H.264 Settings for HDV dose it work? at DVinfo.net

Gary Williams · December 4th, 2007, 09:52 PM

I have been trying to compress HDV in compressor as a H.264 setting and import it into DVD Studio Pro I cannot for the life of me get it to work dvd studio crashes using that codet (only) not any of the others just that one, I dont know why I shoot with an HD100 at 30p is that the problem dose this codet only handle 60p someone out thier must know. How many of you are really getting this H.264 to work and what I mean is you have a 30min project or more your sending it to compressor and compressing on the H.264 60 min preset and then sending it to DVD studio pro and then burning the project with out a crash. Please tell me that someone out their can really do this and please explain in detail how you do it. Thanks Gary Williams

Andy Mees · December 4th, 2007, 10:25 PM

Gary
Apologies for asking the question rather than offering an answer ... but why are you compressing it to H.264 first and then sending to DVDSP? It seems like you are adding a wholly unnecessary compression cycle that is both degrading the quality of your image, plus it would seem causing a terminal blockage in your workflow.
Andy

Gary Williams · December 4th, 2007, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Mees

Gary
Apologies for asking the question rather than offering an answer ... but why are you compressing it to H.264 first and then sending to DVDSP? It seems like you are adding a wholly unnecessary compression cycle that is both degrading the quality of your image, plus it would seem causing a terminal blockage in your workflow.
Andy

Because Andy according to apple your suppose to be able to take your HDV footage and compress it in compressor and keep almost the same quality as HDV then put it on a DVD-5 and play it in a Toshiba player of course I have yet to get it to work properly. The advantage being to take a 7.2 gig project and compress it so it will fit on a DVD-5 with out loosing much quality. (Seeing is beleaving in my book).

Andy Mees · December 5th, 2007, 12:13 AM

sorry Gary, i don't mess much with DVDSP ... I didn't realise you could author a dvd using h.264 as the compression format. always thought you burnt these as data discs and that the players that supported it just played these back (in the same manner that my samsung player will play back data discs with avi/divx etc)

Gary Williams · December 5th, 2007, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Mees

sorry Gary, i don't mess much with DVDSP ... I didn't realise you could author a dvd using h.264 as the compression format. always thought you burnt these as data discs and that the players that supported it just played these back (in the same manner that my samsung player will play back data discs with avi/divx etc)

Maybe your right Andy, I have yet to make it work so who knows

Andy Mees · December 5th, 2007, 12:37 AM

well then that may be worth a try ... i beleive when you import your h.264 into dvdsp then it is being transcoded to MPEG2 (and that appears to be crashing your machine, although it shouldn't)

try just burning the h.264 file directly to a dvd as a raw data file then see if it plays in your toshiba player

Gary Williams · December 5th, 2007, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Mees

well then that may be worth a try ... i beleive when you import your h.264 into dvdsp then it is being transcoded to MPEG2 (and that appears to be crashing your machine, although it shouldn't)

try just burning the h.264 file directly to a dvd as a raw data file then see if it plays in your toshiba player

I put alot of time into trying to make this work I think I am done experimenting for a while, I am going to let this post ride for a bit and see what others are doing to make this work. The way I look at it is it either dose not work or someone out their has successfuly done it and is willing to share this information with the forum, especialy me. Thanks Andy

Dino Leone · December 5th, 2007, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Mees

well then that may be worth a try ... i beleive when you import your h.264 into dvdsp then it is being transcoded to MPEG2

I think Gary is trying to burn an HD-DVD (DVD-5) which supports H.264 natively. (I'm judging from the other thread.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Mees

try just burning the h.264 file directly to a dvd as a raw data file then see if it plays in your toshiba player

I agree, that's the way to begin testing.

Gary, I assume you're using the most recent version of DVDSP (4.2.1), right? Did you check the release notes? check this out:
http://www.apple.com/support/release...io_Pro_4.2_rn/

Specifically, it says it natively supports 720p30, 720p60, 1080p24 and 1080p30 for H.264.
The document also states that you must use the H.264 HD DVD preset in Compressor for encoding.
Furthermore, for previewing, you need Apple DVD Player at least v4.6.5 (part of OS X 10.4.8.).

Personally I have only tried to burn mpeg2 HD-DVDs and that worked flawlessly. I will try to burn a short H264 tonight.
Best,
Dino

Gary Williams · December 5th, 2007, 05:00 PM

[QUOTE=Dino Leone;787843]I think Gary is trying to burn an HD-DVD (DVD-5) which supports H.264 natively. (I'm judging from the other thread.)

I agree, that's the way to begin testing.

Gary, I assume you're using the most recent version of DVDSP (4.2.1), right? Did you check the release notes? check this out:
http://www.apple.com/support/release...io_Pro_4.2_rn/

Specifically, it says it natively supports 720p30, 720p60, 1080p24 and 1080p30 for H.264.
The document also states that you must use the H.264 HD DVD preset in Compressor for encoding.
Furthermore, for previewing, you need Apple DVD Player at least v4.6.5 (part of OS X 10.4.8.).

Personally I have only tried to burn mpeg2 HD-DVDs and that worked flawlessly. I will try to burn a short H264 tonight.
Best,
Dino[/QUOth]

Thank you so much Dino I would love the hear the results from that I can Burn HD dvds if I export a self contained or ref file from final cut into spdvd what I cant do is get the same self contained or ref file that has been compress from 7.2 gigs to 4 gigs in compresser in the H.264 codet and get it to work in DVD SP so I can put on a dvd-5 that is my problem it dvd sp either crashes while setting up templetes or it crashes on the build or the burn. So basicaly in dose not work when I try to work with a H.264 compressed file. Working in DVD sp with a quicktime HD file dose not work for me as my projects are to long 45 to 60 minutes. If you get it to work please give me a complete step by step as to how you did it. Thanks Gary Williams

Dino Leone · December 6th, 2007, 02:38 AM

OK, just finished this test and it works!

Here's the details what I used:
- the footage was 1080p24 from Canon XH A1, HDV captured.
- in FCP (6.0.2) I exported a test clip (less than a minute) as a self-contained quicktime movie (Quicktime player says it's HDV 1440x1080, 23.98 fps).
- I put this into compressor (v3.0.2), used the H.264 10.3Mbps settings (Apple/DVD/HD DVD: H.264 60 minutes/) and let this transcode.
- DVD Studio Pro (v4.2.1): in preferences:project: select HD DVD, NTSC. Hit "Apply". Then in the "General tab" I selected 1920x1080i, hit apply and OK.
- I then selected "File: New Project" and imported the h.264 output file from compressor, put this into track1, deleted the default (empty menu) and selected track 1 as "first play".
- Then I clicked the "Format" button in the button bar, named the disc and burned it onto a DVD-R.

Now here it's getting interesting...
- After burning was finished I opened Apple DVD Player (with this newly burned disc in the dvd-rom drive) and hit play. It plays at 1920x1080 (verified by hitting "Normal size"). But it stutters! And then it hit me: this is H.264 at more than 10mbits/sec. And my G5 (2x2.3 Ghz) is unable to play back any H264 thats more than about 8 Mbps (@ 1920x1080). I found this out the hard way when I was experimenting with different h264 settings for playing back compressed footage from the Canon XH A1.
Anyway, I then inserted this disc into my Toshiba HD A20 HD DVD player and it plays smoothly!!! Not a single hiccup (OK, this test was just a minute of video, but still!), it plays beautifully. The projector reports 1080/24p playback, so the 24fps is maintained. You can actually see some slight compression artifacts which isn't really surprising at 10mbps.

I hope this helps!
Best Regards,
Dino

Gary Williams · December 6th, 2007, 04:53 AM

Great information Dino, I will try the exact same test early in the morning and report back what happen this is great news if I have a problem it could be do to the fact I just did a clean install of leopard and final cut studio 2 and I am working with projects that were done in tiger earlier and stored on my second drive so we will see. Thank again Gary Williams

Gary Williams · December 7th, 2007, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dino Leone

OK, just finished this test and it works!

Here's the details what I used:
- the footage was 1080p24 from Canon XH A1, HDV captured.
- in FCP (6.0.2) I exported a test clip (less than a minute) as a self-contained quicktime movie (Quicktime player says it's HDV 1440x1080, 23.98 fps).
- I put this into compressor (v3.0.2), used the H.264 10.3Mbps settings (Apple/DVD/HD DVD: H.264 60 minutes/) and let this transcode.
- DVD Studio Pro (v4.2.1): in preferences:project: select HD DVD, NTSC. Hit "Apply". Then in the "General tab" I selected 1920x1080i, hit apply and OK.
- I then selected "File: New Project" and imported the h.264 output file from compressor, put this into track1, deleted the default (empty menu) and selected track 1 as "first play".
- Then I clicked the "Format" button in the button bar, named the disc and burned it onto a DVD-R.

Now here it's getting interesting...
- After burning was finished I opened Apple DVD Player (with this newly burned disc in the dvd-rom drive) and hit play. It plays at 1920x1080 (verified by hitting "Normal size"). But it stutters! And then it hit me: this is H.264 at more than 10mbits/sec. And my G5 (2x2.3 Ghz) is unable to play back any H264 thats more than about 8 Mbps (@ 1920x1080). I found this out the hard way when I was experimenting with different h264 settings for playing back compressed footage from the Canon XH A1.
Anyway, I then inserted this disc into my Toshiba HD A20 HD DVD player and it plays smoothly!!! Not a single hiccup (OK, this test was just a minute of video, but still!), it plays beautifully. The projector reports 1080/24p playback, so the 24fps is maintained. You can actually see some slight compression artifacts which isn't really surprising at 10mbps.

I hope this helps!
Best Regards,
Dino

Ok Dino it worked, I only did a small clip like you a couple of minutes or so but it finally worked, now if I can only get it to work on a 45 minute project.

Gary Williams · January 3rd, 2008, 01:24 PM

Ok this is an update to this post I have completed a 60 minute project in the H.264 codet from HDV shot with the HD-100 played it on the HD-A3 and everything works great, for future refrence it did not play well at first on the new deck I bought but I did the latest filmware up date from Toshiba and everything plays well picture quality is fantastic. This codet or should I say compression format works very well with HDV material.

December 4th, 2007, 09:52 PM	#1
Gary Williams Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Rocklin, California Posts: 287	H.264 Settings for HDV dose it work? I have been trying to compress HDV in compressor as a H.264 setting and import it into DVD Studio Pro I cannot for the life of me get it to work dvd studio crashes using that codet (only) not any of the others just that one, I dont know why I shoot with an HD100 at 30p is that the problem dose this codet only handle 60p someone out thier must know. How many of you are really getting this H.264 to work and what I mean is you have a 30min project or more your sending it to compressor and compressing on the H.264 60 min preset and then sending it to DVD studio pro and then burning the project with out a crash. Please tell me that someone out their can really do this and please explain in detail how you do it. Thanks Gary Williams Last edited by Gary Williams; December 4th, 2007 at 11:37 PM.

December 6th, 2007, 02:38 AM	#10
Dino Leone Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Sunnyvale, CA Posts: 131	H.264 HD DVD footage is working OK, just finished this test and it works! Here's the details what I used: - the footage was 1080p24 from Canon XH A1, HDV captured. - in FCP (6.0.2) I exported a test clip (less than a minute) as a self-contained quicktime movie (Quicktime player says it's HDV 1440x1080, 23.98 fps). - I put this into compressor (v3.0.2), used the H.264 10.3Mbps settings (Apple/DVD/HD DVD: H.264 60 minutes/) and let this transcode. - DVD Studio Pro (v4.2.1): in preferences:project: select HD DVD, NTSC. Hit "Apply". Then in the "General tab" I selected 1920x1080i, hit apply and OK. - I then selected "File: New Project" and imported the h.264 output file from compressor, put this into track1, deleted the default (empty menu) and selected track 1 as "first play". - Then I clicked the "Format" button in the button bar, named the disc and burned it onto a DVD-R. Now here it's getting interesting... - After burning was finished I opened Apple DVD Player (with this newly burned disc in the dvd-rom drive) and hit play. It plays at 1920x1080 (verified by hitting "Normal size"). But it stutters! And then it hit me: this is H.264 at more than 10mbits/sec. And my G5 (2x2.3 Ghz) is unable to play back any H264 thats more than about 8 Mbps (@ 1920x1080). I found this out the hard way when I was experimenting with different h264 settings for playing back compressed footage from the Canon XH A1. Anyway, I then inserted this disc into my Toshiba HD A20 HD DVD player and it plays smoothly!!! Not a single hiccup (OK, this test was just a minute of video, but still!), it plays beautifully. The projector reports 1080/24p playback, so the 24fps is maintained. You can actually see some slight compression artifacts which isn't really surprising at 10mbps. I hope this helps! Best Regards, Dino

December 4th, 2007, 10:25 PM	#2
Andy Mees Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Posts: 645	Gary Apologies for asking the question rather than offering an answer ... but why are you compressing it to H.264 first and then sending to DVDSP? It seems like you are adding a wholly unnecessary compression cycle that is both degrading the quality of your image, plus it would seem causing a terminal blockage in your workflow. Andy

December 5th, 2007, 12:13 AM	#4
Andy Mees Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Posts: 645	sorry Gary, i don't mess much with DVDSP ... I didn't realise you could author a dvd using h.264 as the compression format. always thought you burnt these as data discs and that the players that supported it just played these back (in the same manner that my samsung player will play back data discs with avi/divx etc)

December 5th, 2007, 12:37 AM	#6
Andy Mees Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Posts: 645	well then that may be worth a try ... i beleive when you import your h.264 into dvdsp then it is being transcoded to MPEG2 (and that appears to be crashing your machine, although it shouldn't) try just burning the h.264 file directly to a dvd as a raw data file then see if it plays in your toshiba player

December 5th, 2007, 05:00 PM	#9
Gary Williams Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Rocklin, California Posts: 287	[QUOTE=Dino Leone;787843]I think Gary is trying to burn an HD-DVD (DVD-5) which supports H.264 natively. (I'm judging from the other thread.) I agree, that's the way to begin testing. Gary, I assume you're using the most recent version of DVDSP (4.2.1), right? Did you check the release notes? check this out: http://www.apple.com/support/release...io_Pro_4.2_rn/ Specifically, it says it natively supports 720p30, 720p60, 1080p24 and 1080p30 for H.264. The document also states that you must use the H.264 HD DVD preset in Compressor for encoding. Furthermore, for previewing, you need Apple DVD Player at least v4.6.5 (part of OS X 10.4.8.). Personally I have only tried to burn mpeg2 HD-DVDs and that worked flawlessly. I will try to burn a short H264 tonight. Best, Dino[/QUOth] Thank you so much Dino I would love the hear the results from that I can Burn HD dvds if I export a self contained or ref file from final cut into spdvd what I cant do is get the same self contained or ref file that has been compress from 7.2 gigs to 4 gigs in compresser in the H.264 codet and get it to work in DVD SP so I can put on a dvd-5 that is my problem it dvd sp either crashes while setting up templetes or it crashes on the build or the burn. So basicaly in dose not work when I try to work with a H.264 compressed file. Working in DVD sp with a quicktime HD file dose not work for me as my projects are to long 45 to 60 minutes. If you get it to work please give me a complete step by step as to how you did it. Thanks Gary Williams

December 6th, 2007, 04:53 AM	#11
Gary Williams Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Rocklin, California Posts: 287	Great information Dino, I will try the exact same test early in the morning and report back what happen this is great news if I have a problem it could be do to the fact I just did a clean install of leopard and final cut studio 2 and I am working with projects that were done in tiger earlier and stored on my second drive so we will see. Thank again Gary Williams

January 3rd, 2008, 01:24 PM	#13
Gary Williams Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Rocklin, California Posts: 287	Ok this is an update to this post I have completed a 60 minute project in the H.264 codet from HDV shot with the HD-100 played it on the HD-A3 and everything works great, for future refrence it did not play well at first on the new deck I bought but I did the latest filmware up date from Toshiba and everything plays well picture quality is fantastic. This codet or should I say compression format works very well with HDV material.