DVD & HD Vimeo export settings from Premiere

[Stefan Gill]

Hi,

I would like to know what settings is the best for DVD authoring? I have always used .mov files however I am having issues with my new camcorder, the XH A1s, which films native in 1440 x 1080. I am recording in HD.

If I export as MPEG-2 the ratio of 1440 x 1080 is correct however it seems I am getting thin lines in my final piece. Is this normal, I've seen this with other mpeg files and cant see using this for a dvd, however I have not yet tried.

If I export as .mov, the quality is much better, but it's 720 x 480 which is not widescreen. I change the output settings to 1440 x 1080 (to match the captured film pixel ratio) I am getting black spaces around the final piece.

Same with the pieces I export for the web, Vimeo HD, I want to have a high quality, HD, widescreen piece for my portfolio, which settings do you recommend?

I am using Premiere CS5.

Thank you!

[Harm Millaard]

For DVD: Use MPEG2-DVD preset and adjust parameters to reflect your material and length of the timeline.

For Vimeo HD: Use H.264 Vimeo preset.

[Bart Walczak]

When downsizing HD to SD you need to crop top and bottom source to avoid black stripes at the side. For PAL it is 13 pixels top and 14 bottom if downsizing from 1080, and 9 pixels each if from 720. I don't know the values for NTSC though.

[Ann Bens]

You need even numbers to crop otherwise you can get field issues.
So for PAL 1080 its 12 and 14 pixels top and bottom, 9 for 720 footage and for NTSC its 8.

[Stefan Gill]

Originally Posted by Harm Millaard

For DVD: Use MPEG2-DVD preset and adjust parameters to reflect your material and length of the timeline.

When you use the preset MPEG2-DVD, what is your Multiplexing set to?

When I set multiplexing to "DVD", Premiere creates three files: .xmp, .xmpses & .mpg - I assumed to use the .mpg when creating the iDVD yet I cannot as no sound is on this file.

When I select "none" for multiplexing, Premiere creates four files: .xmp, .m2v.xmpses, .m2v & .wav - the .wav has sound but no video, and the .m2v has sound & video, but iDVD does not accept that file extension.

What do you do? Thank you.

[Taky Cheung]

The generated .mpg file should contain both video and audio.

The other way, it splits the .m2v for video only, .wav for sound only. I would pick export the audio as AC3 to save up bandwidth for better video quality.

I always delete those .xmp and .xmpses files

You can try to rename the .m2v to .mpg or .mpeg to see if your software will take them.

[Ann Bens]

When going to dvd its better not to use the mulitplexer.
When you have 1 file containing audio and video Encore has to rip this apart and the stitch it back together again.
Just import the m2v and wave or ac3 file as a timeline in Encore.
Make menu and burn.

[Stefan Gill]

Originally Posted by Taky Cheung

The generated .mpg file should contain both video and audio.

The other way, it splits the .m2v for video only, .wav for sound only. I would pick export the audio as AC3 to save up bandwidth for better video quality.

I always delete those .xmp and .xmpses files

You can try to rename the .m2v to .mpg or .mpeg to see if your software will take them.

The generated mpg file does not include audio, i have audio checked, but no audio. What does this mean, in your opinion?

I tried renaming the m2v to mpg and mpeg but that does not work.

[Stefan Gill]

Originally Posted by Ann Bens

When going to dvd its better not to use the mulitplexer.
When you have 1 file containing audio and video Encore has to rip this apart and the stitch it back together again.
Just import the m2v and wave or ac3 file as a timeline in Encore.
Make menu and burn.

I'm not using encore because I prefer iDVD - so that I can make my custom menus with slideshows, which as far as I know, encore does not offer.

[Taky Cheung]

You can do custom menu and slideshows in encore.

[Stefan Gill]

Ok I did not know that. Surely I can google how-to's but maybe you could reference me to a site/URL with training for encore?

Thanks.

[Jay West]

Start here:

Adobe Encore CS4 * Slide show basics


Also, regarding your question on exports: when exporting from PPro to MPEG2-DVD, you want to select the proper preset, which is "NTSC widescreen high quality." Your quicktime exports have been to standard 4:3. Selecting a widescreen preset should fix that. When exporting using 1440-1080, you are exporting HDV and your iDVD may not be doing a good job of downrezzing that when making the DVD. Actually, iDVD may be recompressing and recoding the HD file you exported from PPro.

Also, when using AME for exporting to MPEG2-DVD, look down at the video tab. Select VBR 2-pass and check the bit rate settings. Too low a bit-rate can result in artifacts. If you decide to use dynamic link from PPro to Encore, check the transcode settings in Encore and reset them as above.

[Stefan Gill]

Jay,

I really appreciate the link and settings for MPEG-2 DVD ... exporting in this format and creating the menus in Encore has really improved the quality of my projects ... I can't wait to get into motion menus with after effects!

Take care,