Dvfilm Atlantis

[Bryce Comer]

Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone out there is using dvfilm Atlantis for converting any of your footage. I have a project to do over the winter here in Canada, but my cam is a Pal version XH A1 so unless i send it in to be upgraded to record in 60i/30p/24p (3-4 weeks to look at it, & they won't even quote me a price) then the only option i have is to use a conversion program. I have been trying Atlantis, & it seems to be very good, but i have a few questions to anyone that might be able to help.
Thanks,
Bryce

[Bryce Comer]

Ok, here is my problem, hopefully someone can help me out.
As i have said, i have a Pal camera. The footage i need to deliver needs to be in an NTSC equivalent. DVFlim Atlantis seems to do a great job of this, however, output is my problem at the moment. In the settings for the program you can output in .mov or .avi (uncompressed) Problem is, if i output to uncompressed .avi, the file size is huge, infact the one i'm playing around with is only 10secs long (35mb in it's original .m2t file), but comes in at around 3.3 gig after output. Is there a codec/setting i can output to that will keep the quality of the clip, but give me a reasonable file size? Would output to a quicktime file be a better option? Everything i have tried so far doesn't seem to yeald the results i am after. Ieally i guess, i would encode it to YUV but i don't seem to have that option.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Bryce

[Joel Davis]

Hi Bryce,

I don't have any answers for you on the Dvfilm Atlantis even though I did try it when i was doing my Pal to NTSC conversions on my last DVD. I ended up using AviSynth for my conversion, it took me a while trawling through forums to find a good script but in the end the result was perfect and it didn't cost me anything.

This was not HD but I'm sure it can be used for HD too.

[Bryce Comer]

Hi Joel,
thanks for the info, i will look in to AVIsynth. Maybe i can do it that way. What were you outputting to for a codec? In Atlantis i have the option of uncompressed .avi, or quicktime. I am trying to get a codec as close to the original in size & quality as possible.

Bryce

[Joel Davis]

From memory It was straight out of premiere (frameserving) into TMPGEnc via avisynth. Output was mpeg2 format ready for authoring.

Its been a while since I did this.

[John Estcourt]

have you considered recording in 25F then capturing with cineform, converting to 24p during capture. works great for me with hd

[Vasco Dones]

Bryce,

just FYI, the dual-standard upgrade to the A1 cost me
(here in the US) $500. It's definitely worth all the money,
if you have to deliver an NTSC final product to a client.
Atlantis does a nice job (I use it quite frequently to convert my PAL
stuff to NTSC for screening in the States), but it's not the same thing
as shooting NTSC. You notice the loss of quality
especially where there are moving objects or during pans:
25 fps are not 30fps: as simple as that - and there is no amount
of wizardry, Atlantis-wise, that can make all differences disappear...

Just my 2 cents..
Best

Vasco

[Bryce Comer]

Thanks all for the responses,
Joel & John, i will give your ideas a go to see how it works out.
Vasco, thanks for the input, i would love to simply send my camera off, but at this point in time, i simply don't have the time, i will be starting to shoot in the next couple of days, so for the moment it looks like a software solution is the only option for me.

Thanks again,
Bryce