Best options for exporting HDV with intent to burn to dvd
 

I'm using premier pro 2.0 and have tried almost every option within the media encoder, and none of them look as good as the original mpeg-2 files I'm working with. generic mpeg-2 seems to be the best so far, but if someone knows what options are best for burning to DVD (using encore 1.5) please help! the footage is hdv 1080i 29.97 fps. Any help would be immensely appreciated.

If you are going from HDV to standard DVD, your output will not be as good as the original, period.

HDV resolution is technically far superior to what you will get in standard DVD mpeg output. DVD mpg is meant for the limitations of standard definition television. High definintion DVD are now on the horizon, but can only be utilized in High Definition TVs.

Mpeg for DVD must meet a tighter range of specifications than what is permitted within the "generic mpeg" specification ... so yes, the generic options can look better on your PC but they wont necessarily be playable on standalone DVD players.

Basically, select "DVD mpeg" - which as Chris says is SD not HD - and then go with the maximum allowable "legal" bitrate within that option.

any idea what the allowable bitrate is? should I just max it out? I've exported to mpeg and it looks fine - and I'm not expecting it to be identical to the source footage - but it seems much lower quality than it should be. it doesnt even look as good as the stuff I shot on DV with the same camera....

The max bitrate for DVD is 9.8Mbit/sec (or 9800 kbit/sec) total.

So, depending on the audio rate you are using the video rate has to be slightly lower than that....

A much lower rate will make your footage look horrid - might that be the problem?

I sometimes do it this way. HDV edit-- Render to DV, then render to a DVD project. I have premiere Pro 2.0, but I also have the stripped down verision of DVD Architect in my Vegas Movie Studio Suite, and I will actually do the DVD project in that. I wasn't happy with result I was getting in Premiere Pro 2.0 either, but it might be my ingorance of settings.