Hi
I've finished editing my project on FCP7 and output to ProResHQ and from there to DVD (using iDVD). There's a glitch on the Prores file and on any DVDs I make at the same place - but when I play the scene in the timeline it looks and sounds fine. There aren't any fancy effects or anything on the scene. What to do?

(When I played the DVD in my mac it froze and then said it was 'skipping over damage' when I pressed play to continue.)

Thanks!

What was the original file format before conversion to ProResHQ? (please don't say H.264!). Is it a still image or video footage where the glitch is? Why ProResHQ? - you're not going to gain anything over ProRes other then match larger files for no increase in quality. If you have FCP7 you have Compressor and DVD Studio Pro which will give you much better results than iDVD.

Make a new sequence in ProRes, select all on your edited sequence, copy/paste into the ProRes sequence, render, mark an In at the beginning of your sequence and an Out at the end, then export as a QT self contained movie using current settings, drop that new file into Compressor and use one of the DVD video and audio presets, when converted drop those files into DVDSP and author / build / burn.

If you still get a problem in the same place, replace the clip from the original footage.

(There is a 'hack' that needs to be applied to the Compressor .ac3 normally, but find your glitch problem first)

Thanks... very informative. Actually I think I've cracked my problem which seems to have been a dud batch of DVDs (rerendered Prores file and it looks okay). I haven't used Compressor yet, bit scared of it... but if it gives better results will give it a go. Festival my film's screening at asked for ProRes HQ or LT and I assumed HQ would be better. Footage was HDV 1080i shot on a Sony V1P. Does that mean it's H.264? Why would that be bad?

Good to hear you've sorted it. There's thousands of pages on the web about ProRes, some good some not so good and there's even an Apple White Paper, Larry Jordan has a good take on it here: Larry Jordan - Picking the Right Version of ProRes | The Best Training in Final Cut Pro (http://www.larryjordan.biz/picking-the-right-version-of-prores/)

Compressor is nothing to be scared of, just drop a self contained or reference movie on the compressor icon, drag a preset from the templates onto it and go for a coffee.

H.264 is a delivery codec not an editing codec, Final Cut will crawl to a snails pace if you try to edit and apply effects or transitions to it.

HDV from the V1 is not H.264.

Here's some information about Prores:
Final Cut Pro 7 Professional Formats and Workflows (http://documentation.apple.com/en/finalcutpro/professionalformatsandworkflows/index.html#chapter=10%26section=2%26tasks=true)

Basically, given your source material is 4:2:0 25Mbs HDV, converting it to Prores is an upscale. Nothing can be added so going to HQ isn't helping.

Compressor and DVDSP will serve you well. The Compressor codecs for DVD are very good and DVDSP gives you much more control over the DVD navigation and looks. I find it a much more reliable and faster workflow. YMMV

OK, can you tell me what settings I should enter into Compressor please? As someone who has no clue. (I'm in NZ on PAL btw). My audio is mono (it's a documentary). Thanks...

Compressor comes with presets from Apple for many things. In the Apple folder of presets, there's a folder named DVD for various types of discs (90 minute, 120 minute, Blue Ray...). I use the highest quality one whenever possible

After you create a "Batch" with the file you want to compress, drag the audio and video presets you desire onto the file. You can drop as many as you would like. Click submit and Compressor will then compress the file according to the presets you dropped on the file.

The output of the Compressor job will be a file for each preset. So for a DVD, you need an audio and video file. In DVDSP, you need to drop those two files in a track. Making a disc just becomes pressing the burn button.... no waiting for compression. There's also a simulation in DVDSP to try out all your navigation before burning. You can change stuff on your DVD without re-compressing too...

Search around and you'll find some discussions here in DVInfo.

Thanks. Will give it a go.