HDV and down convert or SD from the start?
 

Hi
I´m off to shoot a TV pilot that will be viewed or broadcast in SD.
I haven´t used my H1 much yet and I only shot HD so far so I´m not sure what is the way to go;

Shoot HD and down convert afterwards OR

Shoot SD from the start.

I´m inclined to shoot HD then down convert because then at least I have the best possible image to start with.

If I do this is it better to edit or down convert from the camera when capturing?

Any thoughts ?

My SD workflow with the H1 is to shoot 1080i and capture from my deck or the SDI port on the camera as Uncompressed 10bit SD via Kona LHe. I shot a bunch of commercials that way and it really looked great.

Vince

That sounds like a good workflow, but I will hand over tapes to the production company and they will be captured from a tape deck.
Sounds like I should shoot HDV though

Joachim,
I would shoot 1080i, capture, edit in HDV timline, export back to tape HDV, then use the downconvert function on the xl h1 to make a sd-tape master.

In fact that what I use to do when I deliver any for NRK. They don't deal with anything which named HDV!

Hei. Thanks for your input Per. This is for TV3 and we´ll deliver in SD.
Problem is that I would have to use my camera to down convert and I´m not editing. I also need my camera for another shoot.
I really think I have to get a HV-20 for situations like these. Then I could drop off the HV-20 at the production company for them to use as a deck

Update:
I got a HV20 to use as a VTR in the end. Your way seems to be the best way of getting good SD from HDV. I´ve tried to downconvert using different software (FCP and Premiere) and they always show some artifacts in the picture.

I just looked at an action sequence (skiing) at my 42" TV using the HV20 as playback deck.
First the original footage, HDV 50i over HDMI. Looks great, really clean picture. This was shot at night and lit and the blacks were very clean (0db).

Then I looked at the sequence again. This time it had been downconverted from camera to a DV timeline in FCP, then printed back to tape in DV mode using the HV20.

I used the component cable to watch the footage on my TV.
A little softer, the colours bit more dull, and some jagged lines on some pillars that were in frame, but not more than I see watching cable on the TV.

It looked a lot better than when downconverted using software.
BUT, there maybe settings for downconverting I haven´t tried that could give a good result. (Problem is, it just takes too long to figure out)

I will stick to downcoverting using the camera for now. If anyone have a good way of doing it using software, feel free to let me know