Originally posted by: DVD-BOY
Someone please correct me, but I had always heard that NSTC DV should be avoided as an intermediate codec as it is 4.1.1 meaning when you do the DVD encode, which is 4.2.0, you end up with effectively 4.1.0 colour. PAL DV on the other hand is 4.2.0, ie: the same as DVD.
It depends on the DV codec.Someone please correct me, but I had always heard that NSTC DV should be avoided as an intermediate codec as it is 4.1.1 meaning when you do the DVD encode, which is 4.2.0, you end up with effectively 4.1.0 colour. PAL DV on the other hand is 4.2.0, ie: the same as DVD.
The MPEG encoder requests video in RGB (4:4:4) or YUY2 (4:2:2) (that's TMPGEnc & CCE respectively, no idea about Apple's Compressor). If the DV codec is being nice, it should interpolate (upsample) the chroma when it converts from 4:1:1. The problem occurs when non-interpolated NTSC DV is fed into the encoder, which then down converts as you described, resulting in that ugly blockiness in red areas.
If you're using a DV codec that doesn't interpolate, then you should apply a chroma smoothing filter to the video before encoding. CCE has an option for this, as does Final Cut Pro according to This Link (which also mentions that Apple's DV codec is one of the ones that doesn't interpolate.)