Best Compression for SD DVDs

[intoxicated.demons]

Hi there,

I recently shot a video in 2K and tried using Compressor's regular Best Quality 90 Minutes M2V feature when burning it to DVD.

I have an LCD HDTV, and surprised at how video the footage looked, I'm guessing as a result of too much compression.

Can someone please recommend the best settings for compressing RED footage for SD DVD?

[Ariel Weiss]

hi
how was your original?
the first step is to achieve the best source: shoot 4k, output sd quick time or tiffs uncompresed (no codec) at full debayer and only then apply mpeg compression at max quality. dont know if compressor is the best option, maybe others will help here.

[Matthew Rogers]

In compressor, in the inspector window, look at "Frame Controls" Turn it on and turn the resize filter on to best. I've gone down from 1080p on a couple of projects to SD DVD and it looks great. But the question is, does it look bad because of resizing, or are you seeing compression artifices from heavy MPEG2 compression?

Matthew

[intoxicated.demons]

It looks like really bad DV video and I'm not sure if it's because of the compression. Maybe instead of using the 2K file to covert to MPEG-2, I should use a 1K or even 720x480? Thoughts?

[Edgar Pitts]

I struggled to get the best downsample and MPEG2 conversion. I ended up using AVISynth (free) Spline36 downsample and using CinemaCraft (CCE) for the MPEG encode. I tested TMPGEnc as well and found that it added some nice natural noise reduction, but it was no match for the CCE encoder.

I hope this helps.

Edgar

[Tai Wah Lim]

I struggled to get the best downsample and MPEG2 conversion. I ended up using AVISynth (free) Spline36 downsample and using CinemaCraft (CCE) for the MPEG encode. I tested TMPGEnc as well and found that it added some nice natural noise reduction, but it was no match for the CCE encoder.

I hope this helps.

Edgar

CinemaCraft CCE is the way to go - Lim

[Michael Romano]

Some things I do to increase output quality...

Start big, HD big. Don't feed in SD footage.

Do tests. Lots of them.

You can break up the clip into smaller portions. The encoder will better handle the footage in smaller pieces. String them end to end.

Remember to put the breaks on cuts - There is math that goes even further but I can't cover it in the scope of this posting.

Stay away from interlacing at all costs.

Do more tests. Lots more.

The Apple Compressor manual alone has a wealth of info, so do most other good software encoders.

Google everything there is about MPEG2. Understanding the principles will help you choose the best options in any software.

Best luck!

[Dave Blackham]

In compressor, in the inspector window, look at "Frame Controls" Turn it on and turn the resize filter on to best. I've gone down from 1080p on a couple of projects to SD DVD and it looks great. But the question is, does it look bad because of resizing, or are you seeing compression artifices from heavy MPEG2 compression?

Matthew

Matthew is right on the money here. The frame controls in compressor are said to have come from Shake so its very good at spacial and temporal conversions. Set to better of loosing frames and better if creating frames for temporal conversions. The overhead is about 1/3 extra render time and is negligible in terms of quality.

[Colin Hubick]

I found the best encoder out there is BitVice, does a great job of encoding SD DVD's much better than compressor by far.

[Alex De Vivo]

Hi! I have the same problem: when I burn a DVD SD definition the quality looks really bad and the colors are different in SD O_O! Totally different! I've used Encore, MPEG 2 DVD compression... what can I do?

[Alex De Vivo]

I forgot to say that I'm using Windows!

[Uli Plank]

On the PC try Cinema Craft, even the basic version is awesome.

[Kujtim Ereqi]

Is there any tutorial for the best settings to be used in CinemaCraft.