Editing 720p
 

Hey, this might be a dumb question--but, what the hell everyone starts a thread with that saying. Oh well, anyay:

I'm shooting a film with an HD110 in 24p720. The question I have is . . . I want to retain the film in 24p720 for a possible film-out and the future, when hd dvd and/or bluray becomes more popular. However, for the time being, all I'm going to need is 24p480. So, what is the best way to go about this? I'll likely be capturing straight to a hard drive--or rather, I'll have the footage delivered to me on a hard drive--I won't be dealing with tapes.

So, do I just import the footage onto a 480 timeline and edit away? How would I recover the 720 resolution later on if I did that? I'm sure there is a very basic answer. Thanks.

Matt

Hello,

There are a couple of ways I can think of to deliver SD from an HDV timeline. First off, in Final Cut Pro, edit the entire project in a 720p24 sequence. Send the finished sequence to compressor and add a 4:3 MPEG2 setup with letterbox. If you don't like the letterbox look, then you can create a new SD 4:3 24p sequence and drop in to it the master HDV sequence. This idea will crop the edges of the finished master, but there will be no letter box. When you're ready for HD DVD or Blue-Ray, you can simply export the original HDV master sequence.

We've had to incorporate 720p30 HDV video with SD timelines before. As long as the cropping position works, the HDV in an SD timeline turns out looking great.

Hope that helps. Good luck,