fading videos for dvd, help needed

[unison]

Hi,

I'm making a dvd compilation with live performances and I have each vob already. The thing is, they start and end quite abruptly so I'd like to fade-in/fade-out the videos so that everything runs smooth making the viewing experience better.

I know I could demux de vobs, get the audio and video track into Final Cut and from there simply fade-in/fade-out the videos. I would have to use a Quicktime Conversion or even Compressor to export the result, but I'm assuming I will loose quality with this, am I right?

So my question is: is there a way I can fade the videos without the risc of such loss of image quality? What is the best option for me?

Any info is welcome, thank you!

[unison]

I'd like to add that basically there are 2 questions here:

1. Is there a software that will do the fadings easily with no re-encoding?

2. In Final Cut Pro, which settings would make the video not loose quality?

Hope this helps explaining my problem a bit better.

[terryj]

1. no. Fading is part of the NLE process ( authoring)
and must be done at that stage, not AFTER.
sorry.

2. If you import as DV Stream, you will not lose quality.
You would need to demux the streams, export from
QT Pro as DV STREAM, get your audio into AIFF spec,
and then in FCP you can set your Fade transitions, then
export out to Compressor to re-mux.

[unison]

Thank you for your input Terry. I tried what you said and here's my question:

Are you sure exporting the video track to DV Stream won't loose quality? I tried it with QT Pro and it seemed to be the image got more blured (less sharp) and there were visiable horizontal lines during fast morion scenes.

I even tried using the options button and setting it to DV, DV Pro and DV Pro 50 (I think these were the 3 options). The results were equal.

[WiseWeasel]

I haven't installed it yet, so I'm not positive, but DVD Studio Pro 3 has some transition functions, and might be able to do what you want. It might just be for between menus screens, and not titles, however.

[unison]

Fantastic Wise-weasel, can you check that for me please? Thanks in advance!

[WiseWeasel]

Like I said, I haven't installed it yet. Maybe someone with DVDSP 3.0 installed can check it out... I'm still stuck in my DVDSP 2.0 workflow, don't wanna rock the boat at this moment.

[terryj]

I use DVDSP3, and I didn't suggest that because
the transititions only work between MENUS,
and from TRACK to TRACK. The original suggestion
was to make several VOBS down into one smooth
track with fades between each performance.

If you want, you COULD demux all your VOBS,
create a multitude of tracks (DVDSP3 allows you
up to 99),and set transitions between EACH track,
however you will find that:

1. The Transitions will be a little herky jerky,
unless you insert a black still at the end and
beginning of each track that way the herky-jerky
is "hidden". If you fade from
say a full on in color performance dead center to say
another performance close up on the singer starting
the next song, you'll notice the delay of the transition taking effect.

2. Because you will have a multitude of tracks, PLUS
transitions, PLUS Menus, your final VBR on your VOBs
will be HIGHLY COMPRESSED. I don't know how many
performances you have total you are trying to master,
but you COULD lose more quality this way than you would
if you re-edited the VOBS in FCP with the transitions there,
than you would on the VBR encoding at the back end.

And to answer your earlier question, try one or two
of these export settigns instead:
( You must have FCP HD or FCP2.x for this)

Export the .m2v file as Movie to Quicktime Movie
with the following set under options
for Video: use 3ivx D4.5 Codec, Best setting,
under Options for the codec, choose
Basic options, single Pass constant Quality,
Qp3 -->Higher Quality at 95% ,
( you should have an AIFF or AC3 file for your audio
from demuxing)
If you dont have the latest codec,
go to http://www.3ivx.com

or you can use the following
( although I don't use, so I cannot help with the results)
Export the .m2v file as Movie to Quicktime Movie
with the following set under options
under video: Motion-JPEG-A for Codec, Best Quality
( you should have an AIFF or AC3 file for your audio from demuxing)

I'm using FCP HD and I know it accepts .mov format for editing,
I move QT ref .mov files from iMovie import into FCP
for editing all the time, and have edited .avi files
by moving them over to QT movies this way as well.

[pixeljammedia]

Assuming you have each part as an individual VOB, could you take a still of the last frame of each performance and the first frame of the next and create a "dip to black" transition between the two stills? You could then insert these transitions between each performance without touching the vobs and degrading the quality. You would end up with small pauses between songs, but that wouldn't be too bad. You could then re-author in DVDSP.

[terryj]

Assuming you have each part as an individual VOB, could you take a still of the last frame of each performance and the first frame of the next and create a "dip to black" transition between the two stills? You could then insert these transitions between each performance without touching the vobs and degrading the quality. You would end up with small pauses between songs, but that wouldn't be too bad. You could then re-author in DVDSP.

Yes, Pix you could do that instead of using a black still.