I'm sorry I need to post this but my time line is pretty short to research the info I need and I know there are a lot of very smart people on here who know the answer without looking it up. I have just gone HD a few months ago and I was shooting 1080i60 I have been out putting to DVD and It hasn't looked good. I have decided to start shooting 720p60. The problem is I have already shot some 1080 stuff for this one client and now I have another shoot tomorrow for a new video that will need some of the 1080 footage incorporated. Long story short should I shoot in 1080 or 720. If 720p60 what is the best way to convert my 1080 footage. I have the newest version on FCS and use Compressor to compress. Thanks for your help. Off to the edit suite

Calvin,
I am not knowledgeable enough about this to answer your question but I can tell you that someone who is will want to know how you are viewing your material and also how you are exporting it? Also is the source HDV or AVCHD?

Thanks Tom, The final output will be DVD and web. It is also HDV footage. I use the JVC HM 700 camera. I am viewing my footage on my macbook pro.

I work with two cameras, GY-HD200u for general shots and Canon HV30 for details (mostly nature documentary), it means that all my footage I receive in 720p60 and 1080i60. For downloading 720p I use only ProRes (produce less digital noise). Then I set timeline settings in 720p60 and combine both footages together without any previous conversion. The final file looks always good (I produce educational videos for the College and serial of nature videos for local channels and PBS. Don’t try to go by other path, to set your timeline in 1080i using mixed footage because 720p footage doesn’t look good in 1080i.

Sincerely,
Eugen

I know this isn't for everyone but my results are generally excellent when I downconvert through hardware to make an SD DVD or even from 1080i to 720p.

AJA / BlackMagic / Matrox all have products that will downconvert your footage (either to 720p or NTSC) which provide better results than using compressor / MPEG compression. This of course is my opinion and I do have access to such hardware (such as live MPEG2 hardware encoding).

So, I'd run that 1080 stuff through some type of hardware downconvert. It's generally what the larger post houses do because it yields superior results. The tricky part is how to recapture the downconverted material (we simply capture into another FCP system).

Hope this helps,
-C