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Down conversion for DVD purposes
Hi everybody! I’m new in this forum and hope you can help me with this problem that is taking all my energy and time.. I’m exhausted! Please excuse my bad english I’ll try to be clear and let me know if I’m not.
Ok I start simple then if you need specifications just please ask.
I have a project shoot on HD with the Canon XH A1. I need to make a DVD that can be read by most of DVD’s players. So I need to down convert. I’ve been advise to use compressor. So I try at least 10 different settings. I had very bad results with all of them. Format, interlacing, shaking image when movement, and in general bad images from my very nice HD….
I’ve been in forums all around the world, I’ve read dozens of post about this problem and anyone gives a solution… Ok guys I’l become crazy and jump by my window…
Please, do you know what settings do I need to simply convert HD to SD getting an acceptable quality?
I cross my fingers.best,
C
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6 Replies
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What editorial tool did yo use?
What video format is the XH A1? Is it h.264?It sounds like you’re on a mac using Compressor – which version of Compressor?
How long is the footage?
Is it PAL?Best,
Jeff G
Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC | Adobe Cert. Instructor
————
You should follow me (filmgeek) on twitter. I promise to be nice.
New- my book (with Richard Harrington and Robbie Carman)- An Editor’s Guide to Adobe Premiere Pro
Compressor Essentials from Lynda.com
(older but still good) Marquee, Media Composer (3.5) and Basic/Advanced Color DVDs (1.0) from Vasst.com
Contact me through my Website -
Have you burned any dvds and then put them into a dvd player after you’ve used compressor? Sometimes what looks back on your computer after a burn through compressor actually looks just fine on most DVDs. The thing with HD video is unless you’re burning to a blue-ray disk, you’re inevitably going to have to deal with losing some quality. The first time I encountered that I panicked, thought my work had all been for nothing. But I showed the dvd to a few people on their dvd players, and they all thought the quality looked fine. It will look shakier when you look at it on your computer, it will look a bit more grainy than it did in your editing program, but even so, it’s going to look better than most VHS tapes ever would.
MPEG-2 format is very capable at standardizing footage without losing a horrendous amount of quality when you’re burning footage to dvd.
There’s also a lot of image softening techniques you can look into.
Advice from Craig Seemen to me a month or so ago that I found helpful
“If you’re going to make a DVD, welcome to the world of downconverting HD to SD. You have no choice but to lose tons of quality. There are ways to mitigate some issues but without any information I can’t make any suggestions.
These two articles will give you an idea of what you’re up against
https://www.xdcam-user.com/2011/03/getting-good-sd-from-an-hd-camera/https://www.xdcam-user.com/2009/11/getting-sd-from-hd-and-the-problems-of-oversampling/
Basically you may have to soften the image.”
Maybe this will help?
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Hi David! Thanks for answering I’m going to check the articles. Right now I’m exporting using compressor and I hope it will work (it says 45 hrs!!) I’ll let you know if I get something acceptable.
It is nice feeling you are not alone! Thanks again!cheers!
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Excellent articles! but this just confirm what I didn’t want to hear, there is not a real good solution. You shouldn’t shoot on HD for SD purposes (in my case for DVD purposes).
Thanks.
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Hi Jeff! sorry I haven’t seen your post, I’m a little bit lost using creative cow, sorry!
So…
What editorial tool did yo use? Sorry what this means?
What video format is the XH A1? Is it h.264? .movIt sounds like you’re on a mac using Compressor – which version of Compressor? Compressor 3.5
How long is the footage? Have 35 min and 65 min (I think this will take a hole life!)
Is it PAL? It isBest,
Jeff G
Thanks!
C
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Use Shake. The scale node has the “sinc” algorithm, which looks excellent for downconversions. Better than Kona3, close to HD deck downconversion.
Ann Murray, Postworks
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