FCP > DVDSP Question

[Mykozo]

After many attempts at fixing it by exporting it differently, I bit the bullet and changed my sequence to square pixels. I had to drop all my titles and images back in and resize everything, but it didn't take all that long and it worked. Then I exported an mpg2 using compressor and it dropped right into DVDSP, sized correctly and all. I work more on the audio side of production than video, so this was a stark reminder that I need to get back up to speed with this stuff. Surprisingly, I've never had to work in 16x9 before, as just about everything we shoot or that is given to us is shot in DV/DVCPRO SD.

Thanks for all the help folks <3

[ElCapichan]

Glad to hear you go something to work right. I'm still green on the subject myself, but When editing in FCP, wouldn't you want to keep all the sequence settings the same as your source? For example, the jpegs were done in 1920x1080 so you would want to give them an HD pixel ratio, like HDV 1.33? Then when you export in the settings you need it for to be on DVD? I'm just trying to think how I got my HDV footage to DVD without it it being stretched or squished.

Actually, just out of curiosity sake, I''m going to make some jpegs in the same size as you and then see if I can't get it into FCP and then to DVDSP later today. I know I've done similar before with Premiere, but it's been a while since I shot anything in HDV. Won't be able to try anything till 12:30pm central.

[ElCapichan]

Ok, so I just made a 1920x1080 image in Photoshop. I made 2 circles so I would be able to notice of they were stretched or squished. Now I only tested the final product in the Mac DVD Player, so I am not 100% sure how the outcome will be on a tv, but I will try it when I get home.

In Photoshop, I made a new image and used the preset Film and TV, and size of HDTV 1080p/29.97. BTW, the default pixel aspect ratio for this is square. Leave it as that. I saved the image as a high quality jpeg.

Next, I loaded up FCP and gave my new sequence the preset of Apple ProRes 422 1920x1080 30p 48KHz. I imported my image and inserted it into my sequence. Seeing as that was all I was testing I was ready to export it as a Quicktime movie. Here you have to tweak the setting yourself. EDIT Ok, let me add here, that when ou go to export as a quicktime movie, under the setting tab, go all the way down to custom to tweak the settings yourself. Set the aspect ratio to custom and the size to 1920x1080. Make sure you set the Pixel aspect ratio to SQUARE! I set the quality to 10-bit uncompressed, but I'm sure of you used the same setting as your sequence you would be fine. Leave the audio as is. Next save the file.

Now that you have your video ready to be imported into DVDSP, open DVDSP up. Import the video, and set the encoding settings to your liking. I used 2 pass VBR avg 6.5Mbps and max of 7.6Mbps. Add the video and audio to your track, set the track to 16:9, and build/format or burn your project. If you just build you can test the file in Mac's DVD player, but I'm sure that is well known.

Again, I have only tested the final product on the Mac DVD Player, but all my other videos that looked fine in DVD Player looked fine on both my HDTV and a standard TV.

Here is the image I made in Photoshop, obviously scaled down to 1600x900 to attach, but it is still the same aspect ratio.

Click for full size


I will try to screen cap the image while playing in DVD Player right now.

OK, so it wont let me screen grab during DVD playback, but it looks exactly like the image above except there are lack bars above and below because the aspect ratio is 16:9 and the monitor is 16:10

I went ahead and just took a snapshot of the viewer in DVDSP. Unless I am mistaken, it should look just right.

Click for full size

[Mykozo]

The images that I did in Photoshop were done using the HDV 1920x1080 preset for canvas size, and at the time I didn't check the pixel setting. The default is square pixels though, so that is what I used. I also exported as PNG24, so that I had transparency (I can only guess that PNG24 uses square pixels). When I made my first sequence in FCP, I used the 1080i HD preset, which I believe defaulted to CCIR 601 pixels. I then duplicated it and changed the pixels to square. Ok, here is where it got me...

When I took my original sequence and changed the pixels to square, it squished my whole sequence vertically, guides included (the canvas shrunk as well). So, I took the duplicated sequence and changed it to square pixels, which of course took any images and titles that were on the timeline, and squished them vertically. However, when I dragged the images and titles back in from the bin into my square pixel sequence, they displayed fine. Apparently, it didn't matter what my source pixel settings were, as they displayed correctly in both a 601 AND a square pixel sequence.

The problems arose when I exported the 601 sequence and tried to drop it into DVDSP. No matter how I exported it, the video was squished vertically. I tried exporting same as source (1920x1080), 1280x720, 720x480, 720x486, the list goes on. When I exported my square pixel sequence though, all exports dropped into DVDSP just fine.

I have another question about codecs too. If when I render, I want no compression, is it best to select "video" as my compression codec, or "none"? I didn't have time to experiment, but "video" is what I used, as the default DV/DVCPRO setting made all my images and text look like shit. This shouldn't have any effect at all on the export though, should it? I would assume that if something funky were happening during the render, that it wouldn't look right in my canvass.

Another question. I burned a DVD using DVDSP, with the display settings at 16x9 letterbox. When I tested the DVD on my boss' TV, I got a bit confused. It was a Sony 720p CRT HDTV (big old fucker), and I viewed it on all the settings. In "Standard" it looked like 4x3 letterboxed, with the image centered, the letterboxing on top, and the sides of the screen chopped. When I set it to "Wide" it stretched the hell out of it, keeping the letterboxing . "Zoom" displayed it how I intended, filling the whole screen 16x9. Did I do something wrong with my display type in DVDSP? Shouldn't it have filled the screen in "Wide"? Does "Wide" mean 16x9? Like I said, when it displayed in wide, it kept the letterboxing, meaning it squished the hell out of the video vertically. I had read in the DVDSP manual that I should not use Pan Scan, unless I was sure that the video had PanScan Vector info? Does FCP export with PanScan vector info?

Good lord, video gets so confusing sometimes....

[ElCapichan]

I'm not sure what version of Photoshop you are using, but in CS3, the HDV setting is 1440x1080, not 1920x1080. Same with FCP. HDV 1080 60i is 1440x1080.
As far as compression goes, from what I have read online and with a little guidance from B-Ri, I use Export->Quicktime Movie. In settings I go all the way down to the bottom of the list and chose custom. Here I set the Size to whatever the source is, and aspect ratio to whatever source is. For what I did above, I had to set aspect ratio to custom. Under Quicktime Video Settings, I chose Uncompressed 10-bit and set quality to 100% and click OK and Save. Let DVDSP do the MPEG2 encoding. To do that, just right click the video file in your assets in DVDSP and click encoding settings. Like I said, I like avg 6.5 Mbps and max 7.6 Mbps. When you burn or build/format the project it will encode the file then.

EDIT: I guess what I posted above isn't really a fix for your situation, although it may help as far as messing with some setting and exporting, but it should help you out in the future. I guess if the final project in gonna be Standard def 16:9, then make your photoshop images NTSC Widescreen and make sure the pixel aspect ratio that FCP uses for NTSC Wide is the same you use in Photoshop (which if you use the photoshop and FCP presets for NTSC Wide, they will already be the same). So in Photoshop, your sequence, and the file you export will all be the same size, aspect ratio, and pixel aspect ratio will all be the same. Just let DVDSP encode the file for DVD.

Good lord, video gets so confusing sometimes....

Yes... yes it does.

EDIT3: Ok, I am learning more today then I have in the last few weeks with FCS. So I just took sequence that was shot in NTSC DV 4:3 48KHz. That was the sequence setting. I exported as a Quicktime Movie, custom setting, and for this one I could use all the built in settings. Like aspect Ratio was NTCS DV 3:2, and pixel aspect ratio NTSC CCIR 601/ DV (720x480), and Quicktime Video setting was Uncompressed 10-bit. Here's the thing, when I watched the exported video in quicktime it was stretched, but when I put it into DVDSP and put it into a 4:3 track, it looked just right. The reason for this is that the pixel aspect ratio for the monitor and tv's are different, but FCP and DVDSP take this into account, but just plain old Quicktime player does not, so the video played in quicktime is stretched, but played in FCP and DVDSP it looks perfect. I believe this is why when you are importing your project into DVDSP it is stretched. You are doing something wrong with the exporting so while it looks right when playing in quicktime, the pixel aspect ratio is not right for DVDSP.

One last Edit...i hope. After many tests, I have determined that if you want your DVD to look its best, then do indeed go through compressor, but only if you make your own custom MPEG-2 setting with all the bells and whistles turned on.