Is there any decent way to down-covert 5D2 footage to 16 x 9 SD for CS4 at DVinfo.net

Craig Turner · November 4th, 2009, 09:49 PM

Hi All

I really need a way to down convert 5D2 footage to 16x9 SD for editing on a couple of slower machines I have here.

I have attempted doing it with Adobe Media Encoder but with the various options I have tried the results end up looking crap and unusable i.e. Like stepping in diagonal details which are emphasized with movements.

Is there any software or options that allow you to down convert cleanly. (like how sony HDV cameras can output SD). I downloaded a trial of cineform neoscene but that doesent appear to have any down conversion options.

Any advice would be great appreciated.

Cheers

Craig.

Khoi Pham · November 4th, 2009, 10:13 PM

Try this
Precomposed Blog - HD to SD DVD - Best Methods

Luis de la Cerda · November 5th, 2009, 01:31 AM

Yes, but you'll have to do some searching on the net. First, get the latest version of virtualdub. Then, search for the mpeg4 plugin so you can import the clips. Rename all your footage to a .mp4 extension (something like extension changer might help). Last, you'll need a utility to make the batch job for virtualdub. Be sure to select lanczos as the scaling method in the resize filter's dialog.

Craig Turner · November 8th, 2009, 08:18 PM

cheers guys, I will give those options a try,
The example in the blog is exactly the problem I am experiencing,
The blogs comments presented another option I may try also. I am using RT.X2 with premiere. So I may be able to import the footage into a SD sequence and take adobe out of the HD-SD process, leaving the conversion up to Matrox.

Christopher Lovenguth · November 9th, 2009, 12:32 PM

I'm starting to wonder, although this would be the most space/time consuming method, if turning your footage in to an image sequence and then cropping to the correct dimensions in Photoshop and recompiling the image sequence back in to a video file would be the best way to do this? My head bursts at the idea of this for big projects, but really it's computer time and not personal time involved since it's a simple action you can apply to a folder of images. But what am I missing here? This sounds too simple that you would expect this to be the standard way in something like Premiere Pro (just changing the dimensions and compiling the frame).

Chris Barcellos · November 9th, 2009, 12:35 PM

You might want to try Cineforms second tier product, I think it is called Neo HD. NeoScene does not do conversions, but the next level up does I think. I actually convert all my 5D footage and edit in Cineform intermediate because it is easier on the equipment. You might find on the older machines that you can edit the HD material from NeoScene in high definition.

Take a look at Cineform.com, they have two week full trials available to you.

Rick Hill · November 10th, 2009, 12:13 AM

I have used TMPEGEnc with fantastic results. It costs money but not a lot and for basic editing and conversion its the best, IMO.

TMPEGEnc can output series of frames as lossy jpeg or lossless bmp. It also can assemble series of pictures into a video. I have used this feature to gain access to some Photoshop and/or Gimp image processing that is difficult to find for video. It is an excellent work flow for some types of processing.

I really enjoy the large number of options TMPEGEnc gives you even though I bought it for it's superior MPEG-2 encoding capabilities.

TMPGEnc - Products: TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress Product Information

Peter Burke · November 11th, 2009, 01:45 AM

TMPEGEnc is fantastic - it has been tested many times as the best of the MPEG2 compressors. (I can post links to comparos between various compressors).

Infact, many believe TMPEGEnc does better mpeg2 than Cinema Craft Encoder !!!

TMPEGEnc is just that good. I have been using it for several years now. The DVD I made last night had the final mpeg2 conversion done in TMPEGEnc.

Craig Turner · November 11th, 2009, 02:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christopher Lovenguth

I'm starting to wonder, although this would be the most space/time consuming method, if turning your footage in to an image sequence and then cropping to the correct dimensions in Photoshop and recompiling the image sequence back in to a video file would be the best way to do this? My head bursts at the idea of this for big projects, but really it's computer time and not personal time involved since it's a simple action you can apply to a folder of images. But what am I missing here? This sounds too simple that you would expect this to be the standard way in something like Premiere Pro (just changing the dimensions and compiling the frame).

Really this would be a great way to do it results wise, however based just on my experience batch processing stills for time lapses, watermarks etc, For a wedding video it would probably take a week to convert.

Craig Turner · November 11th, 2009, 10:41 PM

cool I will have to check out NeoHD also. I thought I looked at some of their products but didn't see anything specifically saying downconversion. Might have missed that.

Will also check out TMPGEnc. Does it output AVI though?

Craig Turner · November 11th, 2009, 10:45 PM

oh yeah also, Looks like the "Export from Matrox SD sequence" was a fail also. The quality looked worse than AME some reason. The computer becomes very unstable while doing it too. Crashed the project twice.

Richard Gooderick · November 12th, 2009, 03:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Hill

TMPEGEnc can output series of frames as lossy jpeg or lossless bmp. It also can assemble series of pictures into a video. I have used this feature to gain access to some Photoshop and/or Gimp image processing that is difficult to find for video. It is an excellent work flow for some types of processing.
TMPGEnc - Products: TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress Product Information

Interesting tip Rick.
I've got TMPG and am going to experiment with this.
Thanks.

Desmond Sukotjo · December 3rd, 2009, 09:45 AM

I'm more interested with Luis de la Cerda workflow using virtualdub. It seems faster this way. We can batch process numbered of files. Instead of set them one file at a time in TMPGEnc.

So, Luis can you tell us more about your workflow? I tried to feed 5D file straight to virtualdub, vdub doesn't understand it. I even tried renamed the extension from mov to mp4. Doesn't work. So we need MPEG4 plugin you said? What MPEG4 plugin do you use along with this? (isn't that 5D files are H.264 not MPEG4?)

Jon Fairhurst · December 3rd, 2009, 12:33 PM

h.264 is the same as MPEG-4, Part 10.

Nik Skjoth · December 3rd, 2009, 12:49 PM

wouldnt it be much much easier just to make a new sequence fitted to the SD delivery format, and let the NLE downscale the footage in the project timeline while editing? I do that often, with no noticable quality loss (exept the expected SD resolution)

November 4th, 2009, 09:49 PM	#1
Craig Turner New Boot Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Perth Western Australia Posts: 23	Is there any decent way to down-covert 5D2 footage to 16 x 9 SD for CS4 Hi All I really need a way to down convert 5D2 footage to 16x9 SD for editing on a couple of slower machines I have here. I have attempted doing it with Adobe Media Encoder but with the various options I have tried the results end up looking crap and unusable i.e. Like stepping in diagonal details which are emphasized with movements. Is there any software or options that allow you to down convert cleanly. (like how sony HDV cameras can output SD). I downloaded a trial of cineform neoscene but that doesent appear to have any down conversion options. Any advice would be great appreciated. Cheers Craig. __________________ Craig Turner - In Shot Productions Video Production Perth Western Australia www.inshotproductions.com

November 4th, 2009, 10:13 PM	#2
Khoi Pham Major Player Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Dallas Posts: 747	Try this Precomposed Blog - HD to SD DVD - Best Methods __________________ Khoi Pham www.proeditproductions.com

November 8th, 2009, 08:18 PM	#4
Craig Turner New Boot Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Perth Western Australia Posts: 23	cheers guys, I will give those options a try, The example in the blog is exactly the problem I am experiencing, The blogs comments presented another option I may try also. I am using RT.X2 with premiere. So I may be able to import the footage into a SD sequence and take adobe out of the HD-SD process, leaving the conversion up to Matrox. __________________ Craig Turner - In Shot Productions Video Production Perth Western Australia www.inshotproductions.com

November 9th, 2009, 12:35 PM	#6
Chris Barcellos Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Elk Grove CA Posts: 6,838	You might want to try Cineforms second tier product, I think it is called Neo HD. NeoScene does not do conversions, but the next level up does I think. I actually convert all my 5D footage and edit in Cineform intermediate because it is easier on the equipment. You might find on the older machines that you can edit the HD material from NeoScene in high definition. Take a look at Cineform.com, they have two week full trials available to you. __________________ Chris J. Barcellos

November 11th, 2009, 10:41 PM	#10
Craig Turner New Boot Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Perth Western Australia Posts: 23	cool I will have to check out NeoHD also. I thought I looked at some of their products but didn't see anything specifically saying downconversion. Might have missed that. Will also check out TMPGEnc. Does it output AVI though? __________________ Craig Turner - In Shot Productions Video Production Perth Western Australia www.inshotproductions.com

November 5th, 2009, 01:31 AM	#3
Luis de la Cerda Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Mexico City Posts: 181	Yes, but you'll have to do some searching on the net. First, get the latest version of virtualdub. Then, search for the mpeg4 plugin so you can import the clips. Rename all your footage to a .mp4 extension (something like extension changer might help). Last, you'll need a utility to make the batch job for virtualdub. Be sure to select lanczos as the scaling method in the resize filter's dialog.

November 9th, 2009, 12:32 PM	#5
Christopher Lovenguth Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 85	I'm starting to wonder, although this would be the most space/time consuming method, if turning your footage in to an image sequence and then cropping to the correct dimensions in Photoshop and recompiling the image sequence back in to a video file would be the best way to do this? My head bursts at the idea of this for big projects, but really it's computer time and not personal time involved since it's a simple action you can apply to a folder of images. But what am I missing here? This sounds too simple that you would expect this to be the standard way in something like Premiere Pro (just changing the dimensions and compiling the frame).

November 10th, 2009, 12:13 AM	#7
Rick Hill Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: McHenry, Illinois Posts: 55	I have used TMPEGEnc with fantastic results. It costs money but not a lot and for basic editing and conversion its the best, IMO. TMPEGEnc can output series of frames as lossy jpeg or lossless bmp. It also can assemble series of pictures into a video. I have used this feature to gain access to some Photoshop and/or Gimp image processing that is difficult to find for video. It is an excellent work flow for some types of processing. I really enjoy the large number of options TMPEGEnc gives you even though I bought it for it's superior MPEG-2 encoding capabilities. TMPGEnc - Products: TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress Product Information

November 11th, 2009, 01:45 AM	#8
Peter Burke Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 31	TMPEGEnc is fantastic - it has been tested many times as the best of the MPEG2 compressors. (I can post links to comparos between various compressors). Infact, many believe TMPEGEnc does better mpeg2 than Cinema Craft Encoder !!! TMPEGEnc is just that good. I have been using it for several years now. The DVD I made last night had the final mpeg2 conversion done in TMPEGEnc.

November 11th, 2009, 10:45 PM	#11
Craig Turner New Boot Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Perth Western Australia Posts: 23	oh yeah also, Looks like the "Export from Matrox SD sequence" was a fail also. The quality looked worse than AME some reason. The computer becomes very unstable while doing it too. Crashed the project twice. __________________ Craig Turner - In Shot Productions Video Production Perth Western Australia www.inshotproductions.com

December 3rd, 2009, 09:45 AM	#13
Desmond Sukotjo Regular Crew Join Date: May 2004 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 88	I'm more interested with Luis de la Cerda workflow using virtualdub. It seems faster this way. We can batch process numbered of files. Instead of set them one file at a time in TMPGEnc. So, Luis can you tell us more about your workflow? I tried to feed 5D file straight to virtualdub, vdub doesn't understand it. I even tried renamed the extension from mov to mp4. Doesn't work. So we need MPEG4 plugin you said? What MPEG4 plugin do you use along with this? (isn't that 5D files are H.264 not MPEG4?)

December 3rd, 2009, 12:33 PM	#14
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	h.264 is the same as MPEG-4, Part 10. __________________ Jon Fairhurst

December 3rd, 2009, 12:49 PM	#15
Nik Skjoth Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Cph Denmark Posts: 136	wouldnt it be much much easier just to make a new sequence fitted to the SD delivery format, and let the NLE downscale the footage in the project timeline while editing? I do that often, with no noticable quality loss (exept the expected SD resolution)