Downconvert out of MC
 

Okey, so this is a total newbie post but after a few search's around the place i couldn't really find any posts that explained what i wanted.

So i've owned a sony Z1 for a few months now, mainly shooting DVCAM as that's the format most of my clients want. I've also shot some HDV for a couple companies who then go away and do their thing with it.

Previously i've been cutting all my SD on FCP on my IMAC 2Ghz 2 gigs pre intel. Not the fastest machine out there but does the job for SD. Anyway, have recently upgraded to MC software as over this year i've become a total avid editor and dont even want to think about having to go back to FCP.

Okey background over. Never really working with HDV in Avid im still unsure on the best way to down convert out of it. I've exported straight out as dv pal (shooting 50i here) but it looks terrible, could just be me comparing it to HDV however.

After some more fiddling i changed the project type to 25i and then transcoded the whole project to dv420. Exported that and it looks so much better than the previous exports. Yay for I frames.

Although it came out as stretched 4:3 (all good can easily be delt with in compressor and dvd studio pro) Im guessing this is the standard way of downconverting out of MC?

Looks like i've probably answered my own question but if someone could just let me know im going in the right direction that'd be awesome.

Cheers and sorry for the long post.

Joe

downconverting hdv
 

Joe,
i am working with hdv on MC adrenaline Hd, but this will work also in your case -
(when using software only MC)

work in hdv mode normally during all process - digitizing, editing..., then when you are finished with your work - make mixdown of your sequence in HDV resolution (DNxHD 120 i think - i am not in front of avid now). and then export this mixdown as QT reference. still using that same HDV resolution(DNxHD). then use your DVD program to make pal resolution product. (of course your program must support QT reference files!!!)

in my case - it looks FAR better then downconwerting in earlier states.

all the best,

filip

p.s. tell me about your results/tests with this approach if you find it interesting.