HD > SD - the best way!
 

I have 5 minutes of HD video 1080/50i from FCP that I need to convert to SD PAL 16:9 with the best result possible.

How do I do that? Just use Compressor or is there a better way?

Can the interlaced video be converted to progressive and still look good (or maybe look better?) How?

Bjorn

With NTSC 1080 60i I used the "best quality 90 minutes 16:9" preset in Compressor with amazing results.

Never tried deinterlacing for output to TV, but I've deinterlaced 1080 60i footage to Quicktime for conversion to FLV for Web. I used compressor for interlace and it worked great.

I do this in After Effects. Interpret footage (seperate fields correctly) and make movie from there with whatever settings. This de-interlaces... I'm not sure if it's the BEST way.