Stock HD but I need SD! Have PP2. HELP!

[Darren Edwards]

Open an SD project, import the HD footage and downscale it.
We do it all the time in After Effects – with footage from
a Riot Act DVD, for example – when there’s simply more
detail in the scaled down HD version than there is in its
SD equivalent.

Warning:
You might find yourself with all kinds of PAR (pixel aspect
ratio) and ARC (aspect ratio conversion) issues once you’ve
downscaled the HD footage, but if it’s shot in progressive,
of the same FPS as your SD stuff, you might be in luck,
although you might have to do a little pan-and-scanning.

Darren.

x-gf.com

[Michael Schocker]

Piece of cake.
Just throw it on your standard def timeline and scale it down to fit the frame. Keep in mind that the quality will look much better then your original footage.
If you are in a 4×3 project you’ll have to decide if you want to letterbox it or chop the sides off.
If you are in a widescreen project it will scale perfectly to fit the frame.
Let me know if you have anymore questions reguarding this.

Problem solved.

mike

[Darren Edwards]

That’s what I said, didn’t I?

1080 or 720HD footage won’t ‘scale perfectly to fit the [SD] frame’
though, regardless of what ratio you’re SD footage is. There’ll
always be some slight pan-and-scanning involved. And if you’re
crowbarring progressive HD into an interlaced SD project, then
it’ll worsen your issues. It’s not the end of the world,
though, even if your combining HD/SD, PAL and NTSC footage…
Magic Bullet and After Effects both have pull-down and pull-
up options which will help ameliorate things.

D.

x-gf.com