Using HD camcorder for DVD-5 to use in all DVD players

[Keith Thomas]

This is my first post and so hope I’m in the correct area.

Quite a few years ago I produced a PAL DVD-5 with content about my hobby and which played faultless in all makes of players (I never had feed back to the contrary) and I’m about to embark on producing another one. However, things have changed since then in that I will now be using my granddaughters Canon LEGRIA HF200 with my old Premiere 6.5 for editing. Now I know this editor will not be any good for m2ts files and I have converted some files which I downloaded from the Internet (my granddaughter does not arrive for a couple of weeks) to AVI and whilst I know this Canon can produce film of 1420x1080, what is the best way to convert that film size down to 720x576 without purchasing expensive software, or perhaps the Canon itself can do it.

It all seems a complicated minefield these days compared with a few years ago before HD. I may be old, but I’m keen to overcome the hurdles and so hope some of you can help.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

What computer specs are you using?

I don't know if Premiere 6.5 even has full HD options. But if you're just doing basic editing with a small amount of footage and want to burn an 'amateur' DVD, try Windows Movie Maker - it gets the job done but is not professional.

Anyway, if you have to convert, try the software MPEG Streamclip here: Squared 5 - MPEG Streamclip video converter for Mac and Windows

All the best.

[Keith Thomas]

Hello Sareesh,

Premiere 6.5 will not edit HD. Have you actually used this software for downsizing image size from 1420x1080 to 720x576 without losing image quality?

Regards

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

I have not used it for 'downsizing'. I have used it earlier to import footage and found it to be useful. It can convert files to different formats and also change the resolution - as mentioned on its website.

I don't have to do what you do because I have a system that can edit full HD - so I stick to that workflow and just burn a DVD in the end. This is the only way you'll get professional results.

In your case, you have to transcode the HD footage to AVI at 720x576. Obviously you won't be using uncompressed AVI because the file sizes are large. So you'll lose quite a bit of image quality there (depends on what you find acceptable for your work). Then after you edit, you have to render out another MPEG-2 version from this compressed AVI version - that will make it even worse. But again, in practice, you mind find the results acceptable, so try out a sample clip and you'll know for sure.

The lesser the changes to the file, the better the image quality. If you don't have a full HD file yet, you can download from the internet (just Google it) and then test your workflow. Hope this helps.

[Keith Thomas]

Sareesh,

I found a really good discussion on this topic in this Forum here What Happens in Vegas... Forum at DVinfo.net which answers my question.

Thanks for responding,

Keith

[Keith Thomas]

Working on the input of Perrone Ford in the above thread I have made excellent progress so far with his VirtualDub method:

I used "DGAVCIndex" to open and convert the Canon camcorder H200 produced MTS file
Then used VirtualDub to resize the 1920x1080 down 720x576 and this produced a really good colour and sharpness AVI file.

I have two problems not resolved, The first in that the zoom and panning which are smooth in the MTS are not so in the AVI conversion. Secondly I'm not sure if reducing to PAL 720x576 for a 16.9 wide screen is correct (even though it seems so in the final film) and perhaps the 576 should be smaller.

[Perrone Ford]

Can you upload some examples of how the motiion has changed in your conversion? What frame rate did you record in, and did you maintain that frame rate in the conversion?

As for the correct size of the file, I am not familiar enough with the PAL sizes to offer an informed opinion.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

Originally Posted by Keith Thomas

I'm not sure if reducing to PAL 720x576 for a 16.9 wide screen is correct (even though it seems so in the final film) and perhaps the 576 should be smaller.

720x576 is okay. Pal has a different pixel aspect ratio compared to HDTV. If you burn the DVD using professional software, the DVD player will adjust the size according to the TV display. In a 4:3 TV, you'll see a letter-boxed image and an on an LCD 16:9 TV you'll get the full image.

[Keith Thomas]

Thanks Sareesh.

Before uploading film for Perrone and others to see. I'm in discussion with him and once I know what is required, I will keep everyone fully informed here for future reference.

[Bryan Sellars]

Hi Keith,

The thing to be aware of when converting for DVD is that the MTS files of the HF200 are upper field first as are all AVCHD, and if you make a DVD from them stay with upper field first or you risk the dreaded interlace jitter.

Bryan

[Keith Thomas]

Thanks Brian.

Things are moving along slowly and the advice from Perrone here http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/what-hap...quality-2.html to use VirtualDub to obtain an AVI file to give a sharp picture is excellent.

So far I'm using:
DGAVCIndex
AviSynth
VirtualDub
TMPGenc 4 (free trial)
TMPGenc MPEG Editor 3 (free trial)
DVD Lab PRO

Due to having on old PC my MTS clips have to be a short duration, but that's not a problem for the project I'm doing. However, I'm really missing using my old Premiere 6.5 for titles, but it insists on interlacing the AVI file and degrading the sharp VirtualDub AVI file. So presently I'm stuck in obtaining an easy to understand method of adding text to my clips.

Keith

[Bryan Sellars]

Hi Keith,

From what you said about Premiere and the AVI being interlace is why I think it could be reversing the field order, my favorite program was Premiere 6.5 until I got my Canon HF10 then I found the easiest way to edit MTS files on a slow computer was Corel Video Studio, (my computer at the time was a Pentium 1.5Ghz so not very fast for MTS files 1920x1080i) I just set the proxy files to something the computer could handle, and used the custom setting to make an mpeg 2 file upper field first and author and burn a DVD with TMPGenc DVD Author, that way I could guarantee to make it upper field first and not have the program default to lower field first.

My proffered way of watching video is on a TV so I like to keep to interlaced if possible.

Bryan