Cutting with Multi formats – Suggestions

[Mark Maness]

Well, you’re going to have problems no matter what you do. Anytime you mix NTSC and PAL, you’ll have problems with frame rates. PAL video will have a filmic look to it since its 25 fps. I would suggest if you want all the video to look the same is to purchase a film look plugin say from someone like Graeme Nattress at http://www.nattress.com. He even has a converter that can properly convert PAL to NTSC and back if you wish.

Now, the HD footage… I suggest that you downconvert it to match your DV footage. But keep in mind, there is no way that the DV footage is going to match your HD footage. One other thing you might want to consider is what codec to use. I’d pick DVCPRO50 and digitize everything SDI if you have it, otherwise, component video. This will give you the best bang for the buck.

Good Luck!

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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions

[Shane Ross]

This sounds like quite a mess. The big issue will come with needing PAL footage in an NTSC cut, or Vice Versa, and then needing it in both formats. If you convert PAL to NTSC to work with and deliver an NTSC cut, then convert it BACK to PAL, it will look horrible, or at least odd.

Here is my suggestion.

Convert everything into ONE format. What will your final master be? HD? SD? Figure this out because you will have to capture the DVCPRO HD and downconvert to DV, or UPconvert the DV to DVCPRO HD. Capture everything offline RT to edit with. Use the StandardsConverter from http://www.nattress.com to convert the PAL footage to NTSC. Edit. When you are done, then re-capture everything (using a capture card) as either 8-bit uncompressed SD or 4:2:2 HD, depending on your final format needs. When you get the master, then use the Standards converter again to convert to the other format, PAL for example.