An alternative way of HD going SD DVD. at DVinfo.net

Desmond Sukotjo · February 25th, 2009, 10:30 AM

Guys. Anyone read about this? I think it's a pretty good alternative for converting HD to SD DVD.
David?? Any thought, perhaps?

http://invertedhorn.axspace.com/hdv2dvd_basic.html

Peter Manojlovic · February 25th, 2009, 11:33 AM

If you're using Cineform, the whole Debug mode isn't necessary.

Personally, i'd take advantage of saving out the Cineform file, and using AVISynth to resize, and frameserve it straight to the encoder.

VirtualDub is a great tool, but any processing requires RGB conversion....An unnessary step...
I've used AVISynth with success in the past, and assume that the encoders shouldn't have a problem reading the .AVS script to accept the Cineform codec...

Desmond Sukotjo · February 25th, 2009, 06:13 PM

VirtualDub in here is only for previewing purpose. It is not being used in the convertion workflow.

The point of using Debugmode is strictly to save your hard drive space, and eliminate the wait for first step rendering (which is timeline to CineForm AVI). If your timeline is CineForm, then your output (signpost) should be CineForm when you use Debugmode, is it not?

Peter Manojlovic · February 25th, 2009, 10:02 PM

Yes Desmond...
You are totally correct..

But the workflow suggested on the site, is most likely for people who've never heard of Cineform, or for the days when Hard Drive space was really expensive..

Firstly, the Cineform workflow is primarily for people who do serious CC, and need immediate playback and undisturbed quality on the timeline.
Secondly, i believe that the handoff between PPro and Debugmode is probably somewhat slower than an AVISynth script sraight to the encoder anyways...

By saving out to Cineform, and serving back to your encoder, yes, you're creating an extra step, and some extra harddrive space, but i'm pretty sure the finished footage for optical media shouldn't be more than two hours anyways...What's that in Cineform? About 120gigs?
Not a big deal...
I'm sure an encoder like CCE can eat up the AVISynth script pretty quickly...

Graham Hickling · February 25th, 2009, 10:09 PM

Quote: I assume that the encoders shouldn't have a problem reading the .AVS script to accept the Cineform codec

Without getting into the pros and cons of the two methods above, I can confirm that Procoder, TMPGEnc Xpress and CCE can happily from encode Cineform files opened by way of an avisynth script.

Peter Manojlovic · February 25th, 2009, 10:25 PM

Yes, i'm looking forward to some test results in the future..I'm really curious as to CCE encode speeds...

Desmond Sukotjo · February 26th, 2009, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Manojlovic

Secondly, i believe that the handoff between PPro and Debugmode is probably somewhat slower than an AVISynth script sraight to the encoder anyways...

The workflow is to output the Timeline -> Debugmode Signpost -> AviSynth -> MPEG2 Encoder.
Or
Timeline -> Output as CineForm AVI -> AviSynth -> MPEG2 Encoder.

If the quality results the same, we don't need to output to CineForm AVI first.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Manojlovic

I'm sure an encoder like CCE can eat up the AVISynth script pretty quickly...

Positive, TMPGEnc.4 takes AviSynth script.

But I haven't done quality comparison to HDLink downconvert.

John Rich · February 26th, 2009, 08:39 AM

The group over at the Adobe Premiere forum have been discussing this in huge topics for at least 9 months. I think their original idea was to do the HD-SD conversion with free tools.

I didn't think it was relevant to me, since I just imported with HDlink, and exported and down sized per Cineform's instructions (File-Export -Movie), and got what I thought were good results.

Are you all saying, that these tools should be incorporated into the Cineform workflow?

John Rich

February 25th, 2009, 10:30 AM	#1
Desmond Sukotjo Regular Crew Join Date: May 2004 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 88	An alternative way of HD going SD DVD. Guys. Anyone read about this? I think it's a pretty good alternative for converting HD to SD DVD. David?? Any thought, perhaps? http://invertedhorn.axspace.com/hdv2dvd_basic.html

February 25th, 2009, 11:33 AM	#2
Peter Manojlovic Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Hamilton Ontario Posts: 769	If you're using Cineform, the whole Debug mode isn't necessary. Personally, i'd take advantage of saving out the Cineform file, and using AVISynth to resize, and frameserve it straight to the encoder. VirtualDub is a great tool, but any processing requires RGB conversion....An unnessary step... I've used AVISynth with success in the past, and assume that the encoders shouldn't have a problem reading the .AVS script to accept the Cineform codec...

February 25th, 2009, 06:13 PM	#3
Desmond Sukotjo Regular Crew Join Date: May 2004 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 88	VirtualDub in here is only for previewing purpose. It is not being used in the convertion workflow. The point of using Debugmode is strictly to save your hard drive space, and eliminate the wait for first step rendering (which is timeline to CineForm AVI). If your timeline is CineForm, then your output (signpost) should be CineForm when you use Debugmode, is it not?

February 25th, 2009, 10:02 PM	#4
Peter Manojlovic Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Hamilton Ontario Posts: 769	Yes Desmond... You are totally correct.. But the workflow suggested on the site, is most likely for people who've never heard of Cineform, or for the days when Hard Drive space was really expensive.. Firstly, the Cineform workflow is primarily for people who do serious CC, and need immediate playback and undisturbed quality on the timeline. Secondly, i believe that the handoff between PPro and Debugmode is probably somewhat slower than an AVISynth script sraight to the encoder anyways... By saving out to Cineform, and serving back to your encoder, yes, you're creating an extra step, and some extra harddrive space, but i'm pretty sure the finished footage for optical media shouldn't be more than two hours anyways...What's that in Cineform? About 120gigs? Not a big deal... I'm sure an encoder like CCE can eat up the AVISynth script pretty quickly...

February 25th, 2009, 10:09 PM	#5
Graham Hickling Trustee Join Date: May 2004 Location: Knoxville, Tennessee Posts: 1,669	Quote: I assume that the encoders shouldn't have a problem reading the .AVS script to accept the Cineform codec Without getting into the pros and cons of the two methods above, I can confirm that Procoder, TMPGEnc Xpress and CCE can happily from encode Cineform files opened by way of an avisynth script.

February 25th, 2009, 10:25 PM	#6
Peter Manojlovic Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Hamilton Ontario Posts: 769	Yes, i'm looking forward to some test results in the future..I'm really curious as to CCE encode speeds...

February 26th, 2009, 08:39 AM	#8
John Rich Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Dayton, Ohio Posts: 80	The group over at the Adobe Premiere forum have been discussing this in huge topics for at least 9 months. I think their original idea was to do the HD-SD conversion with free tools. I didn't think it was relevant to me, since I just imported with HDlink, and exported and down sized per Cineform's instructions (File-Export -Movie), and got what I thought were good results. Are you all saying, that these tools should be incorporated into the Cineform workflow? John Rich