SD to HDV
 

This may have been covered elsewhere, but if it has I can't find it, and it's something most of us will have to deal with at some point...

I am shooting two projects with the H1 in which I will need to integrate a small amount of DV footage shot previously with my DSR300 (4x3) and XL2 (16x9)...

Is there a software sollution for this, either existing or in the wings? If not, what are the hardware options?

As I said, I'm shooting HDV with the H1, my deck is the Sony SOHVRM10U, I'm editing (currently) on a G4 1.25 dual (Final Cut 5.0.4), have a G5 quad on the way. Anyone got any ideas? Steve Rosen

There are probably lots of ways to skin this cat. You might want to start by opening your SD footage in Quicktime and re-exporting it in another size. I think exporting from FCP will let you do the same thing (it's based on QT). FCP is so powerful I wouldn't be surprised if it would let you just import the SD stuff and automatically uprez it for you so you might want to spend some time cruising the FCP documentation.

Thanks for your reply.. I did try that, and it looks okay, but not as good as it looks on the same screen directly from an SD timeline... I would hope that now (or soon) there would be a way to keep the resolution...

I realize that it won't intercut seamlessly with the HDV footage, but it isn't necessary in this case... I just want to be able to use it without sacrificing any quality... I've read several articles/reviews of Kona products, but that would apparently require a more sophisticated deck...

I would prefer a software sollution, since the footage is already in the computer, but would consider any option that preserves or improves resolution... Steve Rosen

I've actually been surprised how well nicely shot DV will scale up to HD in Final Cut Pro. All I did was resize it up and it looked pretty decent still. Of course, your 4 x 3 ftg will still be 4 x 3.

KW

Not that powerful...
 

...as I know, you cant mix HDV and SD clips in the same seqence in FCP, as you can on AVID (I think thats the one, using FCP myself) or others...

Sure you can, just not real time. You'll just have to render it.

KW

Kevin: Did you resize it in the timeline or export it as an HDV QT movie? I exported mine, and, as I said, it looks pretty good, but not as good as the original. Just want to know what my options are...

I just resized in the timeline. Any time you blow something up to 2-3 times it's original size, it's definitely not going to look "as good." There are definitely different solutions that scale in different ways, but I don't know how much better it'll really get than just scaling it up in the timeline in FCP.

There will be many headaches like this over the next couple years as we make the transition to HD content!

Hope it helps.

KW

Helps a lot, thanks.. and yes, there will be many headaches, and other parts aching as well... the cutting edge is sharp...

FYI: Just tried resizing (I think it was 226%) and it does look better than the export...

Avid Liquid
 

Steve, I am running Avid Liquid 7.0, and you can mix SD an HD content on the same timeline without any rendering!
In fact you can edit DV, MPEG I-frame, MPEG IBP, uncompressed SD, Windows Media, DIVX and MPEG-4, as well as HDV, in the same timeline.

Downside are that this NLE run only on PC.

You may read more her:
http://www.avid.com/products/liquid/

- Per Johan

I would guess FCP is moving this way, too. Look for it at NAB in FCP6, be it Extreme or not. This FCP SHOULD be the total, groundup rebuild we've been waiting for that is optimized for the OS. One of the new things will hopefully be mixing resolutions in the timeline.

KW