HDV to DV output options

[Dave Campbell]

Okay, Something seems to be messed up.

I captured my HDV project. I am then trying to output using the adobe media
encode to mpeg2-dvd. But, I do not see any dvd anamorphic options.
Seems like something has gone messed up in my system. I have looked
for a thread that talks about how to verify the CFHD is loaded correctly but can not seem to find it.

Dave

[Dave Campbell]

Man, this is driving me nuts. So, where am I supposed to see the option to
choose my DVD output to get std or anamorphic?

How do I tell if aspect HD is loaded correctly? I go into preferences and video settings and I see no options. Is this normal.

Thanks

Dave

[David Newman]

You can tell that you are running Aspect HD when you see our splash window open when you start a Aspect HD project within Premiere. You can also look in the project settings window to verifiy that you are running Aspect HD. Go the Project menu and select "Project Setting"->"General..." -- this list the current "edit mode" which should be "CineForm HD RT." If it is you can then click on the "Playback Settings..." button to do custom Aspect HD setups.

Now the DVD author element are Premiere tools and are uneffected by the presense of Aspect HD. Premiere is missing some useful presets, but you can create you own. Select "File->Export->Adobe Media Encoder..." then set the format to "MPEG2-DVD". Pick any of the existing presets like "NTSC DV 16x9 Low Quality 3MB VBR 1 Pass" -- all the 16x9 defaults are useless we change them. The click on "Video" and set the quality to 5.0 (high = slower encoding) TV standard (NTSC, 29.97) Field Order = Lower, aspect ratio 16:9, And bump up the bit-rate (try CBR at first -- faster encode) and set the bit-rate to 8Mbps+. Click OK and save the preset with a name that makes sense like "NTSC DVD 16x9 High Quality 8Mbs CBR." Now you are ready to make high quality DVD MPEG files.

In a related issue, in a little over an hour from now, Aspect HD 3.2 will go live for downloads. One of its enhancement is an improved down-res scaler for producing SD (DVD) content from HDV sources. So you should get that. All the above information will still apply.

[Randy Donato]

"One of its enhancement is an improved down-res scaler for producing SD (DVD) content from HDV sources. So you should get that. All the above information will still apply."
Can you explain this a bit more?

[David Newman]

The scaler now uses the field vs progressive encoding that is flagged within the CFHD AVI to choose a optimized scaler for the output target. It now handles mixed interlaced (50i, 60i) and progressive (CF24, CF25, CF30 & 720p) content adapting the scaler as appropriate for exports to interlace SD outputs (even swapping field dominance as needed.) It is very nice now, a big improvement in quality.

[Randy Donato]

Little OT but is it now saFe to copy the decoder to other machines...I need it on my network machine that does watch folders.

[David Newman]

Yes it should be. You will want CFDecode.ax (DShow decoder -- register that) and CFHD.inf and CFHD.dll (use the .inf file to install the VfW codec.) We intend to make a simple installer for those less technical, just that there is so much cool stuff to do and so little time.

[Dave Campbell]

David, thanks.

So, what I am trying to figure out is when I am taking my HDV project, using the aspect HD settings, it want to be able to make the DVD SD anamorphic.
When I did this once in my work flow, I got this option to do, but, can not seem to find it again.

Now, if when I made a new project, one picks the adobe HDV preset, rather than Aspect HD, what changes happen?

Thanks

Dave

[David Newman]

There is nothing you want in the HDV preset -- always use the Aspect HD presets. The issue is on export not the editing mode. You just need to create an anamorphic preset within the Adobe Media Encoder. It is pretty easy, just follow the steps I described above.

[Dave Campbell]

David, I followed the steps above, but on my 16 by 9 component output, the people are all stretched. By, I sure must be doing something wrong.


Sorry for all these novice questions.

Dave

[David Newman]

"16 by 9 component output" of what? And which way are they stretched -- heavy or thinner poeple? Are you going to a 16x9 display or a 4x3 display? How is the DVD setup?
If you are encoder an anamorphic DVD it will apply the 16x9 pixels to the 720x480 SD image. The MPEG2 file generated should play on you PC with the correct ratio. If it does then it is just a matter of you playback device being setup correctly.

[Dave Campbell]

David, thanks for the ideas.

Bottom line is I did not have my DVD player configured correctly. Once I set it up that is was connected to a 16 by 9 display, everything played correctly.

Made so much more to learn.

Still trying to figure out where I say that darn anamorphic encoding setting.
The aspect HD specs say SD is std dvd or anamorphic. Guess I must not understand what this means. I know I get get a DVD in std or anamorphic.
Can we encode them either way with the PPro and aspect HD?

Thanks again for the help!!

Dave

[David Newman]

4x3 is standard and 16x9 anamorphic, that is how you select the types. Of course HDV is 16x9 so the output will be letterboxed on a 4x3 DVD -- which you don't generally want to do as DVD can do letterboxing them selves.

[Stacy Rothwell]

<message moved to "Cineform 3.2 is Released" thread.>

[Ken Hodson]

The new 3.2a upgrade does the trick. I can now export directly from the 720p timeline.
On a related note, I did a project in Apect720p that included SD 4:3 as well as my HDV footage. Somehow I imagined that on export to DVD that the SD would be full screen and my HDV letterboxed. Instead the SD is letterboxed on all sides and the HDV top and bottom like regular. Any suggestions on how I should go about this?
Thanks