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EVERYONE – lets create an HD to SD ‘shimmer’, ‘jitter’ and ‘flicker’ thread to end them all!!!
This plague has haunted me for more than 2 years. NO ONE has completely answered this question on the COW…I have been scouring the site and others forever to find an answer. I know I am not alone in this.
HD to SD via KONA LHe or compressor M2v files. Anything with fine lines or any nice detail at all gets completely horrible looking when down converting. Especially shots that are panning or titling. Original format doesn’t seem to matter, I have the issue with 1080i 29.97 and 720P. DVCPro and Pro-res…and I know people on here have the issue with XDCAM as well.
The only thing I have found to work is applying a guassian blur of 1 to 1.5 on every HD shot. Yes I know, applying blur to my nicely shot detailed HD footage is sabotage. But it’s my only way out. Whether I am downcoverting for MPEG2 delivery or converting for DVD, I cannot get a detailed, non flickering, jitter, shimmery footage.
I have tried using the best settings in compressor, tried doing a 16×9 progressive dvd as well as letterbox.
How do you guys preserve all the detail in your HD footage and still get a clean DVD?
BTW, I am viewing my source timeline in two ways…an HDMI signal to a flat screen (beautiful) and through a beta deck to an SD CRT monitor. The downconverted signal is always the nastiest.
Apple Certified Final Cut Pro 6
Mac Pro 3.0 Quad
Kona LHe
Panasonic HPX-2000 -
6 Replies
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Thanks Dave…what bit-rate do you like to use?
Apple Certified Final Cut Pro 6
Mac Pro 3.0 Quad
Kona LHe
Panasonic HPX-2000 -
Or just invest in a real converter box. You can’t realistically expect to get fantastic results from software that is not designed for the job.
JoeyBut since that’s pricey and not affordable for most, Dave’s suggestion is spot on.
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AE does an ok job of downconverting but you really need specialized hardware or software to do it. Try a demo of instant HD to SD then export out at a crazy 9mbps cbr DVD-R. You will keep 99% quality guaranteed.
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Instant Hd comes in a Mac flavor too and AE spits out a 9 bitrate. or author in Adobe Encore if compressor doesn’t do 9.
https://www.redgiantsoftware.com/downloads/trial-versions/ -
first, work uncompressed !
Second, the problem will stay, no matter what you’ll do.
If you want a top-quality SD-movie, you’ll have to make it in SD.Something similar;
Let’s say you have a nice HD-comp and use 4 pixels anti-aliasing (as in 3D apps) you’ll have a nice sharp anti-aliased image. When you scale this down to SD (/5) the benefits of anti-aliasing will disappear and you’ll end up with a “too sharp aliased image”
When you start working in SD, your anti-aliasing will be, and will stay 4 pixels. So Image Quality will be better than the HD-scale-down.There’s probably some nice converting software somewhere, with fancy algorithms to make high quality conversions, but it will cost you.
AE’s downscaling even with PreserveEdges enabled with interlaced footage works ok but is far from perfect.
Maybe a selectable scaling algorithm like in Photoshop would be the answer but until then, using the 1 pixel blur when scaling down, is what I use the most too.I’m still spending too much nights on doing a perfect downscale 🙂
cya,
Jan
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We’ve been through these issues since the days prior to HD. A COW Search should do you well.
ALso, DVD specs for MPEG-2 max out at 9.1 Mbits/sec IIRC. But 8Mbits/sec is ideal for compatibility across all DVD players. CBR is also ideal for best viewing especially in areas with dissolves, unless you have a very good encoder that handles 2-pass.
HTH
RoRKbroadcastGEMs – AEPro Volume 02 (Professional Adobe After Effects Project Files – Now Available).
Adobe After Effects Training in South East Asia.
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