Downconverting and Letterboxing? Need some help at DVinfo.net

Jerry Porter · March 22nd, 2007, 02:41 PM

I'm am trying to output to tape a HDV project shot on a HD110 and
edited in PP2 with Aspect HD. I need it to be letterboxed
an printed to tape in SD. I have tried this many ways and it never
looks worth a darn. I have figured out a way to print to tape in
HDV even from an Aspect time line, but I can't figure this out.
Right now I'm going analog (composit) from the HD110 off the HDV print to tape and losing quite a bit I belive. Thanks for your help as always. Please spell it out for me on this one, I am clearly not getting it. I will be sending it to a Sony DSR-45 for the SD tape to send to the TV stations.

Kevin Dorsey · March 22nd, 2007, 11:24 PM

Premiere does a poor job at downconverting from an HDV timeline to SD. But the results are much better if you open your HD sequence in a new SD timeline, resize the footage, then output. If you want letterboxed, use the DV 4x3 preset. I forget the exact number to reduce the scale to. I think I'm understanding what you're trying to do, I hope this helps. For the record, Vegas does a nice job of downconverting to SD from and HD timeline.

Chris Barcellos · March 23rd, 2007, 12:28 AM

first issue is whether it is as bad as you think. After editing and working in HD, SD looks bad.

Second: When you are converting for output to DV tape, what are you doing-- settings wise ? Are you outputting to a DV .avi file first, then opening a DV project, and saving to tape from there ? In doing that, you should be sure, if you are outputting to DV .avi file from the HD time line, that you have the lower field selection or deinterlace checked, depending on what you want-- at least this is way it works with .m2t to DV SD.

Jerry Porter · March 23rd, 2007, 12:05 PM

The only decent version I am getting I am converting it to a 720x480 Ceniform HD .AVI. Then I place it in a SD Adobe time line and reduce the size by 25% to fit letter boxed. It looks OK, but there seems like there should be a way to just down convert and output straight from your HDV time line. If not why bother shooting or editing that way?

March 22nd, 2007, 02:41 PM	#1
Jerry Porter Major Player Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Satellite Beach, Fl Posts: 784	Downconverting and Letterboxing? Need some help I'm am trying to output to tape a HDV project shot on a HD110 and edited in PP2 with Aspect HD. I need it to be letterboxed an printed to tape in SD. I have tried this many ways and it never looks worth a darn. I have figured out a way to print to tape in HDV even from an Aspect time line, but I can't figure this out. Right now I'm going analog (composit) from the HD110 off the HDV print to tape and losing quite a bit I belive. Thanks for your help as always. Please spell it out for me on this one, I am clearly not getting it. I will be sending it to a Sony DSR-45 for the SD tape to send to the TV stations.

March 23rd, 2007, 12:28 AM	#3
Chris Barcellos Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Elk Grove CA Posts: 6,838	first issue is whether it is as bad as you think. After editing and working in HD, SD looks bad. Second: When you are converting for output to DV tape, what are you doing-- settings wise ? Are you outputting to a DV .avi file first, then opening a DV project, and saving to tape from there ? In doing that, you should be sure, if you are outputting to DV .avi file from the HD time line, that you have the lower field selection or deinterlace checked, depending on what you want-- at least this is way it works with .m2t to DV SD. __________________ Chris J. Barcellos

March 22nd, 2007, 11:24 PM	#2
Kevin Dorsey Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Syracuse, NY Posts: 64	Premiere does a poor job at downconverting from an HDV timeline to SD. But the results are much better if you open your HD sequence in a new SD timeline, resize the footage, then output. If you want letterboxed, use the DV 4x3 preset. I forget the exact number to reduce the scale to. I think I'm understanding what you're trying to do, I hope this helps. For the record, Vegas does a nice job of downconverting to SD from and HD timeline.

March 23rd, 2007, 12:05 PM	#4
Jerry Porter Major Player Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Satellite Beach, Fl Posts: 784	The only decent version I am getting I am converting it to a 720x480 Ceniform HD .AVI. Then I place it in a SD Adobe time line and reduce the size by 25% to fit letter boxed. It looks OK, but there seems like there should be a way to just down convert and output straight from your HDV time line. If not why bother shooting or editing that way?