want the files to go. The resulting files are then imported into DVDSP and wala!

DVDSP can be an initial b.... to learn(IMHO) but I've been able to move up to using titles ect.

***most importantly when you open up DVD SP make sure your check the SD box checked in the opening "welcome" screen your you'll make HD TS files which wont work!*** Good Luck
 
What Jeff said, but also use dolby2/ac3 audio preset for your aiff audio.

Remember as well that the target and maximum bit rate is directly related to the LENGTH of the video in TOTAL MINUTES. And the maximum combined bit rate for audio and video is 10.2 mbps -- but stay below that as well.

For 60 minutes or less, 7.2 mbps video and dolby2 audio seems to be the sweet spot.
 
I would suggest enabling Frame Controls inside of Compressor as well, and setting the Resize Filter to Best (Statistical Prediction). This should give you a better quality downres from HD to SD, although it will also jack up your encoding time. Worth it, though, if this is your final export and you want top quality.

Be sure to read up on Qmaster and Virtual Clusters if you're on a MacPro, it will speed things along considerably inside Compressor.
 
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