Hi

I have made a film and it's all edited now, yay! :)

However, I can't work out how best to export it from Media Composer to make a DVD :(

My film was shot at 25P in 1080 HDV on a PAL Canon XH A1 and is approximately 40 minutes in length.

The film is currently in a 1440 x 1080 50i Media Composer 3.0 project. The Media Composer DVD authoring software doesn't work, I think it's because its the cut down academic version of Media Composer we use at our University. So I need to export a file I can use to author a DVD within TMPGenc 4.0 Xpress.

What's the best way to export a file I can put onto an anamorphic 16:9 PAL DVD using TMPGenc?

I've been trawling the web for solutions but they all seem to be geared towards 24P not 25P and they lack the detail I need. There are too many settings in the Media Composer export menus for me, I'm not that hot on video formats. So far I've made attempts which have given enormous files over 40GB or have no audio or are poor quality.

We do have Sorenson Squeeze 4 if that's any use.

Thanks very much anyone who can help, I'm really stuck! :(

Did you try exporting a QT ref, and importing that into your encoder?

Hi Bill

Haven't tried that. I read in various articles it won't work with high definition video. But I'll give it a try if you think it might work.

I was aware of that and thought it was fixed, in MC3.5 at least. Maybe not. Try transcoding to DNxHD first, the export a QT Ref. That should work.

Thanks very much for your help Bill.

We've got version 3.0 I'm afraid. Is the transcode option easy to use?

Does transcode convert your entire project to another format rather than outputting a new file?

Stuart, hopefully someone else can chime in here. I don't cut on MC... just an archaic version of XpressDV. But from what I've read & heard, transcoding to DNxHD makes a new file out of your sequence that can be used for a QT ref. Time wise, either transcoding or just making a self contained QT file out of your current sequence may take the same amount of time. Of course either method will be making one more large file.

I think there's a sticky thread somewhere on the forums at Avid.com.

Cheers Bill!

I'm just about to start transcoding, below are the settings I used, I have also described exactly what I did so if it works I can refer to it for the next film :) I think it's all correct but I'm not sure about the handle length (I don't even know what a handle is):

First I made sure all my tracks were selected.

I right clicked on my sequence in its bin, then selected 'Consolidate/Transcode'.

In the menu I selected the 'transcode' button, I left it at the default 50 frame 'handle length'. The 'create new sequence' box was ticked and the 'convert video' box was also ticked with the only available option being 'DNxHD-TR 120 MXF'.

The predicted file size is 75774MB (it's about a 40 minute film).

I think it's all correct but I'm not sure about the handle length. I'll get back to you when it's done.

My word, it's taking ages to transcode!

I carried out the transcoding and Avid created a DNxHD sequence. At first this played video and no sound, but restarting Avid fixed that problem.

Then I selected 'export...' by right clicking on the new sequence and under options I selected:-

Export: Quicktime reference
Defaults: Digital Mastering
Flatten video tracks: ticked
Fill spaces with black: ticked
Render all video effects: ticked
Display aspect ratio was set to 16:9 square pixel (1920 x 1080)
Audio format: WAVE
Sample rate: project
Sample bit depth: project
Use network media refs: unticked
Use Avid DV Codec: unticked
Color levels: RGB

After a short time a 455MB file was generated. But when you play the file you only get audio, there is no video. Have I used the wrong settings?

Doh! I was being daft and opened the wrong file, I didn't realise it had generated an audio and a video file, I opened the audio one. Doh and double doh!

actually QT Ref doesn't really create a video "file" at all. It's just a small file that points to the original media. That's the beauty of it. It takes very little time & there's no recompression.

Actually if this is for DVD, you should NOT check 16x9 in the QT Ref settings. Check the 16x9 flag in your encoder to do it properly.

Thanks Bill. I repeated the QTref export from Avid Media Composer with the Display Aspect Ratio' set to 4:3 square pixel (1440 x 1080) - see post 8 above.

When I encoded this to a DVD compliant mpeg file in TMPGenc using 16:9 display settings I got a file which when burnt to DVD plays anamorphically in widescreen on my telly, yay!

Not sure if I've got all the TMPGenc settings right yet as I get small black bars top and bottom on the TV and it perhaps looks a little stretched horizontally. I get black overscan side bars when I watch the file on the PC but these don't show up on the telly. I think this is because I encoded it as 720 x 576 when perhaps I should have used 704 x 576. I'll try exporting as 704x576 when I have the energy. Video formats get me seriously distressed, but it's good when it finally works.

If I get all the TMPGenc settings nailed I'll post them here and hopefully someone will find them useful.

BTW transcoding your sequence generates a new set of DNxHD files and also creates a new sequence which points to those files, and it all ends up in the same bin! You can edit the new sequence normally as far as I can tell.

Thanks again for all your help Bill :)
I would probably still be floundering in the great video format bog otherwise.

Another option is simply output the file to m2t and then to convert to dvd fromat using your prefered encoder set it to deinterlace. For me it works perfect, no jaggies nothing just clean progressive dvd's

BTW transcoding your sequence generates a new set of DNxHD files and also creates a new sequence which points to those files, and it all ends up in the same bin! You can edit the new sequence normally as far as I can tell.

I'm not sure how I missed this post, Peter... but it's always better to make a new bin, name it something that references what it is (transcode in this case) then duplicate your sequence, then drag that copy to the new bin. It helps keep everything in it's place.

Thanks Bill, I realised that with hindsight. I ended up with a rather enormous bin full of clips.

Below are the settings I used to export 25P PAL HDV to 16:9 DVD from Media Composer 3 using TMPGEnc. I got pretty decent results but if anyone has any suggested improvements I would be very glad to hear them

First you must transcode the sequence footage since exporting a Quicktime reference file does not work in Media Composer 3. Transcode basically creates a new sequence and the associated video files – which will be in the new format. You can still edit the sequence after transcoding. This can lead to loss of audio but restarting Media Composer fixed this problem for me.

Transcoding

Put your sequence to be transcoded into a new empty bin as lots of files will be created within it
Ensure all your tracks are selected
R click sequence
Export…
Options
Select Consolidate/Transcode
Select the Transcode button
Tick the Create New Sequence box
Tick the Convert Video box and select DNxHD – TR 120 MXF (The Avid high def codec)
Use the default 50 frame handle length

Creating a Quicktime Reference File

For widescreen HDV exported from MC 3.

Selected 'export...' by right clicking on the new transcoded sequence and under options select:-

Export: Quicktime reference
Defaults: Digital Mastering
Flatten video tracks: ticked
Fill spaces with black: ticked
Render all video effects: ticked
Display aspect ratio was set to 4:3 square pixel (1440 x 1080)
- then check the 16:9 flag at the encoding stage
Audio format: WAVE
Sample rate: project
Sample bit depth: project
Use network media refs: unticked
Use Avid DV Codec: unticked
Color levels: RGB 601/709

Encoding Ready for DVD Using TMPGEnc

Open the Quicktime reference file in TMPGEnc
There are lots of headings under which you can select options…

Clip properties
Disp mode: progressive
Field order: should be greyed out
Aspect ratio: display 16:9
Frame rate: 25 fps

Format
DVD standard mpeg file
Video system:PAL
Encode mode: prioritise quality
Aspect ratio: 16:9 specifications
Rate control mode: VBR (average bitrate)
Audio format: Dolby Digital


Encode/bitrate Settings
Video size: 720 x 576 pixels
Lock video size: unticked
Average video bitrate (VBR): 7500 kb/s
Maximum bitrate: 7500 kb/s
Minimum bitrate: 3000 kb/s
Pass count: 2
Allow padding to avoid video minimum bitrate break: ticked
Limit maximum bitrate to 8000 kb/s: ticked
Audio bitrate: 224 kb/s

Video
Encode mode: prioritise quality
Size: 720 x 576
Aspect ratio: display 16:9
Rate control mode: VBR
DC component precision: 10 bit
Display mode: interlaced
Motion search precision: highest with error correction

Phew!