Field Order for DVD

[mark williams]

I have a 1080 60i project that I am exporting via mpeg elementry stream exporter to use in DVDLab Pro to make an NTSC DVD. The HD project field order in Edius is upper field first. In the exporter settings what should I set the field order to? (current, top or bottom). I have used "current" for a test and it looks fine when played back on a HDTV but not so good on an old CRT TV. The final DVD will be used as a master for a large replication project.

[AJL14]

Hi Mark,
DVD is always upper or "top" as asked for, so I'm not sure what's going on with your exporter. I might suggest another short test, and instead of setting it at "current" set it for "top", and then under any circumstances it should export just fine for an HD set or an SD set. HOWEVER....there are a number of posts on this forum as to various ways to make an HD timeline into an SD program that improves the SD quality by leaps and bounds over just a reset of parameters coming straight from an HD timeline. Most recently, TODAY - Anton posted a new and even more quality-oriented procedure than the tried and true VirtualDub method he has suggested for a long time. Search for it - it should be easy to find under "HD to SD". And it was TODAy or maybe YESTERDAY by now!
Good luck,
Alan

[antonsvideo]

yes, set to upper and also make sure you don't leave profile on current, be sure to set to [email protected]

[mark williams]

Thanks guys I will re-encode it upper field first. I might add that the original DVD looked really good on an HDTV. Since I shot with an HPX170 that has lower resolution chips I wonder if that accounts for the better quality when encoding from HD to SD vs. the EX-1 which I read can be problematic.

[antonsvideo]

and for the best results, try this

http://www.videoproductions.com.au/html/t4-hd-sd.html

[mark williams]

Well I downloaded the trial version of TmpgEnc 4 Xpress and applied Anton's settings. Was the difference between night and day. My DVD looks great so I went and purchased the software. Anton should get a commission.

[tingsern]

Thanks guys I will re-encode it upper field first. I might add that the original DVD looked really good on an HDTV. Since I shot with an HPX170 that has lower resolution chips I wonder if that accounts for the better quality when encoding from HD to SD vs. the EX-1 which I read can be problematic.

You should not be viewing a DVD on a HDTV. DVD are meant for playback on SDTV - so, that your target. Having said that, I do know there are up-sampling DVD players available that does a very good job with DVD on HDTV - and unless you have a real HD source compared side by side, you will never know.

HPX170 (or HPX172 I use) uses CCD sensors. Sony EX-1 uses CMOS - and if you aren't too careful when filming on CMOS, you get all the funny results that are only seen on CMOS. There are pros and cons here. Some of my friends all swear by Sony - saying it is super sharp. I don't disagree with them. But, I liked the colour of my HPX172 - which looks better than Sony.

[mark williams]

Tingstern,

I would have to disagree with you that DVDs are meant for playback on SDTV. Although it might be ideal it is not what people here are doing. As of 2009 approximately 50 percent of Americans have at least one HDTV according to a 2009 Home Media Magazine survey. Another survey by Parks Associates states that in 2010 nearly 47% of TV households in the U.S. plan to buy an HDTV in the next twelve months. For many that might be a second or third HDTV. The most current data I can find shows that Blue Ray has only had about an 11% penetration into American homes. So it goes that most will be watching SD-DVDs on thier HDTV as Blue Ray has not yet been overwhelmingly accepted. I watch SD-DVDs all the time on my 32" Samsung HDTV and they look great. During my trip to Walmart today I saw 4 different Blue Ray models and 8 diffenent upscaling DVD players for sale so I think DVD will survive a little longer. By the way they had no SDTVs for sale, only 720 and 1080 HDTVs.

Respectfully,

[tingsern]

Hi Mark,

Perhaps I mis-phrased my reply. HDTV is not the right viewing device for watching SD programs (and DVDs are SD devices anyway). My point is - if you want to see all the "problems" - then it should be viewed on a SD TV first, then once you eliminate those problems that you see on a SDTV, it will look super on a HDTV. Not the other way round.

For example, you can accidentally place a graphics on a 'in-between scan line" on a SD TV - that will NOT be apparent on a HDTV - but, if you watch the video on a SD TV, you will see the "disaster" :-). The graphics (for example a rectangular box) suddenly missing horizontal lines.

So - if your client actually view your DVD on a SD TV - you are in deep trouble (if you only preview your work on a HDTV).

[mark williams]

Ah, I understand you now and agree.

Thanks,

[legolas65]

If the HD footage is progressive does it matter if the dvd conversion is set to upper or lower field?

[antonsvideo]

If the HD footage is progressive does it matter if the dvd conversion is set to upper or lower field?

technically it would not matter, but some DVD players expect upper field first, so it is best to set to upper just in case

[john]

I tried converting HD progressive footage in Edius 5.5 to mpeg2 for NTSC DVD. The "Superfine" setting converted file can't play in Power Dvd or set top dvd players. The "fine" setting plays well in power dvd and DVD players. However, when converting SD footage to mpeg2 for NTSC DVD, the "superfine" setting converted file plays well with dvd players.