How to get the best SD from XDCAM EX (Link).
 

After a very long search i think i have found the solution with full illustration for FCP.

Outputting Standard Definition in FCP from the Sony XDCam EX1

Also here the solution for faster compression with Multi-Cores Mac Pro

Compressor - Enabling multiple Cores


All this can save you time and frustration when working with XDCAM EX.

XDCAM EX and XDCAM HD are great formats you just have to know the best workflow

I don't understand why he needs to create a separate timeline for SD.

Best way to do downconversion I have found is to edit in HD and output a reference file, then use Compressor to do the downconversion using the best settings and frame controls to get the best result.

A downconversion straight from FCP will be very basic.

This SD conversion process is now a year and a half old and it is sadly outdated. It would be helpful if the web poster updated his information. Moreover, this article is based upon a PAL workflow which has its own issues distinct from the NTSC workflow. This topic has been thoroughly rehashed at great length in these forums. To get up to speed try using the Forum Search for a topic called:

getting much sharper SD results from
your HD footage

Also pay attention to the BBC report that explains why the EX camera at full HD raster has to much signal information for HD downconversion. This is relevant for both NTSC and PAL HD footage Cheers!

Why is there a difference?

There is a HUGE caveat to that statement as outlined in section 1.2.4 of the BBC report. So make sure to read it IN CONTEXT.

I've got to laugh out loud at this.

I'm the one who basically did the legwork for the article by my friend Rick.

I'd been asking, pleading, shouting (screaming) to take that thing down as I regularly get email about it. It was out of date within 6-8 weeks of writing, but I have had no luck in getting it changed. I've rattled my cage a bit and hopefully (finally) something will get done.

UPDATE: It looks like I'll be rewriting the article hopefully next week. Just got to wait for Ken to report back how we're going to do this.

Great SD
 

I use the Blackmagic-Design Studio ($699) to get high quality SD from my EX-1. This yeilds much better quality than the SD output of the EX-1. I generate this from the HD-SDI output of the EX-1.

Anyone use the Bonsai method?
 

I don't know about anyone else, but I use this method to downconvert from HD to SD and the results can be incredibly good:

Step-by-Step

Note that I don't tend to use the blur steps, and the key element of this method is changing the Motion Filtering Quality to Fastest (Linear) otherwise you do end up with line doubling as the article says (which yields really lousy video quality). I've never seen the MFQ setting referenced in other articles about downconverting (including the previous links in this thread), but the results can really be dramatic...