Best Way from HDV to DVD

[Jared Carey]

I know there are threads about this with bits of information, but i have not located one that gives the best way to go from Premiere Pro HDV(1080) 30i to DVD. I would like to go to 480p but if 480i yields a better picture, I can go for that too. I want to preserve as much color and detail when going to DVD (and maybe even spruce it up with some image sharpening..). Could someone please post their process on achieving this?

[Jared Carey]

no one has ever edited in HDV under Premiere and exported to DVD?

[David Newman]

Here what I did for my last shoot.
Shot CineFrame 25, using Aspect HD 3.2 converted the incoming data to 24p. Completed a 24p edit. I nested the timeline so I could apply a mild unsharpen mask to punch up the edges, then exported that to 720x480 16x9 anamorphic (progressive = 480p.) I took the resulting sequence back into SD Premiere timeline to use the Adobe Media Media to make an anamorphic DVD stream (there is a bug in Encore that prevents you creating 24p anamorphic MPEG -- other rates are fine.) Then placed this newly created stream into Encore for menu and disk creation.

For 30i DVD creation the steps are very similar. When using "CineForm HD Export" select 720x480 16x9 lower field first. The resulting SD stream can be directly dropped into Encore -- saving a small step.

30i DVD creation doesn't work that well without Aspect HD as the scaling utilities within the stock Premiere Pro are not all that good for interlaced materials. For the stock Premiere I recommend always using de-interlacing. Otherwise try Aspect HD 3.2.