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Editing high-def from SD DVDs
I’m working on a documentary project that is being shot on HDV 24f 1080i.
All my B-Roll footage is either on SD DVDs or home movie VHS. Naturally the finished film needs to be entirely HD.
I’m ripping the DVD footage using MPEG Streamclip, and I eventually need to transfer the VHS material (which I’ve captured in FCP) to HD as well.
What’s the best way (without dropping a ton of dough) to convert these sources to 1080 24f without completely ruining them? MPEG Streamclip definately has all the conversion options…and early tests look pretty good…but I just want to be sure I’m using the best compression tools and conversion techniques.
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1 Reply
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[Andrew Kasch] “What’s the best way (without dropping a ton of dough) to convert these sources to 1080 24f without completely ruining them?”
Andrew,
Define “ton of dough.”
From a strictly aesthetic standpoint, your DVD and VHS stuff is going to look like DVD and VHS stuff no matter what you do. So, you have to decide how much polish do you want to put on it, knowing it’s still going to look pretty much the same no matter what. Below are your choices.
The best way for you to handle this situation is to go to a facility with a Kona 3 or Kona LHi and have them do the up-conversion for you through the hardware. Or, you can buy a Kona LHi and do it yourself. An LHi costs approx. $1500 excluding tax.
The alternative is to simply uprez using Compressor with frame controls turned on, and simply live with what you get and work under the aesthetic sensibility that your DVD and VHS footage will, as I like to say, turn on the wayback machine for your audience, in which case, the more chewed-up that stuff is, the more realistic the perception by the audience.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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