Tom -- thanx for listing my website -- just for that I will send you a DVD of your choice. Just email your address to the email listed on the website and I will send you a complimentary DVD.

"Tom -- thanx for listing my website -- just for that I will send you a DVD of your choice. Just email your address to the email listed on the website and I will send you a complimentary DVD."

LOL. That isnt necessary Brian. I guess the sarcasm (eye wink) was to subtle. Lets just say
your approach to these subjects aint my cup of tea. The video on the Sanger is nicely done but I find the factual manipulation distasteful. Lets just agree to disagree :-)

XDCam footage works on CS2
 

Hi Jon,

Thanks for the XDCam footage!

I downloaded the Zip file, opened it up, went to Cineform's HDLink to convert the files to CF AVIs, and loaded up the footage onto Premiere Pro CS2. (After opening an SD widescreen pre-set) I color graded with Magic Bullet Looks, then exported as a Cineform AVI, onto TMPGEnc to make an MPEG-2 file, and finally to Encore CS2. Encore burned me an SD-DVD, and played (and looked great) on my standard def TV :)

Eventhough I'm still saving up for an EX1/3 for next year, at least I know that Adobe CS2 (along with Cineform to convert the MXF files) can handle the footage.

Hopefully, my clients won't request HD or Blu ray anytime soon :)

Thanks again,

--JA

<<< then exported as a Cineform AVI, onto TMPGEnc to make an MPEG-2 file >>>

Please tell me, Jeff, which TMPGEnc product you use to compress/encode video clips, if that's what you use it for? Suggestions of your settings or an encoding tutorial would help me too? The TMPGEnc website lists a few versions without specifying which product facilitates encoding, as far as I can see.

TMPGEnc Xpress 4.0
 

Hi Brendan,

I use TMPGEnc XPress 4.0 (latest version). I agree that the TMPGEnc website isn't easy to navigate and find "useful" info. (That's why I'm here at the forums :)

Don't know if you're familiar with the program, but basically, after opening TMPGEnc Xpress and locating your Cineform AVI file, you hit the "Format" button and select "DVD standard MPEG file". In the "Output format" dialogue box I select what type of MPEG file I want: Video system:NTSC
Encode mode: Prioritize quality
Aspect ratio: 16:9 specifications
Rate control mode: CBR(Constant bitrate)
Audio format: Linear PCM

After I hit the Select button, an "Encode/bitrate settings" dialogue box appears. It shows the video size (I keep it at 720x480 for SD-DVDs); average videobitrate (which you can change, but I just leave at 8,000 kb/s); estimated files size; authoring size (these two give you the final size of your MPEG-2 file). Then I hit the OK button.

After hitting OK, several dialogue boxes come up, which include a Video and Audio tabs. I always use "Prioritize quality"; 720x480, Display 16:9; CBR (Constant bitrate); 9bit; Progressive; and for the "Motion search precision" I go either with High or with Highest with
error correction. Then after making sure that the "Output stream type" is on the System (Video + Audio), I click the Encode button.

That's the basics of what settings I use to output SD-DVDs using TMPGEnc Xpress (and the one I used using Jon's XDCam clips). Others have used different settings.

Hope this makes sense and helps you out. If not, go ahead and shoot me an email, and I'll try to help you out as best I can.

Best,

Thank you for all that help, Jeff.

May I steal more of your time &this thread by asking if you would use similar approx. settings if you were compressing a 3Gb file to 50Mb (&delete the original) just to free up your video drive? I've got to do something soon with 400Gbs of edited clips!