Workflows

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See “Converting a Video Clip to a Different Video Standard” on page 28 for
more information.
Encoding the Movie
Once you have completed your movie, you need to encode the movie’s video and
audio in DVD-compliant formats.
Using Compressor to export the movie is the preferred method since it provides the
most options and highest quality. Another advantage of exporting using Compressor is
that you do not need to render your sequence first—it will automatically render as
necessary during the export.
The key to exporting with Compressor is selecting and configuring appropriate presets.
Presets define how the video and audio are encoded. Compressor includes a variety of
presets you can use, or you can create your own custom presets or modify an existing
preset’s configuration.
You can even apply multiple presets to the sequence, which makes it possible to
output multiple versions of the video and audio. For example, if your movie uses HD
assets, you can choose a preset to provide an SD output (for creating a standard DVD)
and an HD output (for creating a DVD using the HD video resolutions).
See “Exporting Your Movie Using Compressor” on page 27 for more information.
Authoring the DVD
Authoring a DVD starts with planning for what the DVD should contain and how the
viewer will play it. Once you have exported your Final Cut Pro movie, you can quickly
author simple DVDs—you don’t even have to include a menu.
For most DVD projects, however, you will want to add at least an opening menu, and
more often, bonus tracks and slideshows.
If you intend to author both an SD and an HD version of your project, you should
author the SD version first. Since the HD version can contain SD assets, you can simply
save the SD version as the HD version, and then replace some or all of the SD assets
with HD assets.
You author the elements of your DVD project in any order you want; however, there are
advantages to creating your menus first. Since the menus provide the majority of the
navigation options, having them already in place makes it easier to ensure the tracks
(which contain your movies) and slideshows can be accessed and set to act correctly
when they reach their end.