DV Info Net - How to Convert EX-1 to SD for DVD ?????

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Hi Mark, no I do not work for Pinnacle I am a freelance Broadcast allrounder from script to edit :-) and I love this Liquid software. It has it very own learning curve but is really powerfull... well still the industries best kept secret :-)
happy new one matthias

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Shovlar (Post 973019)

Hi Robert, I think you are in PAL country in Aus aren't you? This is how I do it as a pom.

I shoot 720P50. Do all my editing in FCP. Then I export as a 720P quicktime movie using prores422 ( not HQ) as a self contained movie. the file size is LARGE. Once done, I do an easy setup, Pal DVD. Changethe settings of the sequence in advanced to 16:9 progessive and best. 50 frames per second.

Drop the newly made QT onto the timeline. It will ask if I want to chance to fit the settings of the file. Say no. the QT will then appear on the timeline and need rendering.

Render the file, then out to compressor as a PAL 16:9 SD in the highest quality you can get. Results have been superb and far higher than going from the timeline of the HD timeline to compressor and out.

As I've got a DVD project coming up in the next few days I've been doing some experiments and I have to say that I can't seem to replicate your findings Steve.

What advantages do you see by exporting a 720p/50 clip as Prores and then re-importing it into a DV-PAL timeline?

I'm not sure if I'm missing a step here but I'm also seeing no advantage in shooting 50p over 25p as the built in SD-DVD (PAL) settings in compressor convert the output to 25p anyway, none of my exported footage seems to be interlaced. I exported 25p and 50p clips using your suggested method and could not see any difference between them other than the 25p clip retained more quality.

I can't actually find any way of converting the 720p/50 EXCAM-EX clips to 50i when using the built in SD-DVD settings in compressor so I'm quite confused as to where the advantage lies in shooting 50 fps at all?

regards

Paul.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Joy (Post 987747)

Paul, since I typed that I have changed my method.

First of all the reason I shoot 720p50 is for slo mo. I shoot a lot of weddings and 50 frames a second slowed to 50% gives me 25 frames a second and a much smoother slo mo of the love scenes/musical montage. No other reason. Slowing 720p25 by 50% gives a horrible jerky mess which is unusable.

OK now this is what I do. Shoot and edit in 720P. ( makes no difference in output if it is 50p or 25p.)

Once edited, go easy setup, make a new PAL SD timeline, and drop your hd sequence onto the SD timeline, click no when it asks if you want to change it to the format you are dropping on the timeline. Render timeline.

Export to Compressor. Here I use Cinema Craft Encoder MP, which I think gives slightly better results than Compressor. But in Comprssor make sure frames are set to Best and output as a 2 pass VBR with 6000 average, 2000 minum and 9000 max if the dvd is long.

CBR of 8000 if a short.

I'm a satisfied Liquid user as well (and I also don't work for the company, jeeez...). The workflow is as described above. The original company that developed the software, Fast, had one of the first MPEG2 editing solutions and they carried that knowledge forward through their whole product line. I also use Liquid in conjunction with an Aja board, capturing video as HD-SDI and thus escaping the codec issues. If the project's to end up as DVD, my XDCAM deck, the PDW-F75 downconverts HD-SDI to SDI on the fly. I use that. Note I also have the CS3 suite and though it has its uses, I don't edit with it.

Thanks for the update Steve.

So that leaves the question open then, what's the best way to end up with 50i footage for DVD using the EX1? It seems logical that it would be possible to create a 50i output from a 720p/50 clip but I'm not sure if there's a way just using FCP & Compressor.

Paul.

Having spent many hours experimenting the best results I have achieved so far are by shooting in SP 1440 x 1080 60i (my project will be in NTSC). Dropping the footage straight into the Premiere timeline and then using Adobe Media Encoder output to MPEG2-DVD using NTSC Progressive Widescreen, Field order is set to None (Progressive).

The quality of output is outstanding. I shot the same sequence on my Canon XH A1 in SD mode and created a DVD, then compared the two and the Sony EX3 was far superior. I also tried setting the Field order to Lower and had problems with Moire patterns on blinds in the window, fence etc. I also ran the same footage through VirtualDub, and although a still capture showed the VirtualDub image to be better, it didn't show a marked difference on the actual footage. I can see why some people have recommended this, but for me it is just another process that gets in the way of my project.

I also spoke with Sony UK yesterday and asked them what was the best method for converting to SD. They recommended shooting everything in HD (1920x1080) and use ClipBrowser to Export as an AVI file. Then dropping the AVI into your timeline. THis produced a horrid result, certainly not doing any justice to the EX3/EX1 camera.

For the time being dropping MPEG footage straight into the timeline as described above will produce a great looking movie. I will try some other techniques later on, but for now I will shoot my next DVD using this technique.

Thanks for all the help and advice.