Re-Authoring DVD 23.976 fps allowed? / multiAVCHD

[Lebowsky]

Hi,

I'm a bit stressed out and under a deadline. I need to re-author an mkv file at 23.976fps, 1280x544p to a DVD for playback on a standalone DVD player.

I am using multiAVCHD to do this, and in the process hardcode subtitles from an SRT file.

This is for a movie screening. We were provided with the mkv file by the author of the movie, I suppose from a blu-ray or exported directly from a video editing program. We then manually subbed the movie, and need to hardsub it, and play the whole thing on a standalone.

The bitrate is ~4000 kbps, so I guess it should be fine on DVD. I'm resizing to 720x362.

My questions are: can I leave the fps at 23.976 or do I need to reverse back to 29.97? Our standalone player is european, will it accept 23.976/29.97 or should I even transcode to 25fps? Isn't there going to be jittering on playback when changing the fps this way? I suppose the best way would be to leave it at 23.976, if the standalone player supports it? Can it?

As for the resize, the AR of the movie is 2.35:1, is there a way to set a 16:9 flag on the DVD? or does multiAVCHD do that automatically? I chose the resolution that looked correct in the video preview (which looked the same as the original resolution).

[Ghitulescu]

You have to add borders top and bottom to make it a full 16:9, as the MKV is 1:2.35, then to resize it to 720x480 and mark it anamorphic (or 16:9). You can have it progressive, just that has to be soft telecined, as 23.976 is not allowed on DVD.
And yes, most if not all European players can play almost every type of DVD (should the region code matches, which is no issue in your case).

PS: probably it's worth to say that multiAVCHD doe not do DVDs, it does AVCHDs as its name says :):) Try a real DVD authoring suite, most probably one has access to Nero (the full suite, not the OEM) or similar. Google for DVD authoring and pick up what you like.

[manolito]

PS: probably it's worth to say that multiAVCHD doe not do DVDs, it does AVCHDs as its name says :):)

I think it does DVDs...:D

From the multiAVCHD description:
Output formats (authored structures):

SD_VIDEO - MPEG-2 for Viera/Panasonic SDHC (StdDef video)
AVCHD - AVC/H.264 - SDHC Viera/Panasonic BDP
AVCHD - AVC/H.264 & MPEG-2 - USB/SDHC/MemoryStick/CompactFlash/HDD (solid media / Playstation 3)
AVCHD - AVC/H.264 - DVD/BD-R (optical discs)
BDMV - AVC/H.264 - Blu-ray for BD-R discs
BDMV - MPEG-2 - Blu-ray for BD-R discs
HD-DVD - AVC/H.264 for 3xDVD compatible HD-DVD players
SD-DVD - MPEG-2 for standard DVD players
MKV (AVC or XviD) - file mode
AVI (XviD) - file mode


Cheers
manolito

[Lebowsky]

Yes, I'm using the SD-DVD output format. I found out where the "force 16:9" AR flag is - I chose not to use it. 1280x544 seems to resize to 720x362 (+ borders to "uncrop" to 480 vertically) correctly.

I did three versions. One where it keeps the original 23.976 as framerate, one with conversion to 24fps, and one with conversion to 29.97fps, and I'll test them tomorrow afternoon, praying that one of them is ok... screening is tomorrow evening.

multiavchd says "applying pulldown" at some point so I'm supposing it's doing things correctly!

But if someone has any other suggestions and advices in the next 12 hours, I'm all ears! :D

[Lebowsky]

for future reference, if someone else is looking for the information. I kept the original bitrate of 23.976. I suppose multiAVCHD knew that it had to do a soft pullowdown because it was a dvd it was rendering. All went fine, and played well on a standalone player.

I had done other tries by changing the bitrate to 24 or 29.97, both were out of sync.

[setarip_old]

@Ghitulescu

Hi! You say PS: probably it's worth to say that multiAVCHD does not do DVDs This is incorrect. I've used it for this purpose for many years. Perhaps you overlooked the several references to "SD-DVD" in multiAVCHD...

[Ghitulescu]

Yes, I never paid attention for SD-DVD as I have several suites for authoring DVDs. But since MultiAVCHD was the only free HD authoring suite I used it ONLY for this purpose.
Sorry for my wrong statement.