I’ve always edited my own films. Always. The reason I’ve edited my films is not because I am an exceptional editor — quite the opposite, I’m very average. But I’ve edited my films out of necessity. Finding an editor who seeks to deeply understand your vision, yet expound upon it utilizing his/her own experience is tough. It’s like finding a composer who truly wants to understand your film, the emotional context, and what you’re trying to manifest.
It’s been a struggle. More often than not it’s been trial by fire. I’ve burned as I learned. While I often go out on my own and test new editing philosophies, I tend to research the hell out of things. What’s the primary thing I’ve researched like crazy? Exporting HD footage from Final Cut into QuickTime format is the best resolution possible for compression onto an SD DVD.
For me, I think I have found it. After 50 or so attempts at burning DVD using Toast, iDVD and DVD Studio Pro I stumbled upon a mention of the Photo-Jpeg codec on DVcreators.net.
During an export out of Final Cut I took my 1280 x 720 HD footage , used the Apple-Photo-JPEG codec in the Export using QuickTime selection, changed the size to NTSC 720 x 480. The footage looked great. I then took the file into DVD Studio Pro to create a standard definition DVD. Upon completion, I played the DVD and watched it on my HD television. The result was the best I’ve ever seen (In my experience).
I believe the export using PNG codec in Quicktime will do the same thing, but I’m told the file size will be humongous. I will try that as soon as I recover some drive space. But for now, I have to burn six episodes of Broken Hearts Club on DVD and this method works beautifully.
I will need to access if this method works when I compress my full 120-minute 1280 x 720 HD film down to NTSC SD formats and then fit onto a DVD. But until then I am loving the Apple-Photo_JPEG codec for better picture quality.
