Video quality on DVD is worse than of MP4 of the same videoclip

[soezkan]

Hi there,

I am new to this forum and I say hello to everybody!

I use Final Cut Express to edit and render my videos. Now I have
a video just rendered which is about 60 minutes. The resolution
is 768 x 576 and compressed with AAC, H.264 with a data
rate of 2500 kbits/sec (25 frames / sec).
It looks reasonable when I watch it from file (with a certain
player on my Mac), but after bruning it on DVD the
quality is much worse and the video appears "pixeled".

How can I solve this? I am new to video editing and
DVD authoring and I hope someone can help me with
that.

Thank you all so much!

My best,
Soezkan

[lordsmurf]

Quicktime H.264 encoding is crap.
x264 or MainConcept Reference is the tool to use, for quality.

[soezkan]

Thanks for replying.

The thing is that I can't select any x264 or MainConcept Reference
from my compression type select box.
Apart from that: It looks fine with H.264. The only thing
I wonder is how to get it on DVD without quality loss???

Thanks for more help.

My best,
Soezkan

[jagabo]

You're making a regular movie DVD? That converts the video to MPEG 2. You'll need a lot more bitrate to prevent macroblocking.

[cd090580]

x264 and Mainconcept are both 2 independant programs. x264 is a free codec compatible with any windows VFW application and works also as a standalone encoder...

Quicktime was one of the worst crappiest tools ever made....

[creamyhorror]

If your intended final format is DVD, then you should export the video as an MPEG-2 file from your editor at a high bitrate (e.g. 9.8mbps) and author that onto a DVD. Don't use H.264 at all.

[BNA84]

I recommend you go with a maximum output resolution of 720×576, transfer your video to a pc with xp or vista and burn it with ConvertXtoDVD. With this software I have never had any playback issues with a dvd created from H264/x264 AAC MP4 or MKV videos.

Sorry I don't know of a mac alternative that produces the same results without error.

[soezkan]

Dear all,

thanks for your replies. Please notice I am really a rookie with DVD editing. And I don't understand
the thing with MPEG-2. I use MP4. Isn't that MPEG-4??
But anyway. The file (called something.mp4) is rendered with 2500 kbps and it looks very
good. The video itself is about 60 minutes long.

What I don't understand is why I have a hight quality in file and after I burn it on DVD
it looks worse and not of the same resolution. Could please somebody give me an
advice why this happens?

To render all movies (with e.g. 9000 kbps) again would take weeks and I need them to
be burned now!

Thank you for all your help!

Bests,
Soezkan

[creamyhorror]

If you burn an MP4 file to DVD, you are just creating a data disc containing the exact same file. The video will be identical upon playback (unless your playback system is messed up).

If you convert the MP4 file to DVD-Video format and burn that disc, then you're re-encoding the video, which will kill its quality if you don't use a high enough bitrate for the DVD-Video. DVD-Video uses MPEG-2 encoding instead of MPEG-4.

You haven't even mentioned what program you used to convert/burn to DVD, so how do you expect us to help?

If you want to keep your quality, either:

1) keep the file in MP4 format and play it from a USB harddrive or thumbdrive using a computer or a standalone player that can play H.264 MP4 files (e.g. the WD TV, Asus O!Play, etc.).

or:

2) export a DVD-compatible MPEG-2 file from FCE, then use a DVD authoring program to create a DVD with that.

[jagabo]

If you want a DVD that will play in normal DVD players you have to convert the video to DVD specs. For PAL systems that's 720x576, 25 fps, MPEG 2 at <9800 kbps. The DVD must also be authored -- it must include the VIDEO_TS folder with IFO, BUP, and VOB files.

If you're just archiving you can put whatever files you want on the disc. But normal DVD players will not play MP4 files.

[soezkan]

2) export a DVD-compatible MPEG-2 file from FCE, then use a DVD authoring program to create a DVD with that.

I use iDVD on my Mac and I just drag drop it in the DVD Menu. And than I burn it. Thats what I do.

I wonder if iDVD makes some kind of "Autocompression" or so.

Any ideas, experiences with iDVD?

Thanks alot for your help
Soezkan

[greymalkin]

did you ever say what your source video is? Not the mp4 you created, but the original video..did you shoot it with a DV camcorder?

encoding your original video to 9000kbps DVD spec MPEG-2 will take LESS time than your highly compressed mp4, not more..and it's the only way you'll get the quality you are wanting. Compressing your video to MP4 when you wanted DVD is the wrong way to do things and will result in worse quality 100% of the time.

[creamyhorror]

I use iDVD on my Mac and I just drag drop it in the DVD Menu. And than I burn it. Thats what I do.

I wonder if iDVD makes some kind of "Autocompression" or so.

iDVD is converting your MP4 file into (MPEG-2) DVD-Video, probably not at maximum bitrate, so you're killing the quality. Creating a DVD from the MP4 is a bad idea, unless the MP4 has been created using almost-lossless settings. But if you can create the DVD directly from the source footage, you should do that instead.

What you want is to export DVD-Video-compatible MPEG-2 video at ~9.8Mbps from FCE and then author that into a DVD. I don't know if iDVD can do it. Maybe someone else can give you a software recommendation.

[soezkan]

Okay. Now it is a becomes more and more clear. But what is MPEG-2 ?
Where can I select this in my Final Cut Express? Please see the
screenshot for what I can use.



Thanks to you all
Soezkan