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Editing both SD & AVCHD
I am editing many files chronologically. The first series are all SD files. The 2nd half are AVC 1080i files. Pls tell me of the best way to end up with the best results…….do I only need to worry about the renedering process?
Thank you
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5 Replies
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> …do I only need to worry about the renedering process?
No, you have several things to consider while editing but they will be influenced by how you intent to deliver:
(1) SD has a 4:3 aspect while AVCHD has a 16:9 aspect. How will you deal with this?
You have 4 options:
- Pillarbox the 4:3 in a 16:9 frame
- Crop the 4:3 to a 16:9 frame
- Letterbox the 16:9 in a 4:3 frame
- Crop the 16:9 to a 4:3 frame
Each one has it’s pros and cons.
(2) SD has 5x less resolution than HD. How will you handle this? Do you plan to deliver in SD and downrez the HD or deliver in HD and uprez the SD? Again each one has it’s pros and cons.
Since you are delivering content in a chronological order, you might want to deliver two videos in two separate formats (e.g., the early years in SD and the later years in HD). It’s all up to how you envision the output being presented.
Whatever decisions you make, I would create a sample of each right through to the deliver format and make sure that you are happy with the presentation and quality. You don’t want to complete the project and then regret the format decisions you made.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
John,
As always, thx for your insightful response. I knew full well there were many elements to be considered. My problem, being the passionate hobbiest I am, is that I’m never certain of exactly what may even need considered!
I follow all of what you descibed. I am much less familiar with how to accomplish some of the possible steps.This will be displayed via an HD Projector and I believe I prefer to upscale the SD so that the entire presentation delivered that way.
I do have some cropping decisions.I believe the most appealing is to Pillar Box the 4.3 to the 16×9. I’m not sure what step to take to the Sd stuff though. I just haven’t tried to figure that out. I will though…by this evening I will have assembled all of the SD material. I would venture to guess now would be the best time to address the aspect ratio prior to adding the HD stuff.?
Thx again
Richard
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If you are planning to output as HD and you have already decided to upscale the SD then your only decisions is whether to pillarbox or crop the SD. If you place the SD in a 16:9 frame, you can place generated media on a lower track so that the black “pillarbox” bars are actually a nice non-distracting background. This is what all the major news channels do when they are broadcasting in HD and have SD footage from the field to show. It’s actually not that bad to watch.
If, however, you decide to crop your 4:3 to 16:9, you will loose the top and bottom of the frame which may contain valuable footage because it was framed for 4:3 and also you will loose even more resolution. Try it and see what you think. Assuming your project is set to HD, just open Pan/Crop on an SD event and right-click inside the frame and select Match Output Aspect. This will crop the SD to the HD aspect. Render that out to HD and see if you’re OK with the quality. Otherwise placing a colorful background below the SD footage and allowing it to pillarbox is the best way to go sometimes.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
“you can place generated media on a lower track so that the black “pillarbox” bars are actually a nice non-distracting background”
This is exactly what I’d prefer to do! I understand the result you’re descibing and for this project and, I would imagine most any other, this will create a more professional and aesthetic appearance. I also understand the loss of resolution you descibe going the other way. This certainly wouldn’t be an enhancement.
I am very much a novice and don’t expect a step by step BUT if you could simply explain how to begin to accomplish what you describe in the above quotes I will be very appreciative!!
Thx much
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> if you could simply explain how to begin to accomplish what you describe in the above quotes I will be very appreciative!!
Start with HD project settings. Since newer files are AVCHD and I’ll assume they are Full HD so use the HD 1080-60i (1920×1080, 29.970 fps) project setting (assuming also you are in an NTSC country and not PAL)
Drag an SD clip to the top track and you should see black bars on wither side. Right-click the second track and select Insert Generate Media. Select either Sony Noise texture or Sony Color Gradient (those are two of my favorites for this). Select a preset and tweak from there. When you’re done, drag the generated media out to the length of the SD clip above it.
That’s all there is to it.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com
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