.mov to DVD having all kinds of quality issues

[house141]

I have some .mov files that I would like to burn to DVD. I tried just dropping the files into toast and letting it encode them then burn it all in one process. I was not happy with the quality that was coming out on dvd. so i tried using ffmpegx to encode to mpeg2. but with those VIDEO_TS files, when i burn them to DVD, the video is stuttering and jarring and the audio is not matching up, not that it could even possible match up with how bad the DVD is stuttering. Can someone point me in the right direction on how to get the best quality picture output on DVD compared to the .mov file? Or should I just be happy with the quality Toast encodes it too? I am using a mac BTW if anyone suggests using software.

[hech54]

Without knowing the details of the MOV files....you'll never get an answer.

[house141]

what info do i need to share?

[hech54]

I'll give you an example. A 3' 42" music video, full sized MPEG2(720x480) video...with audio of course...is 163MB in size. One video clip...under 4 minutes long...163megabytes. If your .MOV clips are nowhere near 163MB in size....they WILL look like garbage when converted back to MPEG2 compliant files for a DVD.
Open a few of your clips in GSpot or MediaInfo and compare.

[guns1inger]

I am guessing from your choice of software and vague specs that you have a Mac. There is an OSX version of mediainfo which will tell you everything you need to know about your clips.

[Case]

There is an OSX version of mediainfo which will tell you everything you need to know about your clips.

Here: MediaInfo Mac (now called Media Inspector).

[Case]

so i tried using ffmpegx to encode to mpeg2. but with those VIDEO_TS files, when i burn them to DVD, the video is stuttering and jarring and the audio is not matching up, not that it could even possible match up with how bad the DVD is stuttering.

Stuttering can happen with a 23.976 fps DVD that doesn't have a pulldown set. In ffmpegX, try the DVD mpeg2enc preset in combination with the Set 3:2 checkbox in the Options tab -- only if your source file is indeed 23.976 fps.

[house141]

thanks for being patient with me on this hopefully, someone can instruct me based on the info below, as a side note, in ffmpegx, when i choose "mpeg2enc" as my preset, it tells me the file is complete in approx 1 second after i hit "encode", so I know something is not right, i have been in coding in "DVD ffmpeg", maybe someone has some insights into why this is also not working for me. anyway, here is the data from the mov file i am working with:


General

Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : QuickTime
Codec ID : qt
File size : 11.8 GiB
Duration : 22mn 41s
Overall bit rate : 74.6 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2011-05-07 20:59:04
Tagged date : UTC 2011-05-07 21:06:03
Writing library : Apple QuickTime

Video
ID : 1
Format : Intermediate Codec
Codec ID : icod
Codec ID/Hint : Apple
Duration : 22mn 41s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 74.5 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 200 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.600
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 36.000 fps
Minimum frame rate : 20.690 fps
Maximum frame rate : 120.000 fps
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.898
Stream size : 11.8 GiB (100%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2011-05-03 15:34:36
Tagged date : UTC 2011-05-07 21:06:03

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 22mn 41s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 120 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 19.4 MiB (0%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2011-05-03 15:34:36
Tagged date : UTC 2011-05-07 21:06:03

[poisondeathray]

VFR - variable frame rate . Difficult to convert to a DVD

Your source is HD 1920x1200 . DVD is 720x480 standard def. It's never going to be remotely close in quality

[Case]

it tells me the file is complete in approx 1 second after i hit "encode", so I know something is not right.

I could guess, but ffmpegX has a log feature that tells exactly what it did and likely why the conversion encountered an error. After trying to encode, click the blue "i" in the Progress window. This should open a new window "Process Information". Copy that content here for inspection.

here is the data from the mov file i am working with:
Format : MPEG-4
File size : 11.8 GiB
Duration : 22mn 41s
Video format : Intermediate Codec
Video width : 1 920 pixels
Video height : 1 200 pixels
Video display aspect ratio : 1.600
Video frame rate mode : Variable
Video frame rate : 36.000 fps
Video minimum frame rate : 20.690 fps
Video maximum frame rate : 120.000 fps
Audio format : AAC
Audio channel(s) : 2 channels
Audio sampling rate : 44.1 KHz

• Unlike regular HD movie use, this movie isn't 16:9 and isn't the usual 1920x1080. Not a big deal for converters, though.
• Unlike regular movies, this movie looks to have an odd 36 fps framerate. I'm not sure how the variable framerate factor works here. DVD doesn't supports this framerate, so the conversion must change the framerate to make it valid for DVD (23.976 or 29.97 fps). This framerate conversion will make motion less fluid than the source file.

Based on the odd size, I suspect this movie is a computer screen capture or something?

[house141]

yes it is iShowU, screen capture program, I am going to try changing the framerate and try it again, and I will try to post the log from ffmpegx if it doesn't work. if anyone else has any more tips, keep 'em coming, i really appreciate the insight, i am trying to learn all this on my own as I have no one that I know that does this stuff.

[house141]

ok the output by ffmpegx is still jumpy just as bad, when burned to dvd, i am burning the video_ts folder using toast. i believe that is the logical step correct?

here is the mediainfo log on the source file:
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : QuickTime
Codec ID : qt
File size : 9.52 GiB
Duration : 22mn 39s
Overall bit rate : 60.2 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2011-05-16 01:44:17
Tagged date : UTC 2011-05-16 01:49:41
Writing library : Apple QuickTime

Video
ID : 1
Format : Intermediate Codec
Codec ID : icod
Codec ID/Hint : Apple
Duration : 22mn 39s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 60.0 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 200 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.600
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 29.000 fps
Minimum frame rate : 17.626 fps
Maximum frame rate : 54.545 fps
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.899
Stream size : 9.50 GiB (100%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2011-05-16 01:18:59
Tagged date : UTC 2011-05-16 01:49:41

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 22mn 39s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 119 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 19.3 MiB (0%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2011-05-16 01:19:00
Tagged date : UTC 2011-05-16 01:49:41

here is the mediainfo log on the ffmpegx output vob file in the video_ts folder:

Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 737 MiB
Duration : 22mn 39s
Overall bit rate : 4 550 Kbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : No
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=12
Duration : 22mn 39s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 4 000 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.483
Stream size : 650 MiB (88%)

Audio
ID : 189 (0xBD)-128 (0x80)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Muxing mode : DVD-Video
Duration : 22mn 39s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 72.6 MiB (10%)

can anyone see anything that may be causing my troubles?

[davexnet]

Possibly the frame rate decimation? According to the mediainfo, the source is variable frame rate,
Frame rate : 29.000 fps
Minimum frame rate : 17.626 fps
Maximum frame rate : 54.545 fps

While the output is 23.976, presumably with pulldown (otherwise it's not DVD compliant).
I don't see how this could be anything but jerky.

What is the source file from?
Perhaps someone can best advise how to make a DVD from this source; Avisynth with directshowsource2
can produce fixed framerate input, but I don't know if it will work in this circumstance.

[house141]

the source file is from ishowU you copying off the internet

[Cornucopia]

The thing to do here is remove some of the variables; there's too many things going on.

Is it an encoding problem? Is it a VFR decoding problem? Is it something else?

IIWY, I'd open this in QTPro, LEAVE EVERYTHING THE SAME, except the Framerate: Make it 59.94 fps CONSTANT. Save as same codec(s). Does it still play smoothly, or at least acceptably?
Ok, now take that output as source, Leave everything else the same (including the NOW 59.95fps) and only change the resolution: Make it 640x400. Save as same codec(s). Yes, it's resolution/sharpness is less, but does it still play acceptably?
Ok, now take THAT output as source and convert to standard MPEG2/DVD (using your previous tools, if you like). Make sure that you add letterboxing to make 400-->480, and set the source PAR to 1:1, while the output DAR is 4:3 (PAR 1.1:1) with the standard 720x480.

Now, THAT should play rougly the same as the (supposedly acceptable) previous output.

Scott