Pixled Image
 

I just finished applying the color correcter om few clips. then I proceeded to make a DVD test and I noticed that one clip (that was way oversaturated and was corrected) appears jerky and pixlated. I made another DVD copy of the same clip wihout the collor correction and it plays fine. Does the color corrector make certain clips pixalted? and if so, is there a way to correct that?

Please note that in order to make the DVD i had to make an "FCP quick time" but the actual project is still NOT rendered yet, do you think that's a contributing factor?
In case you're wondering, the color corrector changes are as follows:
Level Controls:
Highlights: 253
Mids: 70
Blacks -40
That's all :)

No one knows the answer? wow that's a first.

John,
No I don't think anyone really does know the answer. But it's safe to surmise that FCP's color corrector is not the culprit. The resulting footage, when encountered by your MPEG-2 compressor, is where the problem lies.

First, make sure you're exporting the footage from FCP properly, normally as NTSC-DV 29.97fps.

Then take control of your MPEG-2 encoder by varying its data rate, etc. to see what settings avoid the break-up.

What software did you use iDVD or DVD SP? How long in minutes is your clip? What versions of software (inc. OS and QT) are you using?

Idvd, OSX it was a 12 min piece

Unfortunately, iDVD doesn't enable you to manually manage the MPEG-2 compression process. So, if you want to continue with iDVD you'll have to work-around the problem from outside of that portion of the process.

What is the nature of the portion of the clip that breaks-up? Fast action? Camera pans?

it's a camera pan of trees and bright sky.

John,

First I would make sure your using the latest versions of QT 6.1.1, OS 10.2.4 and iDVD 3? I don't use iDVD and while it offers speed, ease of use and simplicity, it does have encoding limitations.

Things you can try:

Use DVD SP (I know $1,000), more flexible in encoding.

Are you watch actual DVD burns or using the software player? Sometimes the player can be misleading. Do an actual burn and check you DVD on a couple of different TV's (friends, neighbors).

Try less color correction and see if it encodes any better.

I have a feeling the detail in all the leaves and the pan movement is more information than iDVD can handle. The color correction might just be making the artifacts more noticeable.

Sorry I can't be of more help. These things are hard to accurately diagnose without seeing the images.

One appendix to Jeff's suggestions.

If you have the latest QuickTime Pro you may be able to build an MPEG-2 directly from your clip. (I know that my QTPro features this as an export option.) This will give you some idea of what's going on before you plunk down $1K on DVD Studio Pro. (Note that DVD-SP does not do the MPEG-2 encoding itself anyway. You would be using something like Cleaner 6 for that.)

Unfortunately, you will not be able to bring the MPEG-2 clip into iDVD. You will still need DVD-SP to do the multiplexing, a preparatory step for creating the DVD that iDVD hides from you.

You would need Cleaner 5 or 6, or Toast to encode your DVD's if you move up to DVD SP. Sorry I left that out. I use toast to burn most of my DVD's. However, you can use the Apple Utility to burn also.