Maximizing Standard DVDs

[Dana Salsbury]

For our clients who don't have Blu-Ray yet -- pretty much all of them -- I'm rendering standard DVDs from Vegas7 with a 720-25p setting. I understand that it burns through DVDs quickly, causing me to output multiple DVDs. I'm after quality, but am wondering if I'm wasting space and if there is a better way to utilize HD from my cams when our couples don't have Blu-Ray. Thoughts?

[Graham Hickling]

Depends what your clients want to play the disks on. If they are willing to view them from a PC or HTPC then there are quite a few options.

But if they want to watch via a standalone player, not so many.

[Dana Salsbury]

A PC solution might work, although most PCs have poor sound setups. Even so, I know where you're going with the video quality. That *is* an option I can give the couple. What would you recommend?

[Graham Hickling]

If space is the concern, then one of the various MPEG4-based codec - AVC, H264, WMV, MP4 - would be the way to go provided they have an up-to-date machine that can handle it.

[By the way, on re-reading your post I'm a little confused by "standard DVDs with a 720p setting". The DVD standard is fixed at 480 (or 576 in PAL) lines, so if you are really doing 720p that wouldnt be standard and wouldnt play on many standalone players. Or is the 720 referring to your width?]

[Harm Millaard]

Since you talking about 25P I assume you are in PAL land. Standard DVD in PAL is 720x576 resolution. Another question in that light is why 25P? All CRT TV's are interlaced and there are still lots of them around, so why not render in 50i? Are most of your clients playing the material on a PC or using a set top player? If the latter is the case, I think that for maximum compatibility 50i may be better. I have 4 set top players here and they are all interlaced, none of them progressive.

[Dana Salsbury]

I'm referring to the Template dropdown when I choose MPEG-2 in Vegas7. The entry level HDV setting is HDV 720-25p. Is that a PAL setting? I was thinking that it stood for 'progressive'. It had worked well on my TV, but I'm certainly game to try another setting. Should I go for HDV 720-30p? I could also try MPEG-4. Then my options are: MainConcept AVC/AAC *.mp4 or Sony AVC/AAC *.mp4.

Second question: How would I best deliver the video for play on their PC?

[Harm Millaard]

You are in Phoenix AZ and I was under the assumption that is square in the middle of NTSC land. However 720-25p is a common denominator for 25 FPS PAL.
I'm wondering what you have shot with what camera, using which settings?

Let's first establish what settings were used during the shoot, and then determine your best way to export to standard DVD. I think more people around here are having difficulty understanding the source material, the editing and delivery you strive for.

[Graham Hickling]

Hmmmm.

"HDV 720p25" usually implies 1280x720 25 frame-per-second high-def progressive footage for European televisions.

So that's certainly not standard definition DVD footage - when you say it looks fine on your TV how you are playing it? A 'normal' DVD player would not usually be able to handle that...

As Harm says, let's clarify what your raw footage is, and work from there.

[Dana Salsbury]

I use Sony FX1s, using the HD setting, and capture straight to Vegas7. My job properties are set for HD as well. The final product fits my widescreen TV exactly (after a long period of trial and error).

[Ervin Farkas]

Your "final product" is more than likely a video file (maybe Windows Media format, or some sort of MPEG4?) on your computer and you play that on your TV set used as a computer monitor - and it has nothing to do with a standard resolution DVD.

If you would like to produce standard DVDs, you will have to resize to 720x480 and encode to mpeg2/DVD either inside Vegas or using a stand-alone encoder.

[Dana Salsbury]

?? I test my final product via a stand-alone DVD player/TV. It's MPeg-2, using the HDV 720-25p template, then burned via DVD Architect. I'm not interested in PAL, btw.

[Harm Millaard]

Originally Posted by Dana Salsbury

?? I test my final product via a stand-alone DVD player/TV. It's MPeg-2, using the HDV 720-25p template, then burned via DVD Architect. I'm not interested in PAL, btw.

In that case the template you have chosen is incorrect. You need to export to MPEG2 using 720x480/60i or 720x480/24P. The 25P template is typical for PAL.
Just be aware that the FX1 source is 1440x1080/60i (interlaced).

[Ervin Farkas]

Looks like we all got it wrong - what Dana is asking is: how to maximize quality going from footage shot in HDV to standard DVD. Exporting to 720/25p and encoding that to DVD sounds like a waiste of time to me, you should keep it full resolution all the way, and only downconvert/encode to mpeg2 in the last stage, when authoring your DVD.

I would suggest you take a look at this thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=70792

[Graham Hickling]

Evin - HDV is already MPEG2, so I assume you mean encoding to standard-def MPEG2?

I've become very confused by this thread. (Is DVD Architect capable of doing an automatic re-encode from HD to SD ... if so I guess that may be the explanation)

[Ervin Farkas]

I agree, it's one of the most confusing threads I've seen on this site. Sure, HDV is already mpeg, but the original poster wants to turn his footage into standard definition DVDs... if I got it right.

What I didn't understand is why export 1440x1080 footage downsized to 1280x720 ("I'm rendering standard DVDs from Vegas7 with a 720-25p setting") and then take that and convert it to 720x480 SD DVD ("I test my final product via a stand-alone DVD player/TV").