HD to SD Best Quality workflow

[Anthony Koelker]

Does anyone have an update to this issue? I’ve got a ProRes422 1080 29.97 HOUR LONG show that I’ve tried a few dozen paths to make look good on a DVD. Compressor and BitVice have not solved the resizing issue.
I’m using the latest FCP Studio and Snow Leopard. I do have a Kona LHi card, but my only out would be to DVCAM.
Any ideas will me greatly appreciated.

[Jason Smolesky]

I have a SUPER …and a free solution.
However you also need access a PC/windows to do it…oh and external drive(Fat32) etc…so you can move files back and for between the 2…

First off let me just say….I have tried everything suggested nothing really seems to work well..except for just shooting in 16×9 SD in the first place, which isn’t always an option with your client since they may want both a HD video file and a DVD version etc…

*I tried the Bonsai method and it did remove the line doubling but It still left strange noise around the subjects….like buzzing flies….gross!!!*

-My method-

Step#1 -Export you video from FCP as a self contained QT of course it will be humongous so you will need a large drive to move the file from the mac to a PC. My last 1 hr- HDV 1080i/60 Video was about 9.6 gig.

Step #2
Move it to a PC and download/install “Super(c)” it is a free encoder from erightsoft that supports tons of stuff- sorta like the PC equivalent of M-peg streamclip the download is hard to get to from their page so you may have to navigate 3 pages to get to the link–

https://www.erightsoft.com/S6Kg1.html

*scroll to the bottom and you will see the download link ”

Step #3
Choose DVD Std.Complaint(VOB) –>output codex is MPEG-II

choose video scale size 720:480 and then mark 16:9 for aspect
change the bit-rate to between 7500-8000 for the test DVD I made I set it at 7968 –
click Encode…. Again these are the base setting I choose, experiment and I bet you may have better results than me…

Step #4
Move the new smaller(but still pretty big)VOB back to your MAC and bring it into compressor…. Use the settings for DVD best quality 90 min and I usually raise the VBR between 7.0-8.4 but this is up to you….. Import you M2v and Dolby 2.0 files into DVD studio…and burn away…

The line doubling is gone and it will great on both a DVD player and a computer..–

Again this may not work for everybody but if you have access to windows via Bootcamp/Parallels its may give you better results and its not too terribly hard to do…

In short I am using “Super(c)” to do my down scaling…and if I’m not mistaken I’m not really doing much extra compression going from VOB to M2V….again experiment with this and you may get better results….

worked awesome for me….

Let me know if this works for you :)….

[Jason Smolesky]

–oh and obviously you can use different conversions and get the same results maybe an h264 quicktime etc…since you still need to go back to compressor with this method it doesn’t really matter a ton which format you use…I just chose VOB on a short DVD… but try other formats and experiment- The Scaler in Super (c) is the whole reason for using it…
oh and sorry bout the typos…

[Bill Nelson]

Walter got it right, half-way up this thread…

BitVice

Just produced the SD DVD for our feature “Redemption: For Robbing The Dead” with that tiny one-trick app. Looks fabulous. I did have some questions about Video Purifier settings, and I’ll be danged if the app’s CREATOR Skyped me with the details! I have yet to hear from the coder from Apple.

Just sayin’

[Leon Johnson]

Just bought Bitvice today, but as yet unable to get suitable results from a couple of HD 1440×1080 test movies.

In Bitvice, I selected Command+5 from the settings menu, and NTCS 720×480 anamorphic.

After ENCODE, I brought the file into DVD Studio Pro, but results were somewhat jerky on the DVD.

If I can get the settings right, I want to bring in to BITVICE a 120 minute HD 1440×1080 file for conversion to m2v and DVD Studio Pro.

Can someone suggest settings or a screen grab of Bitvice to help me.

Thanks.

Leon Johnson
Johnson Video Productions

[John Martin]

Can’t you just use KONA hardware to output to an MPEG or do you have to dump to tape and recapture? That seems excessive and prone to minute flaws…

[John Martin]

So what is your HD to SD hardware down conversion solution???