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Upconvert
Hi, just a few more questions about upconverting that are puzzling me:
1. If I am working with SD footage, and HD footage in the same timeline, then when I export to HD, doesnt Final Cut convert all the timeline into the HD format?
2. If I have footage in video clips on Data storage drive, do I need to get the footage transferred to DV, then upconverted? Or just Upconvert straight to another file, then import that without DV tape?
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8 Replies
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[Josh Evans] “1. If I am working with SD footage, and HD footage in the same timeline, then when I export to HD, doesnt Final Cut convert all the timeline into the HD format? “
Technically, yes. Nicely? Not really. Better to upconvert with a Terranex…but that is costly. Kona 3 is better, but costly too. Compressor does a great job, and takes time. Instant HD is supposed to do good too…www.redgiantsoftware.com.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD now for sale!
http://www.LFHD.net
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I”m not sure what you mean by question #1 but regarding question #2 you will not need to convert SD material to DV to integrate it into the HD timeline. I’m not sure what kind of SD material it is at this point (Beta, DV, Digibeta, Uncompressed, etc.).
The best way I’ve found to integrate SD material is to do a TRUE up convert. You need special equipment to do that like a Teranex. That equipment multiplies the pixel count and really makes it look good. If you just bring in SD material into an HD timeline you will not get the same result since you will only have about 1/6 of the pixels needed for HD. Of course there may be a new and better way of doing this that is much less expensive. I would be interested in what our other Cow Friends have to say.
Richard Martz
MagicMartz MediaFinal Cut Pro HD
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OK,
thanks for those replies…I guess my REAL question is this:
If I realise and dont mind that my SD footage will look less sharp than my HD footage, I gather that it is perfectly OK to include it in my HD timeline, and it will all be playable on HD tv, but the SD sections will just be lower resolution. But there will be no compatibility problems when watching it on HD TV? Its old footage, so i dont think it will matter if it looks blurry and low pixel count.
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It’ll play fine…
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD now for sale!
http://www.LFHD.net
Read my blog! -
But… you will have to resize the 4:3 images to 16:9.
Richard Martz
MagicMartz MediaFinal Cut Pro HD
Kona LH
After Effects
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Illustrator
Lots of other Fun Stuff! -
[Richard Martz] “But… you will have to resize the 4:3 images to 16:9.”
Depends on what you’re doing. PBS for example forbids this practice along with many other networks. You must retain the 4:3 aspect ratio of the original SD footage. You cannot stretch the video to fill the 16:9 space.
PBS requires a pillarbox, or black on both sides.
Some networks require a graphic or something else to fill the 16:9 space.
Just depends on who you’re delivering to that decides what to do with the rest of the 16:9 space.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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True, True, very True.
Richard Martz
MagicMartz MediaFinal Cut Pro HD
Kona LH
After Effects
PhotoShop
Illustrator
Lots of other Fun Stuff! -
Thank you all for replying, this has been something Ive wondered about for a long time. So I guess in the end, so long as I am happy with showing sections that are lower in quality to the rest of the program, and so long as the network i sell to has no issues with it either, then I can use old SD footage without paying or doing anything extra!
Thanks again guys,
J.
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