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Converting HDV footage to DV footage and editing together to make a DVD.
I have filmed half a project in DV and half in HDV using a SonyZ1 (and editing on a PC). I want to edit the entire project and put it on a DVD to go onto a big screen for an event coming up.
I have been told by the tech guys for the event that the DV footage will be fine (captured widesreen 48) to go onto the DVD and be played, but have been told to convert the HDV footage to SD. I do not know how to do this though. What is the proper way to go about this in Premiere Pro CS4 on a PC?
I have another issue in relation to this as well – which I think answers my questions – however I am not positive. PPro will ONLY capture my HDV footage in DV mode anyway (as I found out yesterday). So I have captured my HDV footage in DV widescreen 48 (so it is the same as my DV footage). It works fine when editing, but will I run into problems when I export to Adobe Media Encoder and when I make the DVD?
Can anyone tell me whether PPro has done the hard work for me and converted my HDV footage into DV footage? Can I edit it alongside the original DV footage and will it be fine for DVD on a big screen?
I really appreciate any advice no this topic, thanks!
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7 Replies
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Your camera can “down convert” the HDV footage to DV widescreen as you capture it into a Premiere DV Widescreen sequence. JUst set the camera menu to “Down-Convert=On” and the camera mode as DV.
The alternative is to let Premiere do it either before or after editing, which will take till Monday! -
Hi Genavieve,
Here is another option:
With camera’s VCR mode set to HDV and the capture mode in CS4 set to HDV you can digitize your tapes as mpeg2 files. You can then edit these HDV mpeg2 files in a 16×9 or 4×3 SD timeline depending on what you want for a final product however you will have to re-size the footage to the smaller frame size. In CS4 you can edit, preview and export without having to render your footage.When you are making the DVD render out an mpeg 2 using the mpeg2-DVD preset. Drag the quality up to 5. Select either constant bitrate or variable bitrate. Make sure you specify 4:3 or 16:9 for the DVD to match your sequence settings and voila you are ready to burn.
Jake Williams
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Hi Mike and Jake! Thanks for your responses I appreciate the advice!
I looked for the ‘Down-Convert’ in the Z1’s VCR mode menu yesterday but couldn’t locate it (??), not sure why. I was also told by someone else to turn on the ‘Down-Convert’, so it’s obviously there somewhere. Apparently the ‘Down-Convert’ function on the camera should be automatically turned on anyway? Is this true? And could it possibly be called something else in the menu?
Jake, I have a question in relation to your response – my Premiere Pro wouldn’t actually allow me to capture the HDV footage in an HDV sequence setting, any idea why? Could it be that the ‘Down-Convert’ function was on, on my Z1? Because of this, I captured it in DV widescreen sequence 48 (the same as what I captured my DV footage), and as Mike says, it seems to have down converted to DV. My HDV footage (now clips) now seems to have the exact same metadata (viewed through Adobe Bridge) as the DV footage/clips. Does this mean it has successfully down converted to DV for me? Will the DV and HDV footage export okay together to make a DVD without hitches?
Thanks for your help guys! -
If you captured into a DV sequence the camera is down converting. The question begs…how to capture HDV into a HDV sequence when needed.
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I know right? I think I’ll have to go searching for that down capture setting and turn it off before attempting to capture HDV again. Thanks Mike 🙂
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The menu item is called “iLINK CONV” “ON”= HDV->DV CONV
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Ah okay, I have seen this one – I thought that might have been it. Thanks Brian, much appreciated!
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