FCP Users BIG BIG Problem

[Guest]

Hello guys, I have a Big problem with fcp and iDVD .
What Im trying to do is burn a DVD, I have exported a big sequence using quicktime, so I create a quicktime file over 20gig is aproximatly 1hr and 20 min , mixing my super 8 from pro8 and miniDV camera, but there is an error after I try for hours so can somebody tell me what to do and how can I fit 20gig or 120min of vidoe on a DVD, I do not really care as much for quality , just want to be able to do it this time to get to know the interface , Im going creasy about this so please any help is apreciated , I will try to post some of my work to you guys but that will be another topic of discutions because I do not know how to post a movie file on this forum, anyhow thanks and good luck

[nonkjo]

First of all, if it's 20 gig for 120 minutes, I can tell you it's not in the right format. If you've got Cleaner or something else, you need to compress that thing down to mpeg 2 format. It sounds like you have an NTSC DV file still...

James Green

[tacotim]

how about some specifics, what version of FCP, what version of OSX what kind of machine, hard drive, ram etc?
At any rate, if using FCP 4.0 or higher, export using quicktime, not quicktime conversion, then in the dialog box that pops up make sure that "make movie self contained" is UNCHECKED. This will create a very small quicktime file that points to the original media files, drop this into IDVD and it will compress it to MPEG2, I haven't used IDVD for ages and I know there used to be a limit of 1 hour, not sure if that's been fixed or not.

good Luck, Tim

[Alex]

Well, 20 gigs for 120 minutes is not that out of line, that's 1 gig per six minutes. The workaround to consider is to output to DV tape then reimport the DV Tape and author from that.

I'd layback twice to tape so that you have a back-up.

[christoph]

Well, 20 gigs for 120 minutes is not that out of line, that's 1 gig per six minutes. The workaround to consider is to output to DV tape then reimport the DV Tape and author from that.

well, playing out to tape is a good idea for backup but i don't see how it would solve the problem.
in addition, he said over 20gig for 1:20... which is odd since in DV that should only be about 15GB. so, either there's something rotten with the video/export settings and/or the 1hour limit in iDVD still applies (which i haven't used for ages either).

to track down the problem, examine the settings of your exported movie in quicktime (get movie properties or apple-J ... check the video track, in the general tag) ... and try exporting a shorter (under 60min) piece and see if that works.

other alternatives are getting Toast (which shouldn't be missing on any mac anyway) or if you are serious about DVD creation, get DVD Studio Pro (which is a bit more expensive and complicated, bt lets you create professional looking disks)

hope that helped
++ christoph ++

[mattias]

export to m2v using compressor (audio separately or you'll get sync problems). convert the audio to ac3, using a.pack if you have dvdsp, otherwise ffmpegx. if you don't have dvdsp, use sizzle, a free idvd like authoring tool that has more advanced options, doesn't have any limits (except for those the format dictate of course), and lets you bypass the ultra cheesy templates more easily. ;-)

/matt

[christoph]

i'd like to extend on matt's excellent advice since i doubt that those who are unfamiliar with DVD creation are able to make much sense of it ;)

the steps are:
- Export.. -> Using Compressor -> select from the video presets (or make one yourself), specify location and name -> hit submit -> you'll get a m2v file (apple's name for mpeg2).
this file consists the video in standard DVD format but does not have sound or a menu.
- Export.. -> Audio to aiff (48khz, 16bit,stereo) -> Save.
this file has uncompressed audio which will work fine for the DVD but takes up a lot of space, specially on long projects (ie more than 60mins). therefore, you can choose to recompress this to .AC3 and therefore saving space on the disk for better video quality.

for the optimal settings for video and audio datarates, check a bitrate calculator, like:
http://dvd-hq.info/Calculator.html

now you have to glue the video and audio together and bring the disk to DVD specs, i never used sizzle for that but it looks nice:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17331
toast is very simple and works well (use version 6.03 or higher or it will reencode the video) or use DVD SP if you feel like a control freak.

that all said, for all those that dont care about quality settings or menus, i'd say iDVD or toast are still the best choices ;)

ok, enough of that...
++ christoph ++

[Alex]

Well, 20 gigs for 120 minutes is not that out of line, that's 1 gig per six minutes. The workaround to consider is to output to DV tape then reimport the DV Tape and author from that.

Playing out to tape is a good idea for backup but i don't see how it would solve the problem.

Does a Pizza maker prepare a pizza while standing in the oven? They "export" the dough onto the kitchen table, prepare all the ingredients via DV tape, then put it back into the Final Cut Pizza Oven for DVD cooking.

If FCP can create products called toast, then I can make food analogies also.

[super8man]

Ya'll

DVDs only hold 4.7 GB the last time I checked. Soooo, you MUST convert to mpg2 to fit an hour at the highest resolution of mpg2 (about 9.8mbps) and use up the whole dvd.

Good luck!

[mattias]

you MUST convert to mpg2

not really, the original poster was asking about idvd, which you're not supposed to feed mpeg-2 files, but quicktime files that are then automatically converted.

/matt

[mercyboy]

but there is an error after I try for hours

actually, did anybody ask what the "error" message is?

if i remember correctly, iDVD will tell you right away if your movie file is too big...BEFORE you start burning. so it might not have a thing to do with your quicktime file. maybe it's your DVD media....maybe it's your DVD drive (is it an older Apple drive, and if so, did you update it to handle faster speed discs if you are now using them?)...maybe it's a bad install or corrupt iDVD app. what, exactly, is the error? and once you have that, you'll be infinitely better off visiting apple.com/support/discussions. no problem you have with iDVD has not already been had by somebody on those forums!

good luck

[Alex]

Ya'll

DVDs only hold 4.7 GB the last time I checked. Soooo, you MUST convert to mpg2 to fit an hour at the highest resolution of mpg2 (about 9.8mbps) and use up the whole dvd.

Good luck!

What I've read on various forums is as soon as you hit 8.0-8.5 mbps or higher, you run the risk of the DVD not playing properly in some DVD players. The one hour DVD speed setting is a red herring that just causes problems.

An ideal "speed" may be in the upper 7's. 7.8 perhaps. This will then allow around 75-80 minutes for a DVD.

[christoph]

DVDs only hold 4.7 GB the last time I checked. Soooo, you MUST convert to mpg2 to fit an hour at the highest resolution of mpg2 (about 9.8mbps) and use up the whole dvd.

What I've read on various forums is as soon as you hit 8.0-8.5 mbps or higher, you run the risk of the DVD not playing properly in some DVD players. The one hour DVD speed setting is a red herring that just causes problems.
An ideal "speed" may be in the upper 7's. 7.8 perhaps. This will then allow around 75-80 minutes for a DVD.

well, uncompressed audio is about 1.5mbit/sec so, keeping the video data rate under 8.2 is advisable to keep the total data rate below the max specs.

and single sided DVDs unfortunately only hold 4.3GB of data, keep that in mind when doing all the calculations ;)
++ christoph ++

[super8man]

So far so good on the 9.8 setting. Works fine in my costco sony dvd player. Plays in customer dvd players as well so no harm yet... Though I do know that the -r's wont play in certain dvd players that are also recorders...anyway, this is too far off topic for me to continue.

later