Best Settings for output quality (again :-)

[TheDirector]

Hi,

First time post - hello! I purchased EMC9 just the other day, primarily to use MyDVD to burn an existing home production. Having a few probs though - I've searched the boards but not seen anything specific to my issues. Hope someone can help?

 

I have a completed movie, captured from a Panasonic NV-MX7 via firewire, kept as Microsoft DV-AVI files throughout editing in Adobe Premiere. I exported the final movie from Premiere (see all settings below) at a resolution of 720x576 - however the closest option available in MyDVD is 720x572. What format is that? Can't find much about it (e.g. it's not even mentioned on this page).

 

I'm happy with the quality of my source files and my goal is to avoid having MyDVD rerender my output - from reading the forums I think that since I see my video playing as it's burning that it IS being rerendered - is that correct?

 

I assume that if my source files are at a different resolution then MyDVD would, of course, try to rerender. I'm also concerned about which settings to use for audio (perhaps a mismatch there would cause rerendering?). My audio is also slightly out of sync.

 

I've tried a wide combination of the options and also tried burning to an image first, etc. Quality is still not great (I read there may be issues re v7.5->9.0...). I have a very fast, dual core, 2GBmem, 500GB workstation here so I don't think that's causing issues. I updated the driver for my GeForce7900GS too (since first attempts to burn a DVD failed miserably!), defragged, etc.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

 

 

(P.S. I'm a bit worried about numerous posts regarding Roxio's poor support - hope it's not THAT bad?!)

 

 

---

Settings (Premiere)

---

Type: MS DV AVI

Video: DV (PAL)

Frame Size: 720x576

Pixel/Aspect Ratio: D1/DV PAL(1.067)

Keyframe: No Fields(Progressive Scan)

Audio: Uncompressed/48000Hz/16bit/Stereo/Interleave 1 Frame.

 

File properties gives the following info:

 

Width: 720

Height: 576

Duration: 00:03:17

Bit Rate: 1536kbps

Audio Sample Size: 16 bit

Audio Format: PCM

Frame Rate: 25 fps

[ggrussell]

Seems like a lot of artifacting and noise in the detail areas. Still, for a home movie I'm happy with it!

Depends on the type of TV. Most likely some video noise will not be noticeable on a CRT type TV, but can be very noticeable on LCD or Plasma. This has more to do with the technology and not so much with the video. Those $4000+ TVs are expensive for a reason. They have much better filters, etc., for stretching standard definition (720x480) to the hi definition screen (1280X720, 1366x768, 1440X900 or 1920x1080). When you start stretching bits, things can start looking ugly quick.

[TheDirector]

Just exported it for YouTube and I'm surprised with how good the quality is there! Was expecting the worst with streaming video!

 

In case you want a laugh

 

Thanks again. The finished DVD looks great on my TV (even used the Label System to print a disc label - this EMC9 is quite good, isn't it? ;-)

[TheDirector]

Premiere will export "MPEG2-DVD" however it produces ".m2v" files which MyDVD doesn't recognise. I changed this to ".m2p" and it does import to MyDVD but there's no audio when I run the preview...

 

Perhaps it's just a preview issue and I'll get audio when I burn it? Trying it now. [Edit - didn't work]

 

Not sure if I'm missing something with the export from Premiere - is MPEG2-DVD the correct format? Should I export as interlaced or progressive for best results?

[ggrussell]

Premiere will export "MPEG2-DVD" however it produces ".m2v" files which MyDVD doesn't recognise. I changed this to ".m2p" and it does import to MyDVD but there's no audio when I run the preview...

Interesting.... is that the regular Premiere? When I export with Premiere Elements, the file is a standard .MPG and MyDVD uses it fine.

 

I believe .m2v is video only. There should also be a .m2a to go with it. Check Preimere to see if there are any other output options. If needed, go to their forum and ask how to output to a standard .mpg file.

[ggrussell]

Since your source is progressive, did you set the output to progressive?

 

File / Project Settings

There is a radial button choice for Interlaced or Progressive

 

Also you left out the most important info on the file: bitrates

For the highest quality, MyDVD uses MPEG 2 @ 9Mbps. For audio, you just list uncompressed which is probably LPCM. You can check that in Project Settings, too, or let MyDVD transcode to AC 3.

[TheDirector]

Thanks for your help with this!

 

I was exporting with the "MPEG2-DVD" option from Premiere Pro (which seemed correct given the name). However, since you suggested I needed an mpeg file, I switched to the plain "MPEG" export option which produced the correct format - audio in sync and everything! Burned it and it looks fine. Thanks a lot! Had a few probs where Premiere crashed if I used the "2 pass" option. Switched to 1 pass and it was OK. Also the mpeg export doesn't like the "Titler" - I had to render the end titles seperately and add them back in as a video file - no big deal.

 

Just wondering if there's a "best practices" thread for all this? I'm still not convinced by the output quality (although I haven't viewed this particular DVD on my TV yet). Seems like a lot of artifacting and noise in the detail areas. Still, for a home movie I'm happy with it!

[TheDirector]

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

I did try "progressive" output as part of my tests. I've achieved results that are close to the source but not as close as I'd expect. There's noticeable blocking and aliasing. Also "blacks" are washed out to grey (which seems a weird thing to happen! My monitor/TV are well calibrated - don't think it's that). Plus the audio sync is wrong which is very annoying! I'll try the LPCM setting - sounds good.

 

I mentioned a bitrate of 1536kbps but I guess that's not the right one since yours is in Mbps :-). Sorry - bit new to all this. Where can I find the real bitrate? (I got that one just by looking at file properties in Windows Explorer)

 

I still think that resolution setting in MyDVD looks suspicious - why is the vertical res 572 instead of 576? I want my 4 rows back! ;-)

[ggrussell]

Oh sorry, I over looked that you are exporting from Premiere as DV AVI. Those files will ALWAYS be rendered. The video disc standard is MPEG 2 so all other file formats must be converted to that format before burning to the disc.

 

I use Premiere Elements sometime. Just select FILE / EXPORT / MPEG. Use any of Premiere's predefined MPEG 2 outputs for DVD. MyDVD should not re-render any of those.

[ggrussell]

- this EMC9 is quite good, isn't it? ;-)

Has always worked quite well for me..........

 

If you did that in Videowave, I'm very impressed! The kid should be on 'Who wants to be a Super Hero.' You should have entered that for that show 'The Back Lot.' Very good...