Best Quicktime compression for a nice smooth DVD

[Shoeboat]

I'm using i-movie HD (06) and as with all lengthy and detailed movies I make it in two parts because after about 30 minutes the sound starts to break up.

When the second half is complete, I compress it into a Quicktime movie by going to SHARE/QUICKTIME/EXPERT SETTINGS then 768-576 at 24 fps (which I think is the default) - and then I import it and stick it on the end of part one.

Then of course it has to be compressed again for DVD, though first I compress the whole movie as a Quicktime file by the same method, so the second half of the movie has been compressed twice, and although there is virtually no difference in the picture quality I have noticed that pans and long shots are not as smooth as they should be, and the picture jerks a little.

Is there anyway to avoid this, and am I using the best compression settings for that which I wish to achieve?

Many thanks

SB

 

[tcross04]

my advice is to keep everything in the same codec. What codec do you use when you compress the first time and what codec is your iMovie timeline?

 

[Shoeboat]

Hi tcross, sorry but can you explain what you mean by 'codec'? I'm not as computer savvy as I'd like to be.

It is not possible to make an i-movie project longer than 20-30 minutes without the sound timeline becoming distorted beyond recognition which is why I make it in two chunks. This problem has been put to the forum before as well as Apple technicians where I live and remains a mystery to this day, and I accept it can't be resolved and am not seeking to resolve it.

Anyway, back to the codec issue - is it to do with the compression settings?

 

[tcross04]

Codec - compression decompression

Any video file, you compress then when you watch it the player is decompressing it. The trick with codecs is finding an efficient one, one that keeps the picture quality high while keeping the file size and bit-rate low. For example the "animation" codec is highly inefficent in most casses, the picture quality is great but the file size for a 30sec clip is around 300mb. However, apple's "H.264" codec is highly efficient.

So, back to your current question, you should be able to find out what codec your raw footage is, and what your timeline is set to.

 

[tcross04]

your raw footage should be on your HD somewhere. Find it, and with it open in quicktime press "apple" + "I". This will open a window with your footage info. What does it say for codecs?

 

[Shoeboat]

I tried that and it didn't work.

If you were compressing two movie projects into Quicktime files so you could have both movies on one i-DVD project - what setting would you choose?

That should have been my opening post.

 

[tcross04]

use the dvntsc codec.