DVD Authoring - Poor Results

ishmot · #1 03-02-2005, 03:28 AM

I am basically a beginner at digital video editing, encoding, and authoring. I’m hoping to get some help with the following:

I Transfer 8mm tapes (analog) to my computer using pass-through on my Sony TRV-33 Mini DV camcorder. I’ve been putting the video into AVI files using Adobe Premiere 6.5. The transfer process from 8mm tapes or regular mini DV tapes seems to be pretty basic and I think I’ve got a good process.I then have been editing (or rather compiling and placing on a timeline) the video (AVI’s) in premier and then exporting them using the adobe mpeg encoder. I’ve used the tutorial located HERE as a basis for the settings I’m using in the mpeg encoder. I realize that there would probably be differences in the settings for a slideshow compared to a video but I’m not sure what those differences would be. I’ve taken some screen shots of the settings I’ve used for the encoder. They are located Here and Here. the encoding process seems to work well and the results seem fine to me. The problem I have is when I author the dvd. I’m using Roxio DVD creator. Roxio seems to re-encode the mpegs and then burn the dvd. When I play it in my DVD player on the television the video is choppy or Jumpy. Or a better word to describe it is perhaps “pulsing”. When I play the Mpeg file on the computer it looks fine. A sample mpeg file is located Here (9.5MB file- Sorry about the file size). So, that is where my problem is (I think). For some reason Roxio is not encoding the mpeg correctly. As I said, the MPEG looks fine on the computer but when it has been authored to a DVD it doesn’t play correctly on the Television. Can you please look at my settings and review the entire process I’m using and make some recommendations. I have a feeling that I need to use something besides Roxio. I plan on looking into TMPGEnc DVD Author because I really don’t care for Roxio. Another problem that I've had that might be related is that the video quality on the television is poor. For example I can see the pixelations. This is in spite of the fact that the video looks perfectly clear on the computer screen when compiling it in premeire and after exporting it from premiere. Any suggestions and or sollutions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help.

Regards,

Jared

ishmot · #2 03-02-2005, 06:47 AM

Update:

I've read through the information in this post Here and it sounds like basically the same thing I am trying to do. Unfortunately I do not have most of that software. I'd really like to accomplish the same thing with the software I already have (if possible)

Thanks,

Jared

- ishmot

ishmot · #3 03-03-2005, 01:57 AM

Another Update:
Ok, Last night I downloaded TMPGEnc DVD Author and created a new dvd using the same MPegs I used in the Creation of the DVD mentioned above. This time the results were almost perfect. I had several problems with TMPGEnc DVD Author functioning correctly (got several error message, Supposedly couldn't find the audio files in some cases, etc.) But was finally able to create an ISO image of the completed product and then burn it to a DVD with roxio. The one problem with the video quality is that when paused the video was jumpy. As it played it looked great but as soon as I would pause the video it was jumpy. Is there any way to correct this? And I'm still hoping to get some information on my previously asked questions. Thanks,

Jared

admin · #4 03-03-2005, 03:37 AM

I'm having a small carpal-tunnel bout right now, last night and today. A bit hard to type like I need to. Answers will be forthcoming very soon.

ishmot · #5 03-03-2005, 03:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by admin

Answers will be forthcoming very soon.

No Problem. I'm not able to spend a lot of time on this right now so I'm in no big hurry. I'm more or less messing around and expirimenting with different tools and concepts until I find out what I should be doing.

Thanks,

Jared

admin · #6 03-04-2005, 01:53 AM

Where to start ... where to start ....
This may come off a bit random, but should answer/address all the things I see...

SLIDESHOWS IN PREMIERE
That guide for creating slideshows in Premiere should work very well for you. When I make simple slideshows, I use 720x540 images. Remember your overscan. Images must be that EXACT size, so use Photoshop to add overscan and resize as needed. Black matte backgrounds are best. If that's complete jibberish to you, let me know. I'll show an example.

..... and I just realized you are not making slideshows, but this info is good, so I'll leave it anyway.

"CAPTURING" THE DV AVI
I hate transferring video with Premiere. I can do it, plan to write a guide for it soon, but I hate it. Premiere is a CPU hog. It can cause dropped frames, etc. WinDV would be a better choice for transferring the DV-AVI footage from that camera to your computer.

You can get WinDV here: http://windv.mourek.cz

After capturing separately from Premiere, merely import the transferred AVI into Premiere, and then dump to the timeline and edit as you've been doing. If you experience no dropped frames or other issues, this may be nothing more than an extra step, but it's a safer method.

MPEG ENCODER SETTINGS
Since you were using a guide from a PROGRESSIVE source material (slideshows), it is possible you are not properly selecting INTERLACED encoding for your INTERLACED DV material. I will update this post with some MC images here shortly (day or so), showing suggested settings.

Note: Adobe uses the MainConcept (MC) encoding enginre. So when I talk about "MC" this is it.

DVD AUTHORING
Simply stated, Roxio ruins anything it touches. It is very likely harming the video and/or re-encoding it. Use something else. I have covered the specifics of the various authoring software elsewhere in this forum, but to keep it simple for now (ask if you have specific wants or expectations), know that I suggest TMPGEnc DVD Author (TDA), Ulead DVD Workshop 2 (DVDWS2) and Sonic DVDit! PE 2.5 (not v5).

- TDA is newbieware, has a couple of nav flaws, but is easy and cheap at about $50.
- DVDit! PE is midground, fairly easy and somewhat inexpensive at about $100-150. Not as many features as DVDWS2.
- DVDWSD2 is by far the best, but has a price of about $300 on average. Many pro quality features.

All of these will work pretty well. And when I say "features" I mean things like motion menus, multi VTS, Dolby AC3, ability to customize buttons, etc.

Roxio is your weak link. It's got to go.

DVDWS2 has a 30-day functional trial (only thing missing is AC3, the demo is MP2 or PCM audio only). I would try that. Visit http://www.ulead.com/dws/trial.htm to get it. I bet if you used that real quick, everything would be fine. It costs nothing to try.

INTERLACE ORDER
The only other option is you MainConcept (Adobe MPEG Encoder) settings are set to the WRONG FIELD ORDER, as DV should be BOTTOM FIELD B, not TOP FIELD A. That can cause "stuttering" video. A computer DVD player uses active deinterlace bob/weave filters, so it's only noticeable on the tv set. You may want to read the DEINTERLACE GUIDE in the capturing section of digitalFAQ.com.

Even the Premiere capture could be guilty of causing errors. Doubtful, but surely possible. One at a time. Try to use DVDWS2 first. Well try the MC settings next. Go ahead and look at MC settings for interlace.

That's all I have right this minute.
Ask if you need any further clarifications, etc.

ishmot · #7 03-04-2005, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by admin

When I make simple slideshows, I use 720x540 images. Remember your overscan. Images must be that EXACT size, so use Photoshop to add overscan and resize as needed. Black matte backgrounds are best. If that's complete jibberish to you, let me know. I'll show an example.

I think I understand. This being said I'm deducing that the overscan is 30 on top and 30 on the bottom?

Quote:

Originally Posted by admin

I hate transferring video with Premiere. I can do it, plan to write a guide for it soon, but I hate it. Premiere is a CPU hog. It can cause dropped frames, etc. WinDV would be a better choice for transferring the DV-AVI footage from that camera to your computer.

Yup. I agree. I've experienced the dropped frame thing from time to time. I will definately try WinDV.

Quote:

Originally Posted by admin

I will update this post with some MC images here shortly (day or so), showing suggested settings.

This would be very helpful. There are so many settings in there that I don't really understand a lot of them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by admin

Simply stated, Roxio ruins anything it touches.

So I've learned.

Quote:

Originally Posted by admin

I suggest TMPGEnc DVD Author (TDA), Ulead DVD Workshop 2 (DVDWS2) and Sonic DVDit! PE 2.5 (not v5).

I think I've got TMPGEnc DVD Author working very well now. I'll try these other two to see which one I like best.

Quote:

Originally Posted by admin

Roxio is your weak link. It's got to go.

It's gone! I thought this was probably my major weakness.

Quote:

Originally Posted by admin

INTERLACE ORDER
The only other option is you MainConcept (Adobe MPEG Encoder) settings are set to the WRONG FIELD ORDER, as DV should be BOTTOM FIELD B, not TOP FIELD A. That can cause "stuttering" video.

Understood.

Thanks for your help. I will stay posted for the images of the MC images (settings).

Jared

admin · #8 03-04-2005, 06:59 AM

More on OVERSCAN....

On a 720x540 matte, the non-overscan portion of the image occupies about 645x505. 720x540 is generally what you should use as your menu template. Save as BMP too.

If we use 720x480 as the base video size, the inner 645x445 is the non-overscan portion of the image. To figure out other video resolution overscans, do the math (I cheat and play with Photoshop resizing tricks to figure it out).

Everything outside of that is usually hidden. Most often, it is junk and errors, and should stay hidden.

I say "about" when describing the pixel sizes because every tv set can slightly differ. So show more, so show less. Some can even shift around a bit (show more top than bottom, more left than right, etc).

This one, for example, is calibrated SPECIFICALLY for my favorite tv set:

There are certain things to remember about using the overscan. Do you want your image to ALWAYS been inside overscan? If so, tuck the text/images closer to the inside, and farther from the edges. Or do you want it to be 100% safe on all tv sets? Bleed the image out.

Safe interior, item will NOT run off screen.
This is perfect technique for slideshows:

Safe bleed, item will fill screen.
This is perfect technique for DVD-Video menus:

Here is my 720x540 PSD (Photoshop) file. If you want to examine this more closely at least. I've gone and left the bird image for the purpose of the example. This is a 1MB download, requires PHOTOSHOP to open and use.
uploads2/admin/overscanmenutemplate.psd (right click, save as)

More MC stuff to follow soon...

ishmot · #9 03-08-2005, 08:54 AM

An update:

over the past couple of days I've been creating DVD's from both Premier Captures and WinDV Captures. I really like the WinDV capturing process and will probably stick with it in the future. I've then been bringing these AVI files (About 25GB for a 2hour tape) into Premiere where I compile my video with transitions, etc. I then export all of that into one single mpg file that ends up being about 6-8GB. Then I have been putting that file into TMPGEnc DVD Author and Authoring the DVD. I've been really happy with TMPGEnc DVD Author. Accept for one small glitch it's been working fine. I am unable to burn my authored dvd directly to a dvd because when I go to select the correct dvd drive the software crashes. So I have to create an ISO image instead and burn the ISO image to DVD with Roxio. I did download and start taking a look at Ulead DVD Workshop 2 but wasn't all that impressed for some reason. I guess I'll have to give it another chance after hearing the high recommendations it gets on this website. For some reason the interface seems really clunky to me. TMPGEnc DVD Author is working very well and after having encoded the Mpg Correctly by setting the field order to bottom field (when exorting from premier) I've ended up with outstanding results. Now that I feel comfortable with the process I've got, I think I'll start looking into the Ulead software a little more. I'm still curious to see your recommendations on the MC settings and how they might vary from what I have set. I'll stay posted for your follow up post. Does my process look ok to you and do you see any glaring problems or extra unnecessary work that I might be doing? I know this isn't a simple process but I feel like I've simplified it as much as possible at this point. Please let me know if you see any obvious deficiencies in my process.

Thanks,

Jared

admin · #10 03-16-2005, 12:08 PM

I don't why I didn't think of this earlier....

You really don't need to configure any special settings unless you're attempting to squeeze more than two hours on a DVD. Coming from DV source, that would not be recommended anyway. It is suggest to keep the DVD output as close to the DV source quality as possible.

Just use the "DVD High Bitrate" template in the MC encoder.

Export the time from Adobe Premiere:

Video standard in the USA is "NTSC". Output details is the name of your files and where you want to save them. DV is bottom field video.

In the image above, click "EDIT" by the "Advanced" option, which brings up this screen:

Select the High Bitrate template.

.
.
.

TMPG DVD Author (TDA) is not really that great of software, it's just really easy. DVD Workshop is very powerful as an authoring tool. Don't let the simple-looking interface fool you. I'm about to add some guide to this site for using DVD Workshop, and they'll cover some pretty advanced technique. There is a lot of power in this program.

The burning engine in TDA is not very stable. It is known to crash on most system, especially if you are not using Windows XP.

If you are making an ISO image in TDA, then I would suggest the freeware DVD Decrypter for burning the ISO files. I would attempt to avoid Roxio at all costs.

For the most part, I think you have everything figured out. These last couple of tweaks should have you all set up.

TDA is good software for starting out on. In time, you'll graduate to something a bit more complex. That's really the only thing I foresee changing in the future. Then again, that depends entirely on how many DVDs you plan to create. Some people settle on TDA and are completely satisfied with simple menus.