how to downconvert to 4:3 SD from HDV timeline
 

While enjoying PP+AspectHD as a great editing experience with HDV, I am frustrated in delivering SD out from the HDV edits for broadcasting purpose. My aim is to produce PAL 4:3 SD, in DVD or avi. My computer does not have a video card (do I need one? if yes, will Matrox X100 be OK?). Tried all the combinations within the system without success. Can anyone please help out!

I could of course use SD DV output from Sony FX1, but that defeats the purpose of my using AspectHD.

Thanks for any guidance.

There are a couple of ways to do it. The biggest issue is the 16:9 to 4:3 conversion (assuming you want Pan&Scan not letterboxing.) One trick is to complete your 16:9 HD project, then import that project it into 4:3 DV project. You can use the motion panel to change your center point and zoom (pan & scan), then render from here to DV format. The resulting DV clip can be played back out to many common devices without custom hardware.

That would be very cumbersome, and not workable given we have TV programs to be made on daily basis.

Is there any plug-in or functionality hidden somewhere that would enable me to render out as 4:3 SD direct from HDV timeline?

Thanks

The above suggestion is very fast. It takes only moments if you don't wish to change the center position. You can even nest the sequences to set the scale for an entire project. It is a two minute job -- if that.

The results are the best when you export the timeline using the mainconcept codec to go straight to DVD format. Although I have exported straight to DV with good results


Mike

Thanks, David.
But what are other possible ways of doing it (you used the words "a couple of ways to do")?

Mike,
does Mainconcept give you 4:3 SD (DVD or DV) straight from the HDV timeline? If yes, can I get it to work in conjunction with AspectHD on the same timeline so that I can have benefits of both - efficient editing of AspectHD and straight to 4:3 SD with Mainconcept?

Appreciate your help.

You can export to dvd not DV from mainconcept from the same timeline, but it looks great.


Mike

Look over the workflows the first proposal is the best. You can try using the Adobe Media Encoder (AME) -- but it scaling engine is broken for 1.33:1 pixels (Sony HDV.) You can work around that with a series of deinterlacers, scalers, and the crop tool with AME (fighting your way from 16:9 to 4:3). Remember Adobe wants to preserve the 16:9, so it defaults to letterboxing (which I'm guessing you don't want -- although you haven't said this.) If you want letterboxing it is very easy. You could also export to CFHD (the whole time) then use VirtualDub or AfterEffect to do your crop and reformat (there you have full control.) 16:9 to 4:3 conversion (without letterbox) is simply not a Premiere function, yet my first suggestion does work (it is a neat trick to learn.)

Letter boxing is indeed not what we would like to have.

Tried the trick you taught. Yes it worked but the resulting image quality is far below our expectations. Maybe we could just use the SD output from FX1 which would be straightforward.

Thanks for all the tips.

If there are any ways of outputing to 4:3 SD straight from AspectHD/PP timeline with image quality visibly superier to a normal SD workflow, I would be most interested in learning. Even if that means I need to procure additional card, I will have no hesitation in doing so.

Cheers.