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HD to SD in FCP
Hi all. Quick question. Cut a music video using HD footage. Final output will be to DVCAM tape, so result needs to be 720×480. I’ve cut the thing in FCP in a simple, NTSC 720×480 timeline and, of course, everything looks lovely [and letterboxed, which is fine].
Problem is, I just exported it and watched in Quicktime, and there’s aliasing and color bleeding throughout. Yuck. Is there a better workflow or some magic codec that makes it all better? Do I have cut in an HD timeline, export that, then re-import into an SD timeline? In the meantime, I threw the sequence into Compressor to run overnight and crank out 4 different versions to see which looked best, including one using H.264 codec. Hopefully, nobody says I’ll have to go back and recut in an HD sequence, etc., as I’ve nested a few timelines into the main so I might have to redo 10 sequences as a result and not just one [i think].
Thanks, Dave.
David J. Smolar
Preditor
Creative Video of Washington
creativevideo.com
inbetweenthings.com -
5 Replies
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Hi David,
Should works fine as you are doing it.
Set Prores as your sequence codec, set Render in High Precision, and Render Motion effects: BEST.
This should improve things.
rafael -
Wait, you “cut” in HD, or you “cut” in SD, which is it? You make it sound like you first cut in an HD timeline and then copied all your shots to a SD timeline. And why is your SD timeline “letterbox?” HD is 16:9, and you can make a 16:9 timeline in an SD format.
1-what format did you shoot with?
2-what format did you capture with?Output to DV tape?
If it were me I’d post the entire thing in “HD,” whatever that means, in a ProRes codec, and then send it to Compressor to make my distribution format: DV tape, DVD, larger formats for the web, etc. That gives you the most quality, speed and control.
Non-linear: all the time and nothing but.
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[Robb] If it were me I’d post the entire thing in “HD,” whatever that means,
I agree, if you add HD footage to an SD timeline in FCP, FCP doesn’t do the best job converting it. It adds stair stepping. AJA will do a far better job doing an down conversion from HD to SD. Compressor will work as well. I cut my HD footage in a HD time line and down convert it last. Best of luck.
Check out my Motion Training DVD
Check out my Motion Tutorials
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Hi all and thanks for the input. My issue was that I was given HD footage to edit into a video that had to end up on DVCAM, i.e. had to end up SD in 720×480. So I had a choice of either editing the HD footage in an HD timeline, then sending it into Compressor to crunch down to letterboxed SD 720×480, or to do what I did which was to import the HD footage into an SD 720×480 timeline, letterbox it, cut it, and then find a codec that would make it look nice and smooth.
So I cut the HD footage in an SD timeline [letterboxed] and sent it into Compressor where I experimented with 4 different presets. The simple H.264 created the best-looking video in terms of movement, handling color [lots of bright red objects in this video] and various time effects I used. But next time, I’ll probably go with the smart folks here and cut the HD in a native HD timeline, then send that into Compressor…might get better quality and less hassle overall.
Thanks, Dave.
David J. Smolar
Preditor
Creative Video of Washington
creativevideo.com
inbetweenthings.com -
You double transcoded. Hd > DV (an awful SD codec)> H264. Going straight from HD > 720 x 480 H264 would look much cleaner.
DV will cause color bleed and blocking artifacts which just get worse when you then transcode that and crunch it down some more.
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