this might seem a bit backwards but..

For a couple of years now I've been shooting & editing weddings in HD but I rarely get asked for Blu-Ray so I'm wondering if I should be editing in SD. Currenty my project setup is 1920x1080 25p and I can see a drop in resolution when I change the project settings to SD PAL 720x576 25p 16:9 but since that's my final output does it makes sense to edit in that format?

this isn't a marketing question - I'm simply wondering what problems if any I'll encounter bringing HD footage into an SD project and editing for export as MJPEG2 PAL 12bps CBR. is there any advantage / disadvantage in doing this?

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Paul, I have had much better looking DVD results shooting HD and editing in Edius on a HD timeline rather than using a standard def project setting. I produce commercial DVDs using Edius 5.51 and mostly shoot at 1080i. My workflow is to print the finished timeline to a Edius lossless file, bring it in to Tmpge4 for encoding to mpeg2 at 7500 cbr and AC3 for audio if going to a duplicated disc. Tmpge does excellent down scaling. The lower than max bitrate of 9500 kbs helps ensure DVD player compatibility. I encode at 8250 and AC3 if the DVD master is destined for replication. I am doing a lot of slowmo in a current project and decided to use 720p60. Once encoded for DVD I notice it is a litter softer than 1080i footage so I am now adding a 8% sharpening filter in Tmpge. I quit shooting standard DV a couple of years back because IMO it just didn't look as good as HD footage downsized for a standard DVD.

if you have EDIUS 6.52 you would edit in HD with all titles in V tracks (not T tracks)

then when ready for export to DVD, switch to SD and enable Lanczos3 down sampling for superb quality with no stair stepping artifacts whatsoever
Downscale HD to SD direct from EDIUS timeline using Lanczos 3 (http://www.videoproductions.com.au/html/edius-downscale.html)

12 mbps is too high for DVD

use 7.7 mbps max for video and 256 ac3 for audio when exporting elementary streams for authoring in different apps
EDIUS Elementary Stream MPEG Export (http://www.videoproductions.com.au/html/elementary-stream-export.html)

I see no reason to not shoot in HD, even though I deliver on DVD. For one, it gives me the opportunity to put samples on YouTube in HD. And as Mark Williams said, HD down-converted to SD looks better than native SD.

Upon searching, I notice that Tmpge 4 has been replaced by Video Mastering Works 5. Have you tried it, Mark? Is it the same quality?

It's so much easier to just ask your client to purchase a blu ray player.

It's so much easier to just ask your client to purchase a blu ray player.

Generally true. But one also has to consider which TV set or display that he's going to connect it to. In fact, there are a few individual Blu-ray players that absolutely require an HDTV or EDTV (480p) widescreen set just to even watch any Blu-ray discs at all: Those particular players always deinterlace all Blu-ray output internally (yes, even those Blu-ray discs mastered in 1080i) - and then, the output from Blu-ray discs is blocked from entering the composite video out (which is always 480i). Thus, when used with an SDTV set, it effectively makes them expensive DVD-only players. That particular approach saves the player manufacturer some money at the expense of compatibility.