1920x1080 60i all the way to DVD

Cosmichrist wrote on 11/6/2014, 8:48 PM

I shoot in1920x1080 60i out of my Canon XF300 which gives me a mxf file that Sony Vegas handles great. But, I'm still trying to find the best workflow to get my 1920x1080 60i to DVD. I do however want to keep the best HD file for web posting. So this is what I'm doing.

I open a Vegas project, (sony vegas 10 btw) and set the project properties to HDV 1080-60i (1440x1080, 29.970 fps). Then I'll take the rendered file (HDV 1080-60i) and use it for my web post, as well as a DVD project.

That's the friendliest way I've found to have the best of both worlds in a rendered file, both web and dvd. Is there a better way?

Thanks in advance for your time and advice.

Comments

John_Cline wrote on 11/6/2014, 9:08 PM

I don't understand why you go from 1920x1080 with a PAR of 1.0:1 to 1440x1080 at a PAR of 1.33:1, this just seems unnecessary. It reduces horizontal resolution and also makes you keep track of the odd PAR. If it's 1920x1080, just render it at that resolution, just modify the template.

Cosmichrist wrote on 11/6/2014, 10:00 PM

Hi John,

That's where I'm getting a little lost, on the template.

PeterDuke wrote on 11/7/2014, 3:41 AM

It is normal to set the project properties to match your source video. In fact the later versions of Vegas Pro automatically offer to do that as soon a clip is dragged to the timeline. If you have some other properties, Vegas has to change the source to that on the fly as you are working, in order to display the results.

When converting High Definition to Standard Definition for a DVD, bear in mind that Vegas has to resample each field of interlaced video, and so in Project Properties, the Deinterlace Method should be set to either "blend" or "interpolate", otherwise each frame containing two fields taken at different times will get scrambled together.

HD video is normally Upper or Top Field First, so there may be some quality advantage in making your SD video the same.

Render the audio and video separately to appropriate templates (HD or DVD).

Cosmichrist wrote on 11/7/2014, 10:48 AM

Thank you.

I just wanted to make sure to find the best way. I'm rendering a 19 minute dual camera with some slight correction and it's going to take over 7 hours. I'm using the default template with at 6bps.

I shot HDV for years, so stepping up to HD is a bit of a curve. I don't know if I should just convert my mxf containing folders into mpegs first or what.

OldSmoke wrote on 11/7/2014, 11:14 AM

I would also recommend to change your NTSC DVD Widescreen template from 720x480 to 704x480; the results are much better. Make sure you set your DVDA project also to 704x480.

Cosmichrist wrote on 11/7/2014, 12:50 PM

I think where I was getting confused is, Sony Vegas 10 has bluray settings, I was trying to use those, but those do not import back into Vegas. So I have to tweak the default template. It may be different on newer versions.

EDIT: I'm going with the default template, quality slider to the right and 50bps. It's going to take me 6 hours to render a 19 minute clip. However, I tested and color correction I have is a major part of it taking so long.

I read somewhere that 13 does better with renders.

OldSmoke wrote on 11/7/2014, 1:31 PM

No, even the newer and latest version cant read the files created by the BluRay templates; unless you render them with audio.

PeterDuke wrote on 11/7/2014, 4:37 PM

OldSmoke said "I would also recommend to change your NTSC DVD Widescreen template from 720x480 to 704x480; the results are much better."

That sounds counter intuitive to me. Why would rendering to a lower resolution be much better?

PeterDuke wrote on 11/7/2014, 4:40 PM

If you have rendered your audio and video to separate files, you may be able to use tsMuxer to multiplex them into a single file that Vegas can read.

riredale wrote on 11/7/2014, 5:11 PM

Yeah, I'll ask the question about 704x480 also.

I've always thought the official DVD spec is 720x480.

Hmmm... turns out that 704x480 is also legal. From this website, 704 was included in the DVD spec for compatibility with older formats, while 720 is the official D-1 spec. The reviewer couldn't see any difference in the output, though in some situations the 704 spec will result in narrow black bars left and right (8 pixels wide each).

EDIT: According to Doom9, commercial DVDs use 720.

OldSmoke wrote on 11/7/2014, 5:20 PM

I can't remember who brought it up here in the forum but I can tell you from personal experience the results are better. It may have to do with the PAR and downsizing from HD. There are no black bars if you select stretch to fill in the render dialog. That all only applies to NTSC Widescreen DVDs.