Hey guys,

So I have received three different types of footage for this piece that I am editing. 2/3 of the footage is at 720p/30. 1/3 of the footage is 720p/60. Both of which are DVCPRO HD 720p60 format. And I also have some older footage taken at 1080i/60. Now, what would be the best way of going about editing all of these different types together on the same timeline? The final output will be mainly SD DVD.

There is also a shoot early next month for the same piece, any suggestions on what format to stick to? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

-Matt

Without knowing what editor you use, we can offer no assistance. Some editors like Edius, Vegas, and Avid MC4 don't care that the footage is different. Some, will want to transcode the footage so that it all matches.

So what are you using to edit?

Matt,
It kind of depends on the edit system you are using. Details help tremendously. My initial choice is based on Final Cut and I would go with what requires the least rendering. If you put the 720/60P on a 720/30P timeline does it need rendering as well as speed correction? If you put the 720/30P on a 720/60 timeline does it need rendering and play at the correct speed? My feeling is you will chose one over the other based on your system capabilities. I would figure this out before the shoot next month and stick to what you timeline is set to. The 1080/60i material will need to be convertered or rendered at some point so I would see how that works on the timeline you choose for the rest of it.

Sorry I forgot to mention the editor. I'm working on FCP.

Matt,
It kind of depends on the edit system you are using. Details help tremendously. My initial choice is based on Final Cut and I would go with what requires the least rendering. If you put the 720/60P on a 720/30P timeline does it need rendering as well as speed correction? If you put the 720/30P on a 720/60 timeline does it need rendering and play at the correct speed? My feeling is you will chose one over the other based on your system capabilities. I would figure this out before the shoot next month and stick to what you timeline is set to. The 1080/60i material will need to be convertered or rendered at some point so I would see how that works on the timeline you choose for the rest of it.

Thanks for the help. Both ways seem to work just fine. I guess my main question is what would be most beneficial for when it comes time to output to SD DVD.

Edius makes it easy to drop different formats on the same timeline, if you want to make things simple.

Personally, I'd convert everything to (720x)480p30 in VirtualDub first. You have a lot of control over how it's actually done that way. With the 720p60, decimate every other frame. With the 1080i60, drop a field from each frame. Then take all of the footage and resize it to 720x480, using Lanczos resizing. The Lanczos resizing will result in a much better image than if you resize in any NLE I know of. Output as uncompressed 4:2:2 YUY2. Then you've got all (high quality) 480p30 footage to edit in your favorite NLE.

Never mind. I always think PC. Can't be helped. :)

Since your final destination is (mostly) SD DVD, I would encourage you to edit in 720P as IN MY OPINION/EXPERIENCE, 720 downconverts better to SD than 1080 does. In your case, I would probably edit in a 720P30 timeline to maintain an HD master for web release or any future HD requirement and then convert the final output to SD for the DVD.

FCP plays 60P material "properly" in a 30P timeline in that it plays at normal speed UNLESS one goes and remaps the time signature using Cinema Tools or something else. Depending on system horsepower and/or Real Time performance settings, you may or may not still need to render the 60P material in the timeline.