HDV 1080 60i into SD timeline

[Rafael Amador]

Hi Brendan
Set “Render all YUV material in High Precision” and “Render Motion Effects: BEST”.
Set 8/10b Un or Proress as the sequence codec.
Make a test and see how it looks.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Brendan Pyatt]

Thanks. Maybe these setting helped a little but not perfect.

I am working with HDV and SD footage and it seems I can get better result by up-rezing the SD footage to HDV than down-rezing the HDV to SD! This just doesn’t make sense to me.

The final project is to be a SD DVD and I know the client will not be happy with how the HDV footage looks.

[Rafael Amador]

[Brendan Pyatt] “I am working with HDV and SD footage and it seems I can get better result by up-rezing the SD footage to HDV than down-rezing the HDV to SD! This just doesn’t make sense to me. “
Up-resizing is always a more complicated operation. You need to create new pixels instead of discharging them.
Also I don’t see the point to upsize to downsize after.
Try Compressor. Will make a very good job but you need to set the “Control Frame: ON”.
Rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Brendan Pyatt]

Hi,
I am glad you agree that down sizing the HDV footage to SD is better than up sizing the SD footage to HDV.

However I still cannot find a decent set of settings to down size HDV into SD.

Using the points you mentioned in your earlier post and using info on this page on the ‘bonsai’ method:
https://www.produxion.net/2008/04/08/hd-to-sd-conversion-the-holy-grail/

I have results that are ok but still the dv footage looks much better than the down sized HDV footage.

I have tried Compressor, including using Frame Controls and whilst this produces nice looking results when viewed in QT when I import the file into FCP DV timeline it is poor.

I have been going round and round in circles with this for a few days now.

[Ken Jones]

Have you rendered the HD footage? HD in an SD timeline looks awful unless it has been fully rendered.
Also – when you drop the HD footage into your SD timeline FCP automatically adds a “Shift Fields” filter to the HD clip.

[Brendan Pyatt]

“Have you rendered the HD footage? HD in an SD timeline looks awful unless it has been fully rendered.” – Yes.
“Also – when you drop the HD footage into your SD timeline FCP automatically adds a “Shift Fields” filter to the HD clip.” – I noticed it has done this – does this effect the picture quality in anyway? I figured I should just leave this alone – thought FCP knows better than I do!

[Ken Jones]

[Brendan Pyatt] “”Have you rendered the HD footage? HD in an SD timeline looks awful unless it has been fully rendered.” – Yes.

Just checking. Some people have their preferences set to always play back everything in real time no matter the playback quality. You might humor me and check to see if “Sequence>Render All>Unlimited” is selected.

[Brendan Pyatt] “Also – when you drop the HD footage into your SD timeline FCP automatically adds a “Shift Fields” filter to the HD clip.” – I noticed it has done this – does this effect the picture quality in anyway? I figured I should just leave this alone – thought FCP knows better than I do!”

The “Shift Fields” filter should make the footage higher quality. I just wanted to make sure it was being added.

[Brendan Pyatt]

Checked the render settings and it was ticked but I unticked it and it didn’t need rendering.

In the sequence settings what should Field Dominance be set to?

[Ken Jones]

IIRC field dominance for DV NTSC should be “lower”. If you create a new sequence and select an easy setup it will show you the correct field dominance.

[Zane Barker]

[Brendan Pyatt] “How do I get my HDV 1080 60i captured using AIC into a SD NTSC (anamorphic) timeline and make it look as good as it can? “

What are your timeline settings for the “SD” timeline. Not all flavors of SD are equal. For example DV-NTSC is much worse then DV50.

There are no “technical solutions” to your “artistic problems”.
Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity!