So I just switched to avid on a mac pro from sony vegas. so far its been awesome, but I am having issues with getting the right export settings, especially when the final output will be on a DVD. I am editing XDCAM EX video, at first I would get errors saying that I can't render same as source, so I would do video mix downs then open a new sequence, place the video mixdown into that sequence and export that as a QT ref file, then use squeeze to render an appropriate file seems to work, but its a very long process. I realized today I can export my timeline directly if I choose "format options" and make a DNxHD codec. so I got the best looking export to date, but now the problem is getting it on a dvd. I have sorensen squeeze and since I am on a mac, am using toast. The file is 12gb, so I definitely need to squeeze it, but there isn't a single DVD template in squeeze that will actually work for me. Some look terrible, and some just quit and give me some error about multiplexing.

Can someone help me establish a good workflow for getting my HD files compressed and onto a DVD, without making it look like total garbage?

I always transcode to DNxHD for editing and thus my QT ref files are in DNxHD format.

The following are my quick notes for configuring sorrenson... hope this helps

MPG config settings

Custom 1.7778 full Zoom

DVD_NTSC_Lg setting
No Audio
Elementary Video
Codec MPEG-2 Video
2 pass vbr
data 7200 5300 188
NTSC
720 480
UNCONSTRAINED
FR 29.97
Pixel 16:9
Field Progressive
GOP 6 I 1 P
Auto GOP None
Advanced:
main
main
5
15
X do half pel
NO Enable motion search
NO input is RGB
Multiplex:
25200
0
0
0
1 on Frames
0
NO Add scann offses

Yep,

That's about the same settings I use in Squeeze.

One thing most people don't know about Squeeze it seems is that it will let you preview what your encode is going to look like. So you can select your intended settings, apply that to your job, and then do up a 5 second preview to see how it's going to look. I tend to check both areas of high motion, and areas where little is going on.

It's a HECK of a nice program, as is Avid.

terry.

thanks for the list. One question though, why do you select no audio? Bear with me, I am totally new to both these systems.

Pasted from my reply on another forum this morning:

"This peculiarity seems to trip up a great many people who are not used to creating standard DVDs.

Here is the problem.

The international specification set forth for DVDs requires the audio to be compressed as either PCM, or AC-3. These are the only two legal compression types. However, the only viable compression for the video is Mpeg2.

This disparity in requirements means that two seperate encodes are required. One for the audio and one for the video since the compression scheme required is not the same. A proper video encode will not include the audio.."

Ok. that makes sense too.

now, back to the sorensen issue. I just created a QT reference and dragged it into squeeze. went to the dvd tab and I only have these options:

DVD (NTSC,PS)
DVD (PAL, PS)
DVD Disc burn (NTSC, ES)
DVD Disc burn (PAL, ES)
DVD Iso image (NTSC, ES)
DVD Iso image (PAL, ES)

when I select DVD (NTSC, PS) it applies the codec, then I open that to apply the settings you suggest, but I am stopped instantly by the frame size, I can't choose anything for the horizontal size, it is locked at 1080, which then causes a bunch of errors for this codec. it does this on all codecs, except for the HD ones of course.

any ideas?

What version of Squeeze do you have? I am fairly new to the program, and my options don't look like that.

its version 6.0.3.39

Ohhh.... I've still got version 5. :(

ohhh, kind of a relief, I thought I was missing something really simple. Maybe a call to sorensen is in order...

terry.

thanks for the list. One question though, why do you select no audio? Bear with me, I am totally new to both these systems.

Ian,
I do mainly music event video, and pay great attention to audio recording. So I don't like to compress the audio on the DVD, and use PCM audio for the DVD authoring software, which is the .wav file that comes with the QT export. Note, the wave file uses a lot of DVD space, so I have to monitor the video file size as the program length gets longer than 1.5 hours. If needed, I reduce the average bitrate to 4900.

Ian,
And one more thing.
The list of settings I posted came from sorrenson 5, however I have moved on to version 6.
In Sorrenson 6, you still have virtually the same configuration options, except getting to them is less obvious.
From memory, select the DVD NTSC option, and try to make a custom version. Then look to open up advanced settings to find all the configuration options.
Sorrenson 6 is better at deinterlacing, so if working with 60i material, suggest selecting it in the filter options.

the only setting I can't seem to adjust now is the multiplexer settings.