HD sequence to SD DVD

I am exporting a ProRes 1920x1080 60i clip as a self contained movie. I then selected the 120 min. best quality preset in compressor to make my mpeg2 and ac3 file for SD DVD. The quality is pretty bad. I get jaged edges and horizontal lines in the mpeg2 file and all text is of poor quality. It looks some what like a field order issue, but I can't find a problem with my workflow. I exported some short test files of the program and tried to change a few settings in compressor but cannot fix the issue. Is there a better way to do this? Are there settings in compressor that really make a difference with something like this? Should I downrez before exporting from FCP. If so, what is the best way? I will take any suggestions on how to make a better SD DVD mpeg2 file from HD ProRes export. I am sure I can't be the only one encountering these problems.

Mike

Using only FCS tools there are a couple ways to go about this.
First, in compressor, turn on Frame Control and change the Resizing Filter to best, then adjust the Anti-Alias slider to about 15 or so to help reduce a little of the edginess. Try a 10 second test clip to see if the result works out OK, adjust the Anti-Aliasing up if you need.
This method works best if the sequence isn't GFX heavy.
As you mentioned the GFX in your test compressor export looked like junk. GFX tend not to down convert very well unless running through a high-end down converter.

If compressor isn't giving you the results you would like and quality is paramount you will need to rebuild your sequence in an SD timeline. Not totally from scratch though! Just the GFX need to be tweaked/re-sized.
First, either nest or hilite your video-only elements and copy/paste it into an SD sequence (Use either Prores 422 NTSC or 10Bit UnC sequence preset- stay away from DV-NTSC for this) Then copy/paste each individual GFX overlay and resize or rebuild as needed if re-size doesn't look OK in the timeline.
Render, export your ref-movie for compressor, then encode.

Colin McQuillan
Vancouver, B.C.