DVD STUDIO PRO - Question about video formats it accepts...

Hi everyone.

So I recently finished my World War 2 film that I posted a thread about a while back if anyone remembers...

I'm trying to get it on a dvd in the best possible quality. After trying almost every compression method, I've found that in FInal Cut Pro the codec H.264 gives me the most desirable results...


SO ANYWAY.... DVD studio pro won't let me import the file when it is H.264.... It will let me import a file that I compress as Sorenson 3 (the next most desirable result).... but not H.264. Does anyone know how I can get it to accept my H.264 file?

On a side note... IDVD lets me import the H.264 file just fine... Something is up with DVD Studio....

Any help you kind people can give me would be GREAT! thanks.

-Drew

 

Which version are you using ?

I think DVD SP would accept H.264 videos if your project was HD. Have you tried rendering your film out of FCP using the Animation codec ? Lossless, and DVD SP will be able to import it.

 

If your trying to make the file to be able to play on a stand-alone DVD player, you will need to encode the video to the MPEG-2 codec. That's the only codec that DVD video supports. The audio will need to either be PCM or AC3. Normally when you import a file into DVD authoring software it will encode that file to those codecs... but not always.

NTSC DVD video HAS to be either 720x480, 704x480, 352x480 or 352x240 with 720x480 being the norm. No other resolutions will work. Also NTSC DVD video HAS to be 29.97 frames per second. Again, most DVD authoring programs will resize the video and alter the frame rate but sometimes they don't. I highly recommend that you convert your video file to the MPEG-2 format and the audio to AC3 Dolby Digital 2.0 (or 5.1 if you're feeling adventurous) with the resolution set to 720x480 and the frame rate set to 29.97 (again, only if you live in a country where NTSC video is ther norm).

Please keep in mind that the aspect ratio will change when you convert your movie to 720x480 but should look normal when playing the finished DVD on a normal TV. I hope that helps.

 

DVD Studio Pro will auto-encode the assets when you build and format - good stuff to remember though.

Like JBK suggested it could be a version issue, but if you're making a DVD I'd export with the least compression possible like he said. You don't want any compression on your DVD because that should be the best quality image available.

Hope that helps!

 

Wow..... That's a whole lot of information....

I'm using DVD Studio PRo 3...

Now... The size of the video is just fine... I know because the Soreson 3 video that has worked well in DVDSP is the same size and looks fine on a TV.... Also.... The soreson 3 video is either being converted to Mpeg like you said or doesn't need to be... because again.... it looks fine....

So unless you tell me so... I'm not going to change the image size...

But should I really export as Mpeg 2.... I've tried exporting as Mpeg 4 and let me tell you... IT LOOKED LIKE CRAP!

WIll Mpeg 2 be different?

What I'm saying is that when I burn my Sorenson 3 version it looks good.... but... the H.264 looks a little better.... and I'm looking for the best.... The H.264 version that I burned with Idvd looks better than any other compression I've tried... I just want DVDSP to accept the darn file!

Is Idvd HD or something? It seems to me like DVDSP is a much more advanced application than Idvd and should be better... AM i wrong?

Is there a way of getting DVDSP to accept my file or will it simply NOT accept it no matter what? I mean.... I can use Sorenson 3 I guess.... It looks fine.... but if I can get the H.264 to work I'd prefer it....

For now While I wait for responses to this post I'll render on out in Mpeg 2 and see how it looks.... Stop me if you think its unnecessary.


Thanks

 

DV... Just read your reply....


Do you think it would be crazy to even export as Uncompressed?

Or would the file be so big that it couldn't fit on a dvd?

 

Ok, obviously there's one bit of info you're missing : both DVD SP and iDVD (and other DVD authoring programs, for that matter) compress your file into an MPEG-2 video.

If you make a version with the Animation codec, it won't look compressed, with only half the size of what an Uncompressed version would take.


So, if you find thatDVD SP isn't doing a better job than iDVD, I suggest you check the encoder settings. Go to the Preference window, and select the "Encoding" tab. There, you can set the datarate, but be careful, going too high will jam the compiler. I usually have mine set at 7 Mbps.

 

JediDrew, standard definition DVD players, the kind that go in your living room and not in your computer, Cannot playpack QuickTime files or AVI files (except for a rare few that can play DivX AVIs) ALL commercial DVDs that you buy or rent use the MPEG-2 codec for video. It's the standard and cannot be broken... for the most part. If you're making this DVD to be used in a ****STAND-ALONE DVD PLAYER**** then you HAVE to use MPEG-2 with the resolutions and frame rate I mentioned in my earlier post... period (you could make an MPEG-1 VCD or SVCD and play it but it will look worse than the standard MPEG-2 codec so it's not recommended)

Now, if you just want to copy your current movie to DVD so that you have it backed up and so you can give it out to your computer using friends then you don't even need DVD authoring software. Just burn it to the DVD and your done. The downside to this is that you have to use a computer to play back the movie. I hope that clears things up a bit.

 

DVDSP automatically encodes my movie to play on household dvd players.... I know this because i have burnt quicktime files and one is playing on my TV right now as we type....

My problem was that my H.264 codec version of my film looked better than my Sorenson 3 version of my film... but DVDSP did not accept H.264 version....

My original question was how to import my H.264 version of the film...

I know the movie is going to be compressed to Mpeg 2 automatically by DVDSP.... the thing is that transferring H.264 to Mpeg 2 looks better than Sorenson 3 to Mpeg 4....

 

Ok, so you're aware of what the final codec will be when DVD Studio Pro is done with it and you know you first have to export it to a codec that DVD Studio Pro can import and reencode properly (I'm guessing Final Cut Pro can't export to MPEG-2 or at least not competently... 'cause of it can, do that)... and you're using a Mac... which means you may be screwed here. If you cannnot export to MPEG-2, try either an uncompressed QuickTime file (if you have enough hard drive space) or the Mac/QuickTime version of the DV codec. DV is practically lossless and I would think most DVD authoring programs could handle it.

 

P'sha...

Drew, you're overcomplicating things. Your movie is already in DV-NTSC format in FCP (I assume you're using Final Cut Pro and shot this video with a standard DV camera, right?) Why compress it into ANY other format before you bring it into DVD SP? First of all, to answer your question, you are right, your version of iDVD is superior to DVD Studio Pro 3 in that in can handle H.264, but that's because DVD Studio Pro 3 came out about 3 years ago and H.264 came out about a year and a half ago. I assume you're using iDVD '05 or '06 which both came out with H.264 support. if you upgraded to DVD Studio Pro 4 it would support H.264.

BUUUT back to my original point, here's what you do;

In FCP (this is for version 5.0+ so hit me back if you have something older and I'll adjust if need-be) select your movie's Sequence and pull down "File" to "Export" and select "Quicktime Movie"

In the next window that pops up, leave the "Setting" as "Current Setting", make sure "Include" says "Audio and Video" and for "Markers" you can include "Chapter Markers" if you made any. Leave "Recompress All Frames" UNCHECKED and the last one "Make Movie Self-Contained" is up to you; if you are just going to make this DVD, considering this your last and most complete edit, you can leave that option unchecked. The file it makes will be a very small file containing Quicktime references to other files on your hard drive, namely media files and temporary render files in your FCP "Render Files" folder. The advantage of this is that its REALLY quick and takes little to no space, basically because its an alias of sorts. However, this file will only WORK if all those other quicktime files are left where they are, which means if you ever wipe your Render Files folder, do any more editing to your sequence (which would automatically change and delete files in the render files folder) or delete any of your media, the Quicktime file you'd be making right now would simply not work. So the flipside to this is checking "Make Movie Self-Contained" - it would make one big quicktime file and take a little bit of time to do it but you never have to worry about having your media on hand for it to work.

Anyway, once you do that you can drop the resulting file into DVD SP 3 and it will work fine. I'll warn you though, the quicktime file that you export might not look as sharp as the sorenson files you've made in the past but that is only due to the fact that the DV-NTSC codec is designed to look good on an interlaced TV and not on a computer. By keeping your original format you did not lose any data by compressing more than you needed to and once your media is encoded to MPEG2 and burned onto a DVD the video will look nice and sharp on a tv.

Cheers

 

Thanks a lot!

I'm getting on a plane right now and flying to Florence.... I'm going to try all that tomorrow when I land....

For the record...

The movie was shot on 16mm black and white film and then digitized... and i have Idvd '04.... *at least it says its copyright for '04.... i don't know how else to check)...


Thanks, I'll try it.

 

If you have Compressor, you'd be helping yourself out by using it to make an MPEG2/.m2v of your video to use in DVD Studio Pro. If you do have compressor, import your footage, then use the pull-down menu inside to pick one of the auto settings (like "DVD: Best Quality 90 minutes 4:3"), then pik whether you need just video or vid/aud. Thart way, you'll already have your media in the correct format when you bring it into DVD SP, relieving it from doing the converting AND burning/Disc formatting.

 

DVDRHELP, for all your burning needs.

But unless you encode it in MPEG2, you're dead in the water.