Project Settings
 

What do you guys use for project settings when working on HDV 60i video? I will be converting these to a dvd eventually.
What do you use for deinterlace setting?
thanks in advance.

Hi Andy

There are so many threads on this topic that I have read I'm even confused. However the norm seems to be HDV 1440x1080 60i in Vegas and then set your de-interlacing to "Interpolate" so when you render to SD the footage is rendered in the usual Lower Field first and you don't get any field problems.

To be perfectly honest I STILL find that if I'm going to DVD there is very little between transcoding your footage down to SD first. I have done HDV to SD and then HDV transcoded to DV-AVI and to SD and on a brand new 42" LCD HDTV it's pretty hard to see the difference. Watch it without a comparison clip as a reference and there is no way you can say whether it's transcoded or not. HDV to BluRay is another story completely of course but I prefer the speed of edit and rendering if I'm going the DVD route!!!

Chris

I too, am agonising over this Andy and I checked in Vegas help for "Interpolate" and lo & behold it actually had a comment, but it did quote :

"Interpolating a field will reduce the resolution of your video."

I then put in "Blend" as it is another option in Vegas, but there is no mention of it in Help. However, I am using "Blend" at the moment and it seems OK.

RonC.

Hi Ron

I was originally de-interlacing before the footage went into Vegas and I was told..you will lose resolution by doing this!!! The author said that if you de-interlace in Vegas and use the interpolate setting you don't lose any resolution. Now I have no idea who is right??? Blend is only supposed to be used for low motion video I'm told????

I eventually gave up and I'm currently using MainConcept to transcode my AVCHD footage directly to PAL Widescreen SD....then I edit and render at lightning speed. Quality??? It looks brilliant!!! I'm sure that there IS a resolution loss this way BUT will anyone notice it??? I doubt it..I had to look VERY hard to see any difference between HDV to SD, AVCHD to SD and transcoded SD to SD. (All on a 42" HDTV) Without anything to compare to I doubt whether anyone would jump up and say "Aha!! you have transcoded your footage"

We tend to get way too technically involved with our footage and all the viewer does is look at the content!!! When I hand a wedding DVD over to a bride she "oohs and aahs" over the bridesmaids and herself on screen and is more than delighted!!! She more than likely doesn't even know what "resolution" means!!!

In my opinion HD needs to be rendered as HD and played on an HDTV ... let's face it, HD rendered down to SD is always going to be a compromise and I have yet to read any clear cut way of putting a decent amount of footage on a standard DVD that looks absolutely outstanding compared to normal SD.

Hopefully someone will post a "Eureka" post and we can all have a simple way to shoot is HD and have sparkling footage with virtually no loss and play it on a DVD player!!

Chris

I don't now if this is a "Eureka" post but John Meyer posted an excellent tutorial in the My workflow for HDV to SD projects thread on the Sony Vegas forum.

Thanks Mike

John's post was actually on how to downconvert 1440x1080 to 4:3 SD!!!

Admittedly there are plenty of theories about which method is best but they all seem to have a very complicated workflow which is fine if you are just doing a DVD for yourself but most of the suggested workflows are not really practical for situations where you need to get the footage into the editor and get it out fast!!! I have brides jumping up and down waiting for their DVD so I really don't have the time to go thru long a time consuming processes to squeeze a few more pixels from the process.

Your contribution was much appreciated anyway!!

Chris