getting much sharper SD results from your HD footage

[Paul Frederick]

I have an AJA Kona card, I output from FCP to a Sony CRT XBR 34" HD monitor. It looks GREAT! It's the only way I've been able to get it to look great on a real TV! I've also made DVDs using this method and played them on other monitors. Again, it looks nice and clean, no exagerated jagged edges to everything.

Give it a try with a short clip or two!

[Nathan Nazeck]

From FCP I just export to ProRes and drag that file into compressor. Drag one of the standard Dvd settings onto it and you get beautiful progressive anamorphic video that many people think is HD. Played on a progressive scan player hooked up the right way its just amazing.

[Dave Morrison]

Nathan, I've never exported as ProRes. What file format is it....mov?

[Nathan Nazeck]

Originally Posted by Dave Morrison

Nathan, I've never exported as ProRes. What file format is it....mov?

Yeah, they come out as .mov files. Its essentially an Quicktime codec but the quality is fantastic (even if you don't use the HQ setting) just watch out for the file sizes, they are huge! something like 60gigs an hour at the non-HQ setting

[Nathan Nazeck]

So many people have flat panels now I've just started sending out nothing but anamorphic Dvd's. I put a little explanation in there with the Dvd in case someone's Dvd player isn't set right...

[Bruno Demeocq]

Most of the times coming from HD (XDCAM 25P) to SD (DV) , taking all the files In FCP from the HD Timeline to the SD one, I have to resize most of the animation, graphic layers (adobe), etc.... How do U manage that ?
Sometimes, in fact I'am doing two times a part of the job in HD to deliver DVD and in SD to deliver DVCAM tape.

Bruno

[Sverker Hahn]

I do what several people have adviced: Edit in HD - create a DV sequence with codec ProRes 422 (HQ) - drag the HD sequence to the DV sequence - export to a QuickTime movie (not self-contained) with item settings - transcode with Compressor with Best DVD-setting. For the first time I am content with the result.

However, a small amount of sharpening is still benificial. Right now I am testing the sharpening filter in Compressor: 2,5 ; 5 ; 7,5 ; 10. More than 10 is already ruled out.

Result is almost as HD, at least in on my 1280x720 plasma screen on normal watching distance.

[Dennis Robinson]

Originally Posted by Bruno Demeocq

Most of the times coming from HD (XDCAM 25P) to SD (DV) , taking all the files In FCP from the HD Timeline to the SD one, I have to resize most of the animation, graphic layers (adobe), etc.... How do U manage that ?
Sometimes, in fact I'am doing two times a part of the job in HD to deliver DVD and in SD to deliver DVCAM tape.

Bruno

Hi Bruno,
Huge mistake. You need to just drag the sequence from the browser into the SD timeline. Don't copy and paste the clips etc.

[Bruno Demeocq]

It's may save me a few hours of work on my coming project !

[Sverker Hahn]

Originally Posted by Sverker Hahn

However, a small amount of sharpening is still benificial. Right now I am testing the sharpening filter in Compressor: 2,5 ; 5 ; 7,5 ; 10. More than 10 is already ruled out.

I am going for the sharpening filter at 5 %.

Are you others using this filter?

[Kevin Walsh]

Originally Posted by Paul Frederick

Dave,

The key I have found is to make sure you start with progressive footage! It always looks bad when you go from Upper Field first HD to lower field first SD. If you have HDV in 1080i instead of progressive, then here is what you need to do:
1) Take your edited HD sequence in FCP.
2) Create as others have said an SD sequence, but MAKE SURE THE FIELD DOMINANCE IS SET TO NONE!!! It usually defaults to lower field first!!!
3) Drag your HD sequence to it, render and output.
!

Thanks Paul. I'm a little confused about number 3. If I am making a DVD do I need to output a self contained Quickime movie to put into compressor or can I just export directly from the rendered SD sequence?

[Paul Frederick]

Kevin,

I always make a self contained QT movie. Mainly so I have that as a MASTER SD file. Then I drag that into compressor and make my MPG. I've read that you can output to Compressor from the FCP SD timeline, but it always takes longer to export via Compressor from FCP.

[Dave Morrison]

Kevin, just wanted to thank you (and others) for your suggestions. I had a 2 hour "clip" that I had to export to a SD DVD and the conversion went fine. This was a legal-type recording session so I had to lay some faux timecode into the corner of the screen which is easy to do in Compressor. While I realize that this is a HD to SD downconversion, I was still a little unhappy with the sharpness of the resulting file. I created a 16:9 anamorphic version of the file and made the SD DVD 16:9 as well. If I wanted to add some sharpening to this downconversion, would it be applied to the original timeline or could I add it during Compressor's work?

[Sverker Hahn]

Originally Posted by Dave Morrison

If I wanted to add some sharpening to this downconversion, would it be applied to the original timeline or could I add it during Compressor's work?

Add it in Compressor. I set sharpening to 5.

[Peter Kraft]

One of the best scalers I've ever used is included in MPEGStreamClip which is available both for Mac and Win here: Squared 5 - MPEG Streamclip video converter for Mac and Windows . Free :-)

Workflow: Export your HD Cut (selfcontained not mandatory), open that file in MPSC,
choose codec for target file (ProRes or the likes, MotionJPEG is also a good candidate),
choose target frame size (e.g. 720x576 for PAL), save and import that target file in
compressor.

Hope this helps, Pe.