I ran some tests today and uploaded the results at the following URL, along with some comments about my conclusions from doing this. If anyone has any suggestions for dealing with the stair-stepping artifacts noted when encoding from HDV to SD MPEG2, let me know.

http://www.videomem.com/HDV/encoding_tests/comparison.htm

Kevin,
I just tried using your sources with Aspect HD, and I don't get that stair stepping. It that error must be in your Canopus settings. You can compare a straight DVD encode using Aspect HD and Premiere Pro 1.5.1 to your samples here : www.cineform.com/downloads/AHD-DVD.zip. DVDs produced from HD sources look better than a DV to DVD workflow.

Kevin,

Some more information about the actual settings used when you encoded would throw some light on why you are getting certain results.

The bit-rates (variable or fixed as well as the sizes set for max. or min), interlaced or progressive and what sort of blend mode, would be a good beginning.

Also whether you utilised the m2t directly or whether you utilised a CFHD avi, or a proxy based workspace, would be worthwhile knowing...

There's also the variable of your viewing hardware and associated settings.

Interesting anyway...

Some more information about the actual settings used when you encoded would throw some light on why you are getting certain results.

I dropped the source files into Edius and encoded directly to the stated formats using Procoder Express with a CBR of 7500 Kbps and other standard encoding settings. For the MPEG2 files the output was interlaced, lower field first; for Windows Media it was progressive. In one example I converted the source file to the Canopus HQ intermediate format before encoding, which didn't seem to make any difference. Kinda looks to me like a flaw in Canopus' algorithm for converting from HDV to SD MPEG2, but perhaps there's some other explanation.

There's also the variable of your viewing hardware and associated settings.

Interesting thought. I could try playing some DVDs from other sources to see if I get the same phenomenon.