Rendering 1080i to 720p SD

[Mike Velte]

Check out this thread on the Adobe forum. They are talking one hour to render one minute of HDV to SD and without a convoluted workaround the results are poor. Downconverting in the camera on capture will speed this up back to “normal”, but the resized fields look poor. Shoot in SD.

[Mike Velte]

https://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b5b2fb/49

[Tim Kolb]

Is it HD or HDV 1080i?

Also…720p is still considered HiDef…are you burning BluRay?

…or do you mean 720×480 SD?

What happens if you simply choose to go progressive on your NLE timeline? (select the clips and specify “progressive” or “frame” mode?

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

CPO, Digieffects

[Randy Kish]

Thanks to both of you for asking good questions and showing me direction. Since I’m very new to this, I know I’m going to make elementary mistakes, such as in this case.
To answer your question(s), I’m shooting in HDV 1080i. I do mean 720 x 480, not 720p. I thought I was saving space in my post but instead ended up causing some confusion.
Honestly, I think that I made a dumb mistake by not setting my in/out markers. I stopped the render and looked over my settings, made sure that the in/out markers were set and re-rendered using the same settings as before: NTSC progressive widescreen high quality 720 x 480. The rendering time went down to 3 1/2 hours for a 1 1/2 hour production (from 48 hours).
Mike, I am going to follow-up and read the Adobe Forum thread. Mike and Tim, thanks for helping out with such professional response. As I progress in my knowledge, I know that I’ll be back often and hopefully can help others.

P.S. – I’ll be sure to shoot in SD if I plan to produce in SD. Seems like common sense. Silly me.

Randy

[Tim Kolb]

[Randy Kish] “P.S. – I’ll be sure to shoot in SD if I plan to produce in SD. Seems like common sense.”

Not necessarily… Acquiring in HD is probably best for anything you expect to be a resource in the future. I tend to nudge toward all HD acquisition. Reducing resolution to use HD in an SD project is still easier and more effective than expanding an SD clip for the reverse scenario…

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

CPO, Digieffects

[David Dobson]

I agree. Capturing in HDV for SD is a good idea. Better picture all around. There is some render time at the end, but that’s a good reason to go to bed…so I plan all my BIG renders for overnight. Also, for interviews, it’s like having 2 cameras, with the ability to “zoom” in on the subject, and avoiding nasty jump cuts.