5D Mk II HD to DVD

[Fernando Kanano]

Hi guys.

This may be a foolish question. I need to shoot a video project and I want to shoot it with my brand new 5D Mk II. Since I will be giving my client a standard DVD, I don't know if I should shoot at 30 or 24 fps. If I shoot at 30 fps, I will need to convert to footage to MPEG 2 at 29.97 for DVD. If I shoot at 24 fps, I just need to convert the footage to MPEG 2 at 23.98 fps. How should I shoot the project? And furthermore, how should I convert to DVD? I'm on a Mac, and I will be using FCS II.

Thank you in advance for your comments and suggestions. Cheers.

[Jon Fairhurst]

If you don't have a proven workflow, I'd recommend shooting in 30p (29.97). It will have more of a video look than a film look, but it will have less risk of looking bad. If you want a film look, can do a 24p test, have enough time to shoot a test, put it on DVD, and it looks good, then shoot 24p.

[John Mastrogiacomo]

If you don't know what you're doing, use 30p/29.97. They are basically the same if you are recording the sound with the video.

When I shoot 24 fps I do mine own pulldown instead of letting the DVD player do it.

So if you want to shoot 24 fps, shoot and edit at 24 fps and then drop it on a 29.97 timeline - that should add the pulldown.

[Fernando Kanano]

Thanks for your input guys. I think I will shoot at 30fps. I also want to edit everything in HD and output the final edit in HD. Now, how to down-convert the final HD video to DVD? Do I need to worry about pull-down? If I use Compressor, which I will, do I just select MPEG 2 and let it handle the 30 to 29.97 conversion?

Thanks again.

[Jon Fairhurst]

The latest firmware (2.0.4) shoots 29.97 rather than 30.00, so you're good to go.

[Fernando Kanano]

Thanks Jon. I'll try it this way. I appreciate all of your comments.

Cheers

[Wayne Avanson]

This is something I struggle with too. I just cant seem to get a good result from FCP to a DVD either using Compressor to create the right files (Best quality 90 mins setting) or outputting a hi res file direct from FCP then dropping it either into iDVD or DVD Studio Pro.

so I'm gathering from the above that frame rate has a lot to do with it. would that be right?

I could really benefit from a detailed workflow from 5D2 to DVD using Final Cut Studio on Mac. If anyone had a great workflow that gives good quality (and the time to post), it would be much appreciated

Thanks!

[Olivier Depaep]

Have you tried any of the presets from Cram CompressorPack?

[Wayne Avanson]

No never even heard of it…
Where do I track that down Olivier?

[Olivier Depaep]

here's a link to the site : CRAMCompressor

[Wayne Avanson]

Thanks Olivier, got it, will have a play with that later today.

[Peter Berg]

Wayne - let's know how it looks, and anyone else - please share your workflow from FCPro to DVD. (or maybe there's been some previous posts?) Greatly appreciated :)
peter berg

[Fernando Kanano]

I second that, Peter. It would be nice if someone can point us to a good HD to DVD guide, or if someone would share their experiences.
The CRAM Compressor seems like a good option, so thanks for pointing it out. However, I feel it's important to know what I'm doing exactly when converting.

Thanks for your input, guys.

[Wayne Avanson]

Yes, I have used the CRAM DVD set-ups today and got mixed results. Better than Apple's presets, but still not acceptable. Hmm…

First problem for me is that they are all NTSC which means making a copy then changing the format to PAL. So not being an expert in these things, I don't actually know if that's messing up their preset and that's why I'm getting ropey results.

On the plus side, I notice a lot of the blocky artifacts are gone, on the downside, everything seems really soft and the slow pans and tracks jerk like crazy.

double hmmm…

[Ben Denham]

Here's a thread

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/high-def...n-quality.html

my HD to DVD work-flow is on page 7