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Mixed Media Project Settings Help Requested
I have been gathering footage for over 4 years for a documentary project.
The footage has been captured on various different cameras and as a result I am having trouble figuring out how best to handle all of the footage now that I am at the editing phase of the project.
The footage is as follows:DVX-100 (4×3 not letterboxed)
DVX-100 (letterboxed)
Sony HDV (1080i)
JVC-ProHD (720/30P)I have not yet been able to work with the 1080i Sony footage as we made the major mistake of capturing it all on a Final Cut system with the intention of bringing it into the Premiere Pro (2.0) system only to discover that it is all but impossible, so we will be renting a deck to capture that footage into the Premiere system soon enough.
In the interim, I have been trying to figure out what the best way to get all of the footage which is not letterbox or HD to look good with the HD footage.
So far the best I have been able to do is to bring all of the video into a project using the JVC settings (1280×720) and then scale the other (4×3 and letterboxed DVX-100) footage accordingly to fit.
The problem is that the (4×3) DVX-100 footage looks dull and lifeless when scaled up to fit into the 1280×720 workspace.
The DVX-100 footage which WAS shot using the letterbox function in camera looks great when scaled up to the 1280×720 workspace.
This was all tested exporting a small (1280×720) project time line with the 3 different formats to DVD and watching it on a 50″ plasma.
I know that the pixel aspect ratio is 0.9 for all of the DVX footage and 1.0 for all of the JVC footage, but the hit seems to be more obvious when scaling non letterboxed 0.9 footage?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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4 Replies
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Ppro is not good with handling different media/resolution sources. I’ve noticed its up/down conversion is poor and has noticeable degradation.
You might want to use After effect for converting to your final output format or to the uncompressed AVI file if you have storage/processing power.
As alternative you may use Avid media composer which works like a charm with different media/resolution sources for better results. -
If I were you, I would look into one of the 3rd party products that scale SD into HD frame sizes. That would allow you to scale up the 4:3 DV into 1280X720 a bit better. Of course you lose the top and bottom of the image.
Take a look at ReSizer and InstantHD
I would create the 1280X720 project and import all of the previously captured or scaled up footage into that.
Steven
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Hi Steven,
Thanks for those links, are these applications you have used yourself with good results?
They are certainly affordable, especially InstantHD @ $99.00
Let me know, thanks! -
Sorry, no. I got the information second hand from other users. But since there are free trials, give them a shot. Go with the most expensive first to get an idea of what is possible. Then try the least expensive. If it is just as good, you have your answer. If it is almost as good, you have a decision to make.
It is pretty subjective, so you will have to judge your footage yourself.
Steven
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