Best codec for marrying HD Varicam and SD DVCam

[Ben Holmes]

I’m sure you’ll get many different answers to this question, so of them along the lines of: “well, it’s DVD, so it doesn’t matter if you use a lower quality codec”. The thing to consider is, that if you want to do plenty of post of your footage, you should always work at the best quality codec you can sensibly handle for space and speed. Using a 10-bit codec will give much better results from just applying a CC filter for example, or a grad or vignette effect – removing the ‘banding’ you will see in DV codecs.

I’d be tempted to retain some if that varicam quality, and at least work in DVCProHD. If you would rather work in SD, using a 10-bit uncompressed codec (assuming you can capture via SDI output on the DVCAM deck) would give nice results throughout post, with pretty much the same speed in your workflow, albeit with more storage and faster drives required.

Alas – there is no definitive answer here – and DV50 is a good codec. I’d just bear in mind that you WILL see the difference when you master to DVD from a better codec.

Ben