HDV downconvert to SD via Compressor...looks bad.
 

I know this has been adressed before but my HDV downconverts to SD (for DVD) look bad. It has bad stair stepping artifacts. I think it's a frame mode issue going from Upper Field to Lower field but I can't seem to find the best setting. I have installed the new Quicktime and also am using FCP 5.04. In compressor I use the preset for SD DVD 60 minutes better quality.

Anyone have new info on how to make this look good?

Thanks.

I've used this recipe successfully many times already. You are right, HD is upper field and SD is lower...thus some weird field jitter if you're not careful. Here's what I do:

-Export your HDV to QT
-Bring it into After Effects
-Option Click on file in AD and choose "Interpret Footage"
-Choose under seperate fields: "Upper field", "High Quality Edges" and at the bottom view as Sqare pixels
-Bring it into a new comp and set comp settings to 720 x 486
-Size it down (33.8%) to letter box
-Render out as Lower field, I use animation codec (lossless)

Now it's done and it can be brought back into FCP or other program.

It sounds harder than it is. Do it a couple times and it's very quick. It looks great.

Kevin

Compressor 2 has an automatic field dominance detector, but it doesn't always get it right if the first few frames are black.

So, after you drag your source file into compressor, click on it once to select it, and then view the inspector. If your HDV footage is from the JVC HD100, the "Native Field Dominance" should read "Progressive." If it is 1080i, it should read "Upper." If it is wrong, then just change it.

Once compressor knows the source field order, everything should look great. I used compressor this morning to convert 720P24 to "DVD: Best Quality 90 minutes 16:9" Mpeg2 and authored it in DVD Studio Pro. The DVD looks great.

Thanks guys. I'll try both of these processes. I've tried to set the field order in compressor but it seems to switch back to "off" sometimes. Also even when I set it to UPPER FIELD for the source and lower field for the output, it looks pretty bad. I had good luck taking the HDV timeline and making a DVCPRO50 file and then taking that and making an MPEG 2 but it seems like an extra step, like going the AE route.

While I'm asking...any other program that can do the HDV to MPEG2 compression other than Compressor? It just takes Soooooooo long with compressor.

Thanks.