Workflows

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Importing Your Final Cut Pro Project Into DVD Studio Pro
Exporting your movies from Final Cut Pro to Compressor to create high-quality DVD-
compliant assets for DVD Studio Pro, including downconverting HD sources, provides
you with more encoding flexibility than importing the movie directly into
DVD Studio Pro. Compressor creates MPEG-2 video, both for SD and HD projects, H.264
video for HD projects, and Dolby Digital AC-3 audio.
See “Exporting Your Movie Using Compressor” on page 27 for information on exporting
from Final Cut Pro using Compressor. See “Making AC-3 Files From Final Cut Pro Audio”
on page 52 for information on making stereo and 5.1 surround sound audio.
Once you have exported the movie using Compressor, you can import the encoded
files into your DVD Studio Pro project. There are a variety of ways to do this. The
following details the most common methods.
To import encoded files into DVD Studio Pro, do one of the following:
m Drag the files from a Finder window to the DVD Studio Pro Assets tab.
m Click Import in the DVD Studio Pro Assets tab, then choose the files in the Import
Assets dialog.
Once the files are imported, you can assign the files to menus and tracks as necessary.
Making an HD-Based DVD From Your Final Cut Pro Project
There are three common HD acquisition formats used when working with HD
projects: DVCPRO HD, uncompressed HD, and HDV. The format you use affects how
you go from editing to delivering your project.
Starting With DVCPRO HD or Uncompressed Sources
Since the DVCPRO HD format and uncompressed HD video result in large file sizes, files
in these formats must be encoded to a suitable format before you can use them.
DVD Studio Pro supports two formats for use in HD projects: HD MPEG-2 and H.264.
 The HD MPEG-2 format has the same basic structure as the MPEG-2 format used with
SD-based DVDs; the difference is that it uses a higher bit rate range and supports the
HD video format frame sizes.
 The H.264 format, also known as AVC or MPEG-4 part 10, uses an encoding process
that is twice as efficient as the MPEG-2 encoding process. When compared to
MPEG-2 encoding, this means that with the H.264 encoder:
 You can use a lower bit rate to get the same quality, resulting in smaller files
 You can use the same bit rate and get better quality with the same file size