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DV or HDV-PAL? Multiple sources, DVD finish
Working backward -The last step in the project: Digital projection of our finished DVD.
What’s on the DVD – live action, talking heads (sync audio), simple graphics, music, still photos.
Project TRT: about 30minutes
Source Material:Quicktimes that have been emailed to me in 29.97/H.264 and 10fps/AppleOpen DML JPEG (thats a totally new one for me, suspicious it’s PAL-DV?), TIFF, DV-NTSC (Sony camera) and HDV-PAL (Canon camera).What are the pitfalls of mixing, matching, capturing this spectrum of formats? What can I expect? What should I watch out for? Tips, guidance, insight, navigation instructions, from the anecdotal to suggestions for capture settings-Native vs compression-Rendering-Export.
If the crew were to use just one camera, between the DV and the HDV-Pal which is gonna make our post process easier? I’m US Region 1 with a DVD finish as mentioned above. I feel a bit like I’m looking at one of those crummy Better-Faster-Cheaper drawings. HDV-PAL will look better than DV, but how much better? Isn’t it all gonna look kinda crummy projected anyway (aesthetically the editing will be fantastic, of course)? Searching for compromise and knowledge. Many thanks in advance.
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2 Replies
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I believe I just misdirected the originating (above) post into a forum that might not be appropriate for expectations of user conduct. My apologies. It was user error and ignorance. My bad. Doesn’t seem to be a way to redirect once an item is posted. Again my apology.
We are looking at cutting on FCP or AVID.
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Actually I think this is a great and very appropriate post, a good example of someone who is planning and investigating the best path before they start. Forums are full of posts from people who haven’t done what you are doing now, organised themselves beforehand and then got themselves into a serious mess.
Editing in DV is the lowest quality format and will result in poor quality effects (chroma key etc.) if plan to do anything more than just simple cutting. Also it will not handle fine detail on graphics or credits etc. Up converting SD to HDV means it will have have to be down converted again before going to DVD, not good as it a double conversion that will result in loss of more quality.
I’d consider bringing it all in and cutting as an Apple ProRes PAL format. This is virtually lossless and will preserve the poor quality of DV and HDV compression and HDV down converted to this format should be fine.
However I see one more possible problem in your material, you say you have some Quicktime 29.97/H.264 footage, this is not PAL, 29.97 is an NTSC frame rate. All PAL footage is 25fps except for some 50fps progressive scan HD. This is an uglier problem than the SD / HDV problem you already have, especially if you want to output PAL. NTSC to PAL conversion is not good, although there are some good plug ins for FCP that will do it (Nattress for instance). PAL has more resolution (scan lines) than NTSC hence the conversion NTSC to PAL is more compromised than PAL to NTSC. It may also be why most DVD players in PAL land have the ability to play NTSC material but NTSC machines rarely if ever have the ability to play PAL.
Can I suggest you get a small amount of every type of footage you will use and do a trial cut and conversion to DVD to see what turns out best.
Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/
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