MacVideo Forums

Me again folks (Kenny)
Did anyone see the FCUG letter about the guy who transfered video footage direct to a consumer DVD recorder? Some of them have an I-link firewire IN/OUT for recording to dvd disc straight from a miniDV camera.

They presumably auto encode MPEG2 when you record to disc, but does anyone know if you can export an edited FCP project via firewire from a MAC into a DVD Recorder. Has anyone tried it please reply if anyone knows if it can be done.Thanks Kenny

KennyBoy1,

It was me who wrote the newsletter about dubbing to a DVD recorder.

You can play direct off the FCP Timeline into the DVD recorder without problems.

What you can't do it export data though Firewire and burn a file as you would in Toast, for example.

The DVD recorder simply records Mpg 2 as video onto DVD.

Rick

Hi Kenny,
Yeah, tranfsering to a DVD-recordable unit such as Rick has done is an excellent way of quickly getting material from many sources direct to DVD.
However, what I would say is that it doesn't "encode to MPEG2" as it were. It does create a DVD video disc, but does not create an MPEG2 file that you could use in DVD authoring, such as would be output from Compressor. In other words, you CANNOT use the media transfered to the disc from the disc unless you ripped the material from the Video_TS folder, and then you might as well just transfered to DV anyway.
Also, from what I know, it creates a very basic menu interface to "navigate" through the disc - so you can create different "tracks" and jump to different programmes on the disc.
These are great machines for doing DVD "dubs" or recording off-air material (have used them myself on occasion) but they are no subsitute for an "authored" disc.
Best
Chris

chris.roberts,
Hi Chris many thanks for your reply too. I'm pondering whether I should invest in the recorder that chris used but don't want to waste money if it will not allow me to record some projects onto a dvd disc that will be playable. Please read my reply to Chris as this is what I would like the DVD recorder to allow me to do. I thought it might be a good solution to doing quick project DVD's that I can show my projects on a disc that would be good quality and playable on dvd players. I was looking for an easy solution!

Thanks Kenny

Hi KennyBoy1,

The other point to bear in mind with all 'live' mpeg encoders is that, by definition, they are one-pass. They give good domestic quality results but it's not going to be as high quality (for a given bit rate) as a two-pass Variable Bit Rate (VBR) encode done with, say, Compressor. Or the same quality will be less efficiently coded. For many users and a lot of material, that's fine (if it's an 8mm film full of scratches etc) but it's not going to give Warner Bros much of a run for their money.

you still (mostly) get what you pay for.

Phil Ashby

A few points.

"you CANNOT use the media transfered to the disc from the disc unless you ripped the material from the Video_TS folder,..."

Not totally true. If you have higher-end authoring apps you can import VTS and VOB. Also for some the amount of time you save using the hardware encoder means it's really no problem spending a few mins demuxing the files! which you can bring into dvdsp etc with no problem.

"....and then you might as well just transfered to DV anyway."

Why? No quality loss so....?

".....but they are no subsitute for an "authored" disc."

This is true but with apps like tfdvdedit and others you can have your hardware encoder do the mpeg-2 work and use dvdsp to build the menus then just combine the projects. Keep all the authoring power(or gain more if you use Edit) and still encode in real-time.

"they are one-pass. They give good domestic quality results but it's not going to be as high quality (for a given bit rate) as a two-pass Variable Bit Rate (VBR) encode done with, say, Compressor."

Many many dvd houses use 1 pass most of the time cause it's real-time. 1 pass on a SD-2000, MPX3000 etc is normally good enough for corporate work. The hardware encoders in many dvd recorders(2hrs or less) are far better than Compressor IMHO but then again I prefer other software encoders over Compressor also.

A dvd recorder isn't a bad option even if you use it just for the encoding then demux and use in dvdsp. Depends on lots of things as always but it's a good option non the less IMHO. That said a water cooled G5 is a good option too

Jake