Don Greening |
March 6th, 2010 01:09 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyle McConaghy
(Post 1495680)
just curious why 1080p looks so bad in a final cut 720p sequence. anyone have any ideas?
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You might try using Compressor instead of FCP to do your 1080 downconvert. Compressor will give you more control over the conversion process, including the very important "Frame Controls". Make sure this is turned on in Compressor when you're downconverting from a larger frame size. Set the frame control preferences to one level below the very best of everything. These lower quality settings won't have much effect at all on the overall quality of the conversion but will make a HUGE difference in the time it takes to DO the conversion.
Some people (including myself) feel that the XDCAM EX codec is fine for acquisition but not the best for all editing scenarios. For projects where the frame size will not be changed, minimal graphics used, not combined with other types of footage, etc. then editing in XDCAM EX is fine as long as your sequence renders are set to Pro Res.
In your case I would recommend creating a straight Pro Res 720p sequence, do your 1080 downconvert in Compressor and transcode to Pro Res. Drop your XDCAM 720p clips directly into the Pro Res sequence, render a few seconds of that and view the result. If it looks good then just wait until final output to render the 720p stuff. The big reason to use an iframe codec like Pro Res is the time saved because every time you edit something in the native long GOP codec FCP has to "conform" the edit which takes a lot longer than when editing in the "iframe" Pro Res or even DVCPRO HD 720p.
- Don
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