dvd conversion

[Anish Sharma]

Currently i use hdlink to resize my cf hd video to sd and then i use tmpgenc express to make a dvd capable file which i use in encore. My question is, is that workflow the best currently in terms of quality and speed for burning to dvd or is it better to use something like sorenson squeeze to spit out the dvd capable file for encore bypassing the hdlink process. I hear so much about sorenson squeeze and was wondering if it really provided better quality output then my current workflow.

[Simon Zimmer]

I use the same work flow and that is the best work flow I have found so far.

I have tried ProCoder 3, HC Encoder, Encore and others and nothing comes close.

Simon

[Stephen Armour]

Originally Posted by Anish Sharma

Currently i use hdlink to resize my cf hd video to sd and then i use tmpgenc express to make a dvd capable file which i use in encore. My question is, is that workflow the best currently in terms of quality and speed for burning to dvd or is it better to use something like sorenson squeeze to spit out the dvd capable file for encore bypassing the hdlink process. I hear so much about sorenson squeeze and was wondering if it really provided better quality output then my current workflow.

Anish, we get better results by using the fullsize CFHD (1920x1080p) in TMPGEnc and letting it downsize and made the mpg for Encore.

It might be because we are doing everything progressive and going to widescreen. We've not found downsizing in HDLINK (before going to TMPGEnc) to be any advantage, and the speed of TMPGEnc is very good and the downsizing quality is outstanding.

We are now using variable rate control (VBR-2 pass) instead of constant (CBR) as the quality is very high and the speed is good.

[Anish Sharma]

Thanks for the feedback guys...i will try using vbr-2 in tmpgenc express tonight and see how it compares. Any step i can take to speed the workflow is good.

[Matt Vanecek]

I second Stephen's workflow. Watching the resulting DVD on an up-scaling DVD player is darn close to watching the original HD streamed to the TV.

Thanks,
Matt

[Simon Zimmer]

I agree. I did not realize he resizes it. Yes, without resizing it.

Simon

[Mikael Bergstrom]

Can the TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress convert from 709 collorspace to 601?

[Dale Guthormsen]

I am interested in this work flow:

sorenson sdqueeze is on sale half price at digital juice and was considering the purchase.


Does this work flow also alow high quality mp4 of hd as well as superior down converting to DV?

At present I just use the Vegas encoder to mp4 but i do not think it down converts to dv as well as I would like.

would this work flow give me better imagery?

[Stephen Armour]

Originally Posted by Mikael Bergstrom

Can the TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress convert from 709 collorspace to 601?

Good question. I believe I asked that question in the past, but it would be good if David Newman weighs in on this.

I really don't remember for sure, except there is no "red light" tickling my brain on it, so hopefully it's automatic!

[Stephen Armour]

Originally Posted by Dale Guthormsen

I am interested in this work flow:

sorenson sdqueeze is on sale half price at digital juice and was considering the purchase.


Does this work flow also alow high quality mp4 of hd as well as superior down converting to DV?

At present I just use the Vegas encoder to mp4 but i do not think it down converts to dv as well as I would like.

would this work flow give me better imagery?

Dale, best thing is to test this workflow with your productions. So far, almost everything we've done seems to convert better from using full CFHD masters, and especially to mpg's and flashes. We've done some mp4 that look pretty nice, but not a lot. We have output to DIVX HD to test, and the 1280 x720 results were extremely nice. A few tiny bumps in odd places, but very nice overall.

I guess these are just some of the reasons we stick with CF, as it gives us great flexibility and very good final quality, even when cross/downconverting (via AE preset!!) to PAL DV output!

Nothing else I know of can do as much, or as well.

[Mikael Bergstrom]

I know HDLink can convert from 709 to 601 collorspace, but the question was if TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress can?

It's important if we go direct from CF1920 x 1080 file to SD and downsize in TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress , then the TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress need to do the collorspace change (not HDLink).

Regards
Mikael
Sweden

[Anish Sharma]

sorenson squeeze half price sale is indeed tempting..but i heard sorenson are using the same codec as media encoder so perhaps the quality may not differ too much on the down conversion. Iam unable to do any tests unfortunately as ill be away for the next two weeks.

[Stephen Armour]

Originally Posted by Mikael Bergstrom

I know HDLink can convert from 709 to 601 collorspace, but the question was if TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress can?

It's important if we go direct from CF1920 x 1080 file to SD and downsize in TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress , then the TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress need to do the collorspace change (not HDLink).

Regards
Mikael
Sweden

Good point Mikael. Hadn't really checked that out, as I just assumed it did so automatically, since SD is only 601 that I know of. But it certainly would be a good question to check out.

Our SD mpgs sometimes looked oversaturated, but we just assumed it was when viewing on older TVs, almost always CRTs. On LCDs they look good. We just slightly undersaturate to make sure everythings good on the widest range of TVs.