DVD Studio Pro 4 and H264

Question

DVD Studio Pro 4 and H264

I used the mastering DVD Studio Pro Tutorial that came with my FCP 5 to make DVDs someone told me that if I used the demo set-up and it worked I could go on using it which has proven to be correct. Now I have a H264 720/1280/2G movie that I want to put into a DVD format. It is the same movie as a previous version I just changed the compression setting because the H264 is much better quality than my old MPEG-2 format which was 348mgs. DVD Studio Pro WILL NOT IMPORT THE H264 format. I erased the old MPEG-2 format but all DVD Studio Pro will accept is the H264 format as a soundtrack. Obviously the H264 has both a movie and the soundtrack together I do not have a separate movie and soundtrack file. Can anyone please give me some advise on as to how I have have DVD Studio Pro input my H264 movie. I would even be happy keeping it as a SD movie if I could just import it and get it into a DVD format. Can anyone please help.

I MAC, Mac OS X (10.4.11), DVD Studio Pro 4

Posted on Jul 30, 2009 8:43 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 30, 2009 9:05 AM in response to Jose Restrepo

DVDs will ONLY play MPEG-2 video. Period. So you either need to go back to your MPEG-2 video or go back to the original video and send it back through Compressor to create a new MPEG-2.

H.264 files are very highly compressed. If you try to turn that into a MPEG-2, you will be double compressing your video which always results in a noticeable loss in quality.

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Answer 2

Jul 30, 2009 11:19 AM in response to Shawn Birmingham

Okay thank you. I will put it back.

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Answer 3

Jul 31, 2009 11:19 AM in response to Shawn Birmingham

Shawn, the DVD Studio Pro 4 help says that it will accept H264 format. Does that mean that it SHOULD imput it into the DVD Studio Pro 4 Software but it will not BURN IT as an H264 but as an MPEG-2 video and that if I EVER actually am able to input my H264 video and I try to BURN an H264 it will come out poorly and as an MPEG-2 because I will be double compressing my video? Somewhere I read that the best quality input will result in the best DVD output. But if all DVDs will play is MPEG-2 then trying to input anything better than an MPEG-2 will be a waste of time and effort? Sorry for all the questions, I am trying to understand about producing DVDs. Can I get MPEG-2 into a higher quality/sharpness/clarity by compressing it differently?

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Answer 4

David S.

Level 7

20,636 points

Jul 31, 2009 4:40 PM in response to Jose Restrepo

It will accept h.264 HD DVD encodes if your preset is HD DVD.

However, it will only burn those HD DVDs to red laser dyes playable on Toshiba HD DVD set top players that are no longer sold, and also on most recent Macs.

But they won't play on standard SD DVD players.

Does this help?

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Answer 5

Jul 31, 2009 9:22 PM in response to David S.

I thought this new update included BLU-RAY burning capabilities. I have an internal BR drive that works with TOAST, but when I try to burn on DVDSP I get a message:

"The disc you inserted cannot be used for burning. Please insert acceptable DVD recordable media."

I've tried several blank BR discs, but no luck. Is there some mystery setting I've missed?

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Answer 6

David S.

Level 7

20,636 points

Aug 1, 2009 8:52 AM in response to anamorphic

yes, DVD SP does not support blu ray burning.

the share command in FCP7 and Compressor 3.5 have rudimentary support in FCS3

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Answer 7

Aug 2, 2009 11:49 AM in response to David S.

David, yes it does help thank you. So do I gain any video quality if I upload the H264 and in HD settings and then burn it to a DVD? This is what I am trying to do get a better quality output using whatever quality input I need.

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Answer 8

Aug 3, 2009 5:59 AM in response to Jose Restrepo

If you want to create a HD DVD (that will only play in Macs and a few, now defunct, Toshiba HD DVD players), then you can use H.264 files. If you want to create a standard DVD, then you want to create a MPEG-2 as that is the only format that standard DVDs will play. H.264 files are very highly compressed. MPEG-2 files are very highly compressed. If you take a H.264 file and convert it to MPEG-2 you will be double compressing your video, which causes a guaranteed loss in quality.

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