I did a search and wasn't really finding any answers to my question. I currently shoot in HDV with Canon A1's and a Canon HV30. Not all of my clients pay for HD, so I would like to edit some of my projects in SD for efficiency's sake. What is the best way to go about doing this if I'm shooting in HDV still?

You can either down convert your hd footage directly from the camera to SD or edit in HD and export it as SD.

Just digging a little deeper...

if you never plan on giving the client an HD version, then just downcovnert upon capture. Usually more efficient. Also when editing in HD you tend to make different decisions vs. SD (at least that is the case with me).


Just a thought:
If your system can handle HD without any performance loss, just edit in HD and export as SD. It may take a little longer but in any case the client decides down the road they want an HD version, all you have to do is export again. I only suggest this if you have spare time in between projects. Just depends which works best for your given circumstance.

-JS

Thanks guys. Initially I was thinking I would shoot and edit in HD, and then use Compressor to prepare the footage in SD for DVD. However, I've since discovered that I can't even put cross dissolves on clips if they have color correction because it requires rendering. Editing is going slower than I like. I guess my dual core Xeon G5 with 5GB of RAM still isn't quite enough. I also found that compressing down to SD for DVD took WAAYY longer than I'm used to (for compression times).

Converting on capture sounds like a better option for me. Is this something you set up in your camera or in Final Cut? Sorry for asking, but I'm in a time crunch at the moment so I don't have much time to invest in research in reading. Thanks!

I use a different camera, Sony Z1. For that camera there is a menu selection for down convert, I'd assume its the same for Canon.

I also have a G5 have come to the same conclusion that its not worth the time to edit in HD. The clients not going to pay me extra for my time so why bother when the visible benefits are hard to see.

Is this something you set up in your camera or in Final Cut?

You set the conversion up in your camera, then start a regular DV project in Final Cut. If it's the same as the Sonys, when you change the camera to ouput DV, the computer actually sees it as a DV camcorder, so it's no different than if you are capturing something originally shot on DV.

I shot HD edit HD and down convert to mpeg2 DVD. Learn from those SD-HD guide line.

Thanks for the help guys, but it looks like the Canon HV30 I typically use for capture purposes doesn't have any menu option for downconverting on capture. I tried to just switch the camera to DV playback, but wouldn't play back the tape, and thus wouldn't capture.

Thanks for the help guys, but it looks like the Canon HV30 I typically use for capture purposes doesn't have any menu option for downconverting on capture.

Sure it does, Travis. See page 42 in the manual, or search for "DV Locked" if you have the pdf. Here's a quote from another forum:

For the HV30, its: Set to "play" mode> function button> menu> down twice to "play/out setup2"> select DV Output> select DV Lock

Cheers,
Vito

PS. By the way, your post is lacking contrast...hehe...