Best Quality? Today and Tomorrow

[puck1263]

Ok, I'm back again.

I want to make sure I'm making the highest quality DVD possible (not blu-ray). I usually include video and slideshows, and keep the duration down for max bit-rate on burn (8.0). What I do now seems fine for CRT TV, but when most of us have flat panel HD's in a few years, I still want them to look the best they can.

My hardware is:
Video: mini-dv camera (Sony DCR-HC96). Its a 3.3 megapixel video camera with true 16:9 (not a software trick), but not an HD camera.
Photos: Canon 20D for photos.

I usually choose NTSC-widescreen as the Premier project type. I get the balck bars at top and bottom of 4:3 tv, but that is ok. I assume if I get a widescreen TV it will match up right. As recommended in previous projects, for slideshows I use Elements to reduce photo pixels to 720x480 (600dpi).

Is this what I should be doing? Project type? Pixel size? Even when saved as TIF, the photo quality goes way down. It might look good on a CRT, but what about a 50" HD? Will it look like a grainy mess? I've got the hardware (at least the still camera) to have the quality...doesn't seem right to "dumb it down" when quality around us is always going up. I don't have a blu-ray burner or player, so I want to stick with DVD. I want it to be compatible for today, but look the best it can tomorrow.
Advice?

[ATR]

First the issue of the Sony DCR-HC96. True Widescreen or not, the output from that camcorder has a frame size of 720 x 480 pixels. As you said, it is definitely not HDV with the outputs of 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720 pixels, etc. So, with the standard widescreen recording, setting Premiere Elements with the NTSC DV Widescreen (16:9) is the way to go. (Any doubts, check out the descriptions of the Premiere Elements Project Presets when you are in Setup via the Welcome Screen.) Use the camcorder’s Firewire (iLink) for Capture into Premiere Elements. As I see it, your biggest enemy is trying to fit “too much” onto the standard DVD disc (4.7 GB/120 minutes). The more compression that is needed for the program to fit your “Space Required” onto the DVD disc, the lesser the quality. For the standard DVD disc, try keeping your projects down to 60 to 90 minutes. Have you looked at the double layer DVD disc (8.5 GB/240 minutes as an alternative if those project are longer than 90 minutes?) With the double layer DVD disc, one issue may be an affect-minor glitch of transitioning when it goes from one layer to the next.

Now when it comes to the matter of the photos from the Canon 20D. If you have not read the following classic FAQ, please read it carefully. If you have read it, go for a re-read. The FAQ brings up some very important points. You need to focus on the fact that these photos are destined by you for video (with its aspect ratio of 4:3 or 16:9), not print (with its aspect ratio 3:2).
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bb8822c

From what I have read about the Canon 20D, you can shoot JPEG or RAW. I am assuming that you are selecting the JPEG settings:
Large/Fine with a file size of 3.6 MB and pixel dimensions of 3504 x 2336 pixels. It is my understanding that this setting represents 3504 x 2336 pixels with low JPEG compression. Whatever, that aspect ratio is 3:2.
OR

Large/Normal with file size 1.8 MB and pixel dimensions of 3504 x 2336 pixels. It is my understanding that this setting represents 3504 x 2336 pixels with high JPEG compression. Whatever, that aspect ratio is 3:2.

So aside from the oversized business, you do need to pay attention to the aspect ratio of video (be it 4:3 or 16:9). As I said, the 3:2 aspect ratio is typical of print, not video.

There is no magic number for sizing your photo images for video, just:
1. Do not grossly exceed what the final size will be, namely, in your case of widescreen video, 855 x 480 pixels. Allow yourself some extra pixels to allow for pan&zoom and the like.

2. Maintain the aspect ratio of 16:9 if you resize. You may want to look into sizing by cropping, if batch resizing does not do the job.

Also, check to make sure that you are not killing valuable resources in your quest to get better quality. I am not sure of your details, but it is rarely productive to use resolution greater than 200 to 300 pixels per inch when you are saving your images. Do a mini scale comparison of results with 72, 100, 200, 300 pixels per inch to prove the point. The 600 dpi (or rather 600 pixels per inch) seems excessive and, depending on how you are doing it, may just end up with a lot of MBs (larger file sizes) that are consuming memory.


Bottom line: Think about the format sizes that you are going from and to. DVD-VIDEO today = DVD-VIDEO whenever, with its resolution of 720 x 480 pixels. Your camcorder cannot record in HDV or AVCHD. With HDV and AVCHD, you are talking resolutions now up to1920 x 1080 pixels. Downsizing is one thing, but upsizing usually leads to pixelation and such. So, your DVD-VIDEO of today may not look all that great on the wide, wide, wide screen today or tomorrow. Maybe take one of your homemade DVD-VIDEOs to a TV store and see if they will let you play it there on one of their large HD TV sets.

ATR

[puck1263]

ATR,
Thanks for all the valued info.

So, what would happen if I made a 1080i project using my current media?

For video, it will gain me nothing...correct?
For photos, I get more pixels..with better chance of still looking good in the future?
Would it play on a DVD player and standard TV?

[ATR]

Well……….

As for video, it looks like there is software out there that claims to increase successfully SD to HDV.



Your question sent me online to look for reports on attempts to increase video resolution. The following are some reports that I had not run into before:

http://www.thedeemon.com/VideoEnhancer/

http://www.topazlabs.com/topazlabs/03products/topaz_enhance/vidtuts/SDtoHDFCP/

One of these mentions increase for SD to 720p. I am not sure of the other. I would have to read further on that. Nonetheless, check these out to see if this is anything that would interest you. You may want to try this out. If you do, let us know the outcome. I have no idea how well these products do the claimed jobs.

Some of the “players” in this concern of today and tomorrow are:
a. Premiere Elements Export route available for export of Timeline content to 1080i on a DVD disc or Blu-Ray disc.
b. DVD burner that supports the 1080i format as well as the type of disc that the 1080i format is on.
c. TV/DVD player that will support the 1080i format as well as the type of disc that the 1080i format is on.
d. Your computer resources to support the larger file sizes of HDV 1080i. Disc with capacity to handle the content of the HDV 1080i project. Often you are forced to Blu-ray because of the need for larger disc capacity.

Example. Say you open Premiere Elements 7 with project preset of NTSC/HDV/HDV 1080i. You bring in a fair amount of photos 1920 x 1080 pixels to the Timeline. When it comes to Sharing:
1. You cannot select Disc/Disc, since there is no burning to 1080i within Premiere Elements there.
2. You personally cannot select Disc/Blu-Ray. This route has an export route to 1080i on Blu-Ray, but you need a burner that supports Blu-Ray and a Blu-Ray player which you do not have.

3. If you select Personal Computer to get to a 1080i export route, you could export/save the 1080i to hard drive location and then burn that to a DVD disc, using the burner that came with your computer. The capacity of this DVD disc is going to limit the size of the project that you can get on that one disc. OK, say you get this 1080i (a small one) on a DVD disc. Then you need to find a TV/DVD player that supports playback of 1080i on a DVD disc.

I could go on, but I think that you get the idea of things that you may want to think about. There may be factors that I have overlooked, but this is the best I can do for now.

Did that help?

ATR