TMPGenc offers choices in both rescaling and deinterlacing modes to best suit the source material. It's the combo of these two functions that really make for a nice output.

I've usually used CF rescale to 480.avi, then Procoder 3 to code to m2v for really great looking DVDs.
Anyone know how this compares to TMPGEnc??
ITMPGEnc sounds like a quicker workflow.

Not sure about your workflow, but TMPGEnc aces it for our HD>DVD workflow.

1920x1080p Cineform masters downscale quite fast and look very nice indeed. Haven't found anything better, for sure.

I will have to run some test to see if there are any improvements outside of Cineform for downscaling.

To me the rescale option direct from timeline by using the Cineform codec in the movie export menu (1280 x 720 pal to 720 x 576 pal) and then use Procoder to do the m2v is far better then TMPGEnc (I have both).

The TMPGEnc is not in the same leauge as Procoder and I still think Cineform is the best downscale codec out there.

Hello,

I have procoder too but have much better results with TMPGEnc.

What settings do you use for Procoder?

Thanks,


Simon

I think the key to best DVD output lies in the file you give Procoder to convert.
I get the very best result using CF to downscale the HD.avi to SD480.avi, then convert the SD.avi with Procoder. Usually 6mbs 2 pass VBR. Sometimes I will tweak the Gamma, and/or color sat.
If I feed 1080 60i.avi to Procoder, the output DVD images are not as good.
If my source is 1080 30p.avi, the Procoder downscale & convert is pretty good- can often get away without the CF downscale.
Also, I have found that results are significantly better when downscaling & converting from square pixel source (1920x1080) than with HDV par 1.3 (1440x1080) source. For me, this is a big enough deal that for HDV editing, I will up-scale the original 1440 source to 1920x1080 CFHD.avi for the edit & export.
IMO all of these small items are additive in terms of their impact on the final DVD image.

Simon

I do as Robert does, I down convert to 16:9 (720 x 576 pal) from my 720 or 1080 HD source (square pixel) directly from the timeline in the export movie setting to a CF SD avi.

I then use the broadcast dvd preset CBR 8000Kbps in Procoder, it gives me the best result.

Regards
Mikael

Cool.

I will try that out.

With procoder, I always used debugmode frame server (from PPCS3) and created DVD's via Procoder. The results were decent but not great.

I will try your method.

Thanks,

Simon

I am also finding this thread useful as I am also looking for the best workflow converting my native 1440 X 1080 PAL 25p edited project to SD DVD. I use Premerie CS4 and decided to give Cineform Neoscene a try (7 day trial). If this works for me, I'll buy it. However, I've run into trouble with it already.

Found an interesting article here: CineForm Insider: Mastering 24p DVDs from HD using Premiere Pro.

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong here, but I'm trying to export using the "Cineform AVI File" Format option in CS4 and attempting to export to an upscaled version 1920 X 1080 square pixel, (as that is apparently the important bit), but it crashes the Media Encoder everytime. Perhaps the encoder is incapable of upscaling. The project has been edited with settings; 1440 X 1080 (pixels 1.333), progressive 25fps.

I think it makes sense to upscale the export avi first before downscaling it, for the reasons explained in the article, but open to alternatives. I'm wondering what my options are as everyone else here seems to be thinking and working with NTSC footage.

I'm keen to avoid letterboxing too. If anyone has an ideal workflow for these settings, ie. which GOP settings to use 'I-frames Only' or 'I and P Frames', I'd be grateful!

While the upscale crash sounds like a bug that should be reported to support so it can be fixed. The DVD export method doesn't require upscaling at all, rather it is important to master at your HD resolution whatever that is (1280x720, 1440x1080 or 1920x1080), then resize that output file to you target resolution.

Leave the cineform encoded video on the Premiere timeline and either export directly to Encore or go to Encore and import the Premiere timelines without doing any transcoding. Once you have the video formatted in Encore, let it do the transcoding to generate either a Blu-Ray or DVD as part of its normal build process. I normally do both, and this gave me the fastest workflow in CS4. I used to export the video in a disc compliant format using CS2. CS4 seems to prefer the linked workflow method. This is what works best for me on CS4, although I'm doing NTSC video.

Thank you David and John for your helpful responses.

I have reported the matter to Cineform support and also to Adobe through the crash report window.

In the meantime, I did what David suggested and tried to export using the 'Cineform AVI File' format option at native 1440 X 1080 25p, 1.333 pixel - Same crash. So I then decided to try Microsoft AVI format export, but using the Cineform codec preset. This worked and I was left with a 2.7GB avi file (10 minute project). It's viewable with media creative source player.

Then tried what John suggested, but couldn't get this file to import properly onto the Premiere CS4 timeline. Premiere makes a 'peak' file, but that's about it! So I guess I'm stuck again! Would be nice to get a consistent workflow going with these tools!

Sound less like a bug now, something is missing. Neo Scene has been out for long time (selling in high volume), we would have heard these reports. Support at Adobe or CineForm should be able to find the issue.

Try opening Encore and use Adobe Dynamic Link > Import Premiere Pro Sequence. This method is what I found to work best in CS4. My Premiere Pro project was HDV, and I left all timelines in their native format 1440 x 1080i @ 29.97 fps with 1.333 aspect ratio. Quality is preserved by keeping everything in the same format it was videotaped, and processing is faster by not forcing a transcode to a different format.