HDV to SD, any recommendations?
 

I will be editing a short film that was taped with a Sony Z1U in 1080i60 mode. There are no plans for this to go out to film or to Blu-ray, so there are no immediate advantages to keeping in HDV. Besides, my machine -- an aged Apple G4 dual-867 MDD using FCP 5.1.4 -- is not what I would call "HDV compliant."

I'm planning to work in a somewhat off-line capacity, but with the best SD quality I can get. The idea the director and I have is to make something great in SD (I assume letterboxed, not anamorphic, correct?), then (if it gets picked up) go to HDV when there is money to upgrade or rent a suite.

What would be the best workflow and options? Would I downconvert during capture, or capture and then downconvert. What would be the best encoding settings (data rate, etc)?

This is my first foray into HDV editing.

Capture from the camera in DV downconversion mode and edit in anamorphic. Unless you have hard drive space issues, capture in top DV quality. Everything will be easy from there on. Make your DVD in 16:9 mode and let the viewer's DVD player figure out whether to play back in wide or letterbox.

Buying a new computer will probably be cheaper than renting an edit suite unless you need to experience of an editing pro to finish the project properly.