DVD Help

[Steve Rotter]

Hey Leonard, I use H.264 because it looks awesome. When I was editing on my pc-system with premiere pro CS4, i decided to try the encode with H.264 because I heard great things...that's what you want to use for blu-ray, from what I read. so i tried it. 14 hours later on a quad core, i burned it to blu ray and OH MAN!!!! IT WAS OUTSTANDING!! there is a difference between H.264 and mpeg2. right then i vowed to never use mpeg2 again! it's a garbage codec compared to H.264. I have dropped the H.264 right into iDVD to make an SD DVD and it works great! iDVD encodes it right down. The look with H.264 is really clean and very sharp. my HD footage looks like the original but it takes a little longer to encode (not so long on the mac...almost 1/2 the time...which is another reason i'm switching to mac.)

then i read about H.422 and wonder now what the difference is between that and H.264... more reading. i'm trying to stay away from mpeg2 at all costs after what i saw with the H.264. now, i know DVD uses mpeg2 and that's fine but the source has to be hi rez QT or H.264. there are so many options.

for now what i'm doing is exporting to H.264 so i have a really nice master file for my archives. if i want an SD DVD i will drop it into iDVD since DVD studio pro has issues and won't take the H.264, and then i will also have that file for blu ray work if needed.

DVD HELP - if you have the space, what i would do is what i outlined above.
just capture and edit in final cut pro and then export from FCP timeline...file, export, quicktime. one thing to remember...when you do an export, from what i noticed, make sure you place the arrow at the beginning of the timeline...it will export from where this is. maybe i'm wrong but i accidentally had it at the end and i just exported the last 10 seconds of a 45 minute timeline. from what i saw, it will export from where that arrow is on the timeline for scrubbing.

i'm not in front of the mac right now but select project settings, etc etc. make sure you check the box that says highest quality and then select the video tab (under options) and choose your resolution. i always select what i shot and edit in... 1920X1080....probably overkill but i want the highest even though tvs are 1080 max.

once you have this hi rez QT file i would import it into iDVD and use that instead of DVD studio pro. DVD studio pro has issues and there are too many settings and i just don't have the time to figure out it's encrypted workflow. so drop the QT file into iDVD and let iDVD make an SD disc (iDVD will encode and make sure you set settings for BEST in iDVD.) this works great for me with no pixelation and iDVD is more fun to use as well. i know other artists on this site will give you workflows for DVD studio pro but there are too many hidden options to make sure it works well....as i am finding out. so to turn out something great and fun and fast, do what i said. in the meantime i am still looking into the DVD studio pro settings to get it to work that way....because i can't let this technology beat me...although i'm at my wits end.

Steve