I just brought 2 EX-1's and I'm running into a few workflow problems. I'm using Adobe Premiere CS3 version 3.2 with the Encore thats included. I brought the Vortex XDCAM DVD's and got a lot of info from that. There are great. I'm shooting in HQ 1080p-30p. I created a new SD project in PP3 brought in the footage with no problems and exported to Encore and burned a SD DVD with no problems. My question would be, If I wanted to create this same project in HD and output to Blu-ray what would I have to do? This is the part where I'm getting a little confused on. Or is there something else that I'm missing. I would like to talk to some one that is Shooting with the EX-1 and using PP3 or PP4.

Thanks for Your Time,
Al
Video Memories FOREVER (http://www.videomemoriesforever.net)
info@videomemoriesforever.net

It's not complicated. For best results, keep the specs the same throughout. I have the Matrox Axio card with my CS4, and the Matrox card does not offer 30fps with 1080p editing, so I shoot and edit in 1080p, 23.976fps throughout the process.

I am not sure what to tell you . . it is a simple process, and the results are fantastic.

If we want to deliver in SD, do we create a PP3 project - DV-NTSC-widescreen, edit as usual and then export as an avi file and bring that into encore and burn a regular SD DVD (which is what we always used to do with our Sony PD170 footage)?

Now, if we wanted to produce a blu-ray from this same project, what would we have to do? Would we have had to have originally created the PP3 project as EDCAM EX 1080p 30p HQ?

If we use the EDCAM EX 1080p 30p HQ project, and we want to burn both an SD and a blu ray, we're confused on our export settings. What should we use in the adobe/matrox media encoder for our export settings including the format and presets?

I currently have CS3 with Matrox RT.X2. What would you recommend when I upgrade to CS4 as far as Matrox card goes.?

Your help is greatly appreciated!!

I cannot think of a reason why you should create a project in SD Widescreen after shooting in High Def.

I shoot High Def with a Sony EX-3 . . . then create a project in PP CS-4 . . . both in 1080p, 23.976fps. As I mentioned prior, the Matrox Axio card does not accept 30fps, so I shoot & edit in 23.976.

With the above project settings, I can then burn SD or HD DVDs.

Keep in mind that H-264 gives you the same quality as MPEG-2, with only half the bit rate.

In my personal opinion, I would not upgrade from CS-3 to CS-4. It is not worth the extra $$, and CS-3 is the more stable platform at this time.

Since you are shooting 1080P30, you should edit in that format as well. Output to a file as 1080P30 (I use MPEG2).

Now that you have your output give it to your DVD software (I use Sony DVD Architect). DVD Architect will take the 1080P30 and create a widescreen SD DVD without any problems. And for those that want HD, I already have the HD output so I do not have to rerender.

Hope that helps.

This is actually rather simple. I also shoot 1080 30p with an EX1 and I usually use SD 720x405 sequences. A simple trick is to create a 1080 sequence and nest the original SD sequence in it and then scale to fit. The sequence is ALWAYS referring to the original file so it won't cause a loss of quality when going from SD to HD.

OK. I just tested going from a NTSC Widescreen sequence and nesting in an XDCAM EX 1080 30p sequence and had no loss of resloution or any issues.

Thanks for all the great replies. I will stick with bringing in all the HD footage into an HD project. That makes sense. When exporting into Encore, what presets do you use with the H264 format when creating an SD DVD?

Thanks again!!

I currently have CS3 with Matrox RT.X2. What would you recommend when I upgrade to CS4 as far as Matrox card goes.?

Your help is greatly appreciated!!

I have the RT.X2 card and CS4 (also CS3). The best results I am getting is by editing at 1080 30P and then using the Adobe Dynamic Link to send the file to Encore. This can take some time to transcode, but the results look very good on SD.

If you are thinking of upgrading to CS4 and the RT.X2 card then don't upgrade to CS4 v 4.2, stay with v 4.1 - Matrox software does not support the new version as yet, they say a new driver will be available in December, although they don't state which year that will be. I suspect we will get the update in March or April. if their past performance is anything to go by.