we just finished a 20 minute short that was sent off yesterday to a few festivals (for starters).
it was shot at 4k 2:1 24p, and the trouble we encountered to bring the footage down to SD DVD was hair-pulling. we had aliasing and ghosting, and for weeks burned generally crappy DVDs while trying to figure out an acceptable workflow.
if you're in a similar boat, i'd like to post here the solution we finally found that was acceptable.
we edited the full story at 1k on premiere CS4 production. there were many scenes involving greenscreen that required aftereffects - so we composited that footage in AE from a 2k premiere sequence using dynamic link. we then imported the 2k composited footage into the full 1k premiere sequence - bumped it up to a 2k sequence, then sent it back to AE for color grading using 'color finesse'.
once graded at 2k, we rendered (without audio) from AE with 'render settings': quality best, resolution half (1k), use frame rate 25... in 'output module' under 'format options', we chose compression type prores 422 HQ with a 25 FPS under 'motion'. RENDER.
we took the 1k prores file created by AE directly into compressor, bypassing final cut. dragging in the 'DVD best quality 90 minutes MPEG 2.62 2-pass' setting. in compressor's inspector window we chose PAL with a frame rate of 25, 16:9, progressive, for a MPEG-2 file format. in 'quality' we cranked the bit rate up to max, two pass. in the third inspector window (from the left) we chose frame controls to ON. resize filter to best. output field to same as source. deinterlace to best. adaptive details checked. anti-alias to 0. details level to 0. rate conversion to best. set duration to 100%. in the geometry window in the inspector we chose output image inset (padding) to top: 27, and bottom 27. [this padding forces letterboxing so DVD players display the full 2 to 1 image that we shot without modifying the image].
we took that standard definition .m2v file that compressor made into adobe's encore. we then imported the audio and simply burned the DVD from there.
the DVD image quality when played on the DVD player (set to PAL) was pretty good; downright acceptable! the computer makes it look great, but the real challenge was to make it look at least good on the TV. so you might try this workflow if you're having similar trouble.
given our target of the international film festivals, PAL is acceptable. and PAL works best IMO with red shot at 24 taken down to SD DVD.
kind regards
bronco
it was shot at 4k 2:1 24p, and the trouble we encountered to bring the footage down to SD DVD was hair-pulling. we had aliasing and ghosting, and for weeks burned generally crappy DVDs while trying to figure out an acceptable workflow.
if you're in a similar boat, i'd like to post here the solution we finally found that was acceptable.
we edited the full story at 1k on premiere CS4 production. there were many scenes involving greenscreen that required aftereffects - so we composited that footage in AE from a 2k premiere sequence using dynamic link. we then imported the 2k composited footage into the full 1k premiere sequence - bumped it up to a 2k sequence, then sent it back to AE for color grading using 'color finesse'.
once graded at 2k, we rendered (without audio) from AE with 'render settings': quality best, resolution half (1k), use frame rate 25... in 'output module' under 'format options', we chose compression type prores 422 HQ with a 25 FPS under 'motion'. RENDER.
we took the 1k prores file created by AE directly into compressor, bypassing final cut. dragging in the 'DVD best quality 90 minutes MPEG 2.62 2-pass' setting. in compressor's inspector window we chose PAL with a frame rate of 25, 16:9, progressive, for a MPEG-2 file format. in 'quality' we cranked the bit rate up to max, two pass. in the third inspector window (from the left) we chose frame controls to ON. resize filter to best. output field to same as source. deinterlace to best. adaptive details checked. anti-alias to 0. details level to 0. rate conversion to best. set duration to 100%. in the geometry window in the inspector we chose output image inset (padding) to top: 27, and bottom 27. [this padding forces letterboxing so DVD players display the full 2 to 1 image that we shot without modifying the image].
we took that standard definition .m2v file that compressor made into adobe's encore. we then imported the audio and simply burned the DVD from there.
the DVD image quality when played on the DVD player (set to PAL) was pretty good; downright acceptable! the computer makes it look great, but the real challenge was to make it look at least good on the TV. so you might try this workflow if you're having similar trouble.
given our target of the international film festivals, PAL is acceptable. and PAL works best IMO with red shot at 24 taken down to SD DVD.
kind regards
bronco