Re: DVD Authoring

Hi all.

I know I am several years behind everyone else. I just switched from FCP 7 to FCP X. It has been interesting trying to get used to the new program. One of the things that I am confused about is authoring DVD's now that DVD Studio Pro is gone. If I want to make menu's and titles and what not for my DVD, what am I supposed to use? I read on a forum that Adobe Encoder is what can be used. I don't have this program, and I am just wondering if this is the best program to use? It looks to me that Adobe Encoder is more like Compressor, which I have. But I am not looking for something to compress my video, I want to make menu's like DVD Studio Pro used to do.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Caleb

hunt around (e-bay) for a copy of DVDSP, it still is the best DVD authoring tool on the Mac.

Cheers
Alexander

They meant Adobe Encore not Adobe Encoder. Adobe does not support Encore any more. I really wouldn't recommend it anyway.The big companies are trying to get you as far away from physical media as possible. DVDs and Blu-rays are still INSANELY profitable for me, but somehow Apple and Adobe know what's best for me.

Get DVD Studio Pro if you can. Fantastic program.

Thank you gentleman.

DVD Studio Pro, installed on my computer… Check.

I actually already had it, but since Apple seems to think that we don't need it, I figured they had provided some kind of a new option that would be "bigger and better". Looks like I was wrong.

Thanks again.

Interesting post, or you can try iDVD, not bad

Caleb,

Like you, I have upgraded to FCP X but I still use DVDSP4 to make traditional menued DVDs. There are two ways to do this. The simple way is to SHARE a Master File from your timeline in FCP X. Then, put that into your DVDSP4 project and let DVDSP4 do the encoding and proceed as you would normally. The slightly more complicated way is to SHARE to DVD but save to one of your hard drives instead of burning the DVD. That will create a Disk Image that you can burn a simple DVD from. Then, if you go to your media folder on your external drive or in the Library (Right Click-Show Contents), you will see a Shared Items folder that contains the mp2 and ac3 files that created the Disk Image that you just made. You can bring these already encoded files into DVDSP4 and proceed accordingly.

Hope this helps.

Phil

Or, if you have Compressor you can export directly into the DVD streams (one for M2V and the other for AC3). You will need to set up two different presents for this since M2V is video and AC3 is sound. DVD Studio Pro won't re-encode. I much prefer this method because it gives me tons more control. And I don't think DVD Studio Pro can encode files into 480p itself, only 480i and interlacing is stupid. Compressor can do 480p and DVDSP will respect it.

I would offer the opinion that Compressor is the best route for encoding DVD files. It's dedicated to the task and more adjustable for different needs. You may find that you need to compress more (or less) for different results (quality vs quantity) and Compressor does a great job of letting you tweak settings. Also, I don't think DVD-SP will let you create AC3 (Dolby) audio files, which sounds better (IMHO) and which also makes for smaller audio files, thereby allowing slightly larger video files (less compression, better picture).

Just my two cents' worth.

- Mike

With Compressor, you can fine-tune your encoding.

Hello

I am looking for the best way to compress a long video file of 2h40' (HD) onto a DVD SP... (normal audio/stereo)
I saw that 'El professor' creates a lot of 2hr events on DVD sp so i was wondering how he uses compressor to do so.
I know i am pushing the limits of the quality but the client doesnt want dual layer...
There's a lot around about best settings for DVD but no accurate settings for long video's...

So what i allready tried:
- using Ken Stone's bit calucator, did an input for video and audio:
  bitrate average: 2,1 mbs
  bitrate max: 7,8
- in compressor i took 'preset DVD 150 best quality (audio + video), then tweaked video quality as mentioned the bit   calculator (2,1/7,8). Other settings:
- Mode: Two pass VBR
- Motion: Best.
- In the audio/dolby tab i only changed: dialog norm.: -31 db/Preprocessing set to none

the result is awful! Is there anything else i can do to make it just a little better
or have i done anything i could to take out the best ??

It seems that anything below bitrate average 3,7 is just bad quality.
Although i once saw a 2,5 hours DVD sp with good quality of a collegue and the quality was acceptable.
Any one any suggestions?? Any links for good tutorial?
Thank you for any reactions!
snowpek