CS4/Cineform -> SD-DVD?
 

Using HDLink to import 1080i/60 from my XH-A1s, I'm able to start with relatively good looking video on my CS4 time-line. (Gotta love FirstLight when recordings are less than stellar!)

While following various threads on the topic of HD-to-SD-DVD, I decided to experiment with the various combinations of TMPGenc Xpress (trial), VirtualDub, Debugmode Frameserver as described by Jon Geddes and a couple of others. (Environment is Vista64/i7 with ATI Radeon 4870, 6GB RAM and several TBs of disc)

A 70-minute CS4 timeline took nearly 16 hrs to render using the Frameserver/VirtualDub scenario and the net results are pretty good, but it seems that using VirtualDub to deinterlace and resize a Cineform AVI (using Cineform codec) out of AME is as good or better than the long process.

Also, if I use TMPGenc's Authoring Works 4 to create the SD-DVD without using TMPGenc Xpress to create the mpg vs. using the AVI rendered from VirtualDub with the Cineform 1440X1080 AVI as the source for VirtualDub, I cannot visually detect any difference between the end-products....such as authoring from mpg out of Xpress or straightaway from the Vdub AVI.

Can anyone explain if or why I should I move the 720X480 AVI to "mpg" via TMPGenc Xpress before authoring or is that unnecessary, perhaps because the TMPGenc Authoring program does that on the fly?

My senior-citizen brain doesn't seem to be able to keep all the nuances together, so thanks in advance to anyone who can/will help simply/clarify what I want to do: get the best possible SD-DVD when using CS4/Cineform to handle the capture/editing from the Canon 1080i/60 source.

Dave Nuttall
San Antonio, TX

Hi Dave,

I'm not familiar with TMPG's Authoring Works, but you'll find a lot of users of their Enc 4.0 Express around here.

I was excited to hear that Frameserver was now functional with CS4, but the render times pretty much make it a moot point for my workflow.

I render a master CFHD file, take that into TMPGEnc. Encoding aside.... it does a superior job of scaling and deinterlacing (if that's part of your formula) than the hapless AME.

You can use its presets to output a very nice MPEG2 and AC3 set. Data rates are easily set if you need anything less than 8000 kb/s.

Then take those files into your authoring program.

This workflow not only achieves the best looking DVD ingredients (to my eye), but it does so relatively quickly.... and you have a resultant CFHD master output file for your archive.

Yes, at less than 3fps (avg 2.5 as I recall) it makes a big deal out of what seems to be not such a big problem when you throw VirtualDub or TMPGenc Xpress at the CFHD output from AME.

I got similar results from the trial version of TMPGenc but was surprised by the visual equivalency of using VirtualDub with TMPGenc authoring. I guess I'll go ahead and purchase the TMPGenc Xpress instead of tweaking the VirtualDub parameters!

I'm seeing approximately 1GB/minute of run-time, whether raw input from the camera or AME output using the Cineform codec. Does that track with your experience, Marty?

double post removed.