DVD question.. sorry can't find an answer anywhere!

[Manus Sweeney]

Hi,

its been a long time since i had to put anything on dvd and now beginning to realise how clueless i am in this area..

So i have PAL footage (interlaced 25fps) that i would like to burn to DVD.

It will probably be viewed both on PC and DVD Player/TV.

Basically I would like to know how to do it so that I keep the 25P feel. I know how to burn to DVD, and avoid jaggies but it gives that awful (for what i want to do at least) 50fps feel to the motion (played back on the PC dvd playing software anyway).

I know DVDs are always interlaced but they dont always have the cheap video motion look.. Sorry for the basic question and hope someone can point me in the right direction.

I can do it on either PC (PP) or Mac (FCP) I would prefer mac though as that will be my current platform from now..

Cheers

[Tripp Woelfel]

It shouldn't be that difficult but we'll need to know what software you are using. I'm in NTSC land so there might be some differences, but even though the NTSC DVD spec is 29.97 interlaced, one can make a DVD that is effectively 24p because of flags inserted during the disk authoring process that tells the player to remove the pulldown on playback. I suspect the same thing is possible for PAL DVDs. If your authoring software allows it, specify progressive output.

[Manus Sweeney]

hi, thanks... i have on the mac final cut pro, compressor, dvd studio pro, toast titanium etc
and on pc premiere pro, not sure i've ever even burnt a dvd on my pc! not sure what software i have for it..

maybe you could explain in generic terms just to point me in the right direction? so i should find an option to 'remove pulldown'?

cheers,

Manus

[Tripp Woelfel]

Manus... I'm a PC guy so I'm not familiar with how your kit works. But check the output settings in either Toast or DVD Studio. There should be a setting where the options are "interlaced" or "progressive". It could also refer to them as field options (upper first, lower first or none). The settings given these options should be set to "progressive" or "none". The nomenclature in your apps might be different but I think you can find the equivalent phrases.

The two key things you want to do, based upon what you have described, is keeping the frame rate at 25fps (PAL standard) and make sure that your fields behave appropriately.

[Manus Sweeney]

Thanks Tripp..

I've tried this but still end up with the same interlaced 'speedy' motion..

My workflow is:

Export uncompressed from FCP (Export - Quicktime Movie)
Import to Compressor
Select the 'DVD:Best Quality 90 mins' Preset (MPEG-2 6.2mbps 2 pass and Dolby Digital Professional 2.0)
I've tried in the settings for Field Dominance both 'Bottom First' and 'Progressive'
Then I import to DVD Studio Pro, make a PAL SD project with the right aspect ratio, set it up as i want and then Burn to Disc..

Maybe someone working with FC Studio has some suggestion??

Thanks,
Manus

[Jonathan Shaw]

I do exactly the same as Manus and although reasonably happy with results, I have been edging the bit rate higher to around 7.5 mbps trying to get a better quality DVD. It make a slight difference, has anyone else got any better ideas for improving quality other than going BR.