Apple Final Cut Pro 7 - Manual (Page 1786)

Starting with DVCPRO HD or Uncompressed Sources
Because the DVCPRO HD format and uncompressed HD video result in large file sizes,
files in these formats must be further compressed before you store them on a DVD.
DVD Studio Pro supports two formats for use in HD projects: HD MPEG-2 and H.264.
• The HD MPEG-2 format has the same basic structure as the MPEG-2 format used with
standard definition-based (SD-based) DVDs; the difference is that it uses a higher bit
rate range and supports the HD video format image dimensions.
• The H.264 format, also known as AVC or MPEG-4 part 10, uses an encoding process that
is twice as efficient as the MPEG-2 encoding process. When compared to MPEG-2
encoding, this means that with the H.264 encoder:
• You can use a lower bit rate to get the same quality, resulting in smaller files
• You can use the same bit rate and get better quality with the same file size
You can either export your DVCPRO HD-based project from Final Cut Pro using Compressor
(as described in
“Using Compressor with Final Cut Pro” ) or export a QuickTime movie of
the project and import it directly into DVD Studio Pro.
As with SD Final Cut Pro projects, the advantage of going through Compressor is that
you have more control over the encoding process. You can choose whether to create HD
MPEG-2 or H.264 files, and you can even use distributed encoding to reduce the amount
of time the encoding process takes. For more information, see the
Distributed Processing Setup Guide, available in Compressor Help or Apple Qmaster Help.
If you choose to import your DVCPRO HD-based QuickTime movie directly into
DVD Studio Pro, the integrated MPEG encoder automatically encodes the video using
the HD MPEG-2 format.
Starting with HDV Sources
The HDV format is based on a configuration of the MPEG-2 format that is supported by
DVD Studio Pro. This means that if you acquire and edit your video in the HDV format,
the video does not require transcoding before being used in an HD project. This not only
saves time, it also reduces the chances of artifacts being introduced into the video during
transcoding.
Important: Not all HDV formats are supported by the HD DVD specification. Some formats,
although not supported, are able to have frame doubling flags set so that they can play
correctly without having to be reencoded, whereas others must be reencoded. Specifically,
if you import HDV files using the 720p24 or 720p30 format into an NTSC HD project, they
will be set to play at 59.94 fps using frame doubling. If you import a 720p25 format into
a PAL HD project, it will play at 50 fps using frame doubling. If you import 1080p24 or
1080p25 formats, they will be transcoded by DVD Studio Pro into supported formats.
1786 Chapter 107 Exporting Sequences for DVD