We don't understand why you wouldn't let PP 2.0 do the encoding to MPEGII using their internal MainConcept Program?

If we have this right, YOU like to take the HDV footage, and ONLY use PP 2.0 to export the 720x480/29.97 stuff. And this is because you don't want PP 2.0 to do 720x480/29.97 AND encode to MPEG II at the same time?

It that's the reason, why?

PP 2.0 does a good job scaling but not encoding HDV content to MPEG2, in my experience.

The difference may be slight but it's there. It's the same reason why feature films are encoded to DVD by profesionals who use software to look at every frame of a film to decide how to best be encoded.

My point is, each software program looks at the file differenly when encoding for MPEG2. That's why there's freeware DVD tools and software that custom designed for studio use. The process of encoding is not as generic as people seem to think when coming down from an higher res format.

The best result for you will be to try it both ways and let your eyes be the judge.

PP 2.0 does a good job scaling but not encoding HDV content to MPEG2, in my experience.

The difference may be slight but it's there. It's the same reason why feature films are encoded to DVD by profesionals who use software to look at every frame of a film to decide how to best be encoded.

My point is, each software program looks at the file differenly when encoding for MPEG2. That's why there's freeware DVD tools and software that custom designed for studio use. The process of encoding is not as generic as people seem to think when coming down from an higher res format.

The best result for you will be to try it both ways and let your eyes be the judge.

So lastly, let me just understand YOUR workflow.

1. YOU film in HDV
2. You bring HDV into PP
3. You export using 29.97/720X480 to uncompressed AVI
4. You let ENCORE encode your audio file and avi file to MPEGII

Seems simple... Guess the only difference between our way and your way is that you didn't let PP encode to MPEGII, you let Encore do that.

We're testing this right this minute, I'll post back what I think of the resolution differences.

So lastly, let me just understand YOUR workflow.

1. YOU film in HDV
2. You bring HDV into PP
3. You export using 29.97/720X480 to uncompressed AVI
4. You let ENCORE encode your audio file and avi file to MPEGII

Seems simple... Guess the only difference between our way and your way is that you didn't let PP encode to MPEGII, you let Encore do that.

We're testing this right this minute, I'll post back what I think of the resolution differences.

Pretty much. The biggest issue to me in the HD world is still delivering in SD. Going from 1440x1080HD to 720x480SD is dropping a lot of picture info.

Not all programs are created equal when it comes to calculating what information is important to a particular scence.

I'd be curious to your results. keep us posted.

Well the verdict is in. But just exporting the entire MPEG2 file via Premier Pro 2.0 looks the best. It even looks better than going thru Cinema Craft.

Now... This could be because it's not a "movie". We have a white background, a perfectly set up 4 point lighting system, and are shooting HDV. It's very simple.

But exporting our audio and video out of premier gave us the sharpest, best color, etc image.

Just to clarify one further point - if you plan to export to an intermediate avi file that you will then encode, then:
- an uncompressed avi will lose no quality but will be a very large file;
- export using a Cineform-codec avi will retain almost all the quality and will be roughly 1/3rd (?) the size of uncompressed;
- export using a DV-codec avi will lose noticeably more quality and will be about 1/5th the size of uncompressed.

Quite a few of us use Cineform, at least for HDV editing, because it provides a very nice quality/size tradeoff.

Graham, what's the big deal about Cineform? Should I look into it?

It's faster, and uses less space. :)

I replied to your email, I didn't hear back from you though. Let me know.

Thanks,
Eric

One question since I actually use the Cinemacraft Basic, and this may be different from the SP version. There is actually an option for encoding within the basic directly to mpeg, where you don't even have to encode to an avi at all. Is this an option with the more expensive version(I cannot imagine that it is not, since the more expensive actually allows you to do multiple passes over two pass)?

If so, you would completely bypass the intermediate step altogether. Besides, from what I have observed, the results from Cinemacraft are not only much better(from my tests, tremendously!) but the Cinemacraft encoder is also much faster.

Just a thought and something else as far as options..