SD or HD? at DVinfo.net

Clint Martin · July 25th, 2009, 10:21 AM

Here is my question. I have some SD and HD that will be going into the same project. I will be producing a dvd and also some of the footage will be going into a HD TV show. So when I edit should I capture everything in HD and upres the sd footage or work in SD and up res at the end for the HDTV? I am using cs4 and instant hd. I want my dvd to have the best possible quality but I am not sure I am ready to dive into blueray ( maybe later ).

Adam Gold · July 25th, 2009, 08:17 PM

You can't really "upres" SD to HD. You can make it a bit "better" but it looks nothing like HD. If your final product was going to go out only in SD then downrezzing the HD would make sense, but as you need an HD option as well then you should capture everything as HD and edit in an HD timeline. If you first downres the HD stuff and then try to upres it back at the end, all you'll get is crappy uprezzed SD for the whole project.

Once the resolution is lost, it's gone forever.

Clint Martin · July 25th, 2009, 11:33 PM

Thanks,
I am going to start again in HD. I started editing in SD and the HD clips had a severely limited field of view. Some of my commentaries had decapitated speakers.
Now, when I go to render the HD to SD will it do the same thing?
Thanks again,
Clint

Harm Millaard · July 26th, 2009, 04:31 AM

DVD is SD by definition. To make is easy on yourself downrez the HDV material in camera and only edit DV AVI. If at a later stage you want BRD, then recapture HDV at HDV resolution and uprez the SD material, which will take a quality hit.

July 25th, 2009, 10:21 AM	#1
Clint Martin New Boot Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: AJ, AZ Posts: 14	SD or HD? Here is my question. I have some SD and HD that will be going into the same project. I will be producing a dvd and also some of the footage will be going into a HD TV show. So when I edit should I capture everything in HD and upres the sd footage or work in SD and up res at the end for the HDTV? I am using cs4 and instant hd. I want my dvd to have the best possible quality but I am not sure I am ready to dive into blueray ( maybe later ). __________________ http://skinnymoose.com/onstand/

July 25th, 2009, 11:33 PM	#3
Clint Martin New Boot Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: AJ, AZ Posts: 14	Thanks, I am going to start again in HD. I started editing in SD and the HD clips had a severely limited field of view. Some of my commentaries had decapitated speakers. Now, when I go to render the HD to SD will it do the same thing? Thanks again, Clint __________________ http://skinnymoose.com/onstand/

July 25th, 2009, 08:17 PM	#2
Adam Gold Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Woodinville, WA USA Posts: 3,467	You can't really "upres" SD to HD. You can make it a bit "better" but it looks nothing like HD. If your final product was going to go out only in SD then downrezzing the HD would make sense, but as you need an HD option as well then you should capture everything as HD and edit in an HD timeline. If you first downres the HD stuff and then try to upres it back at the end, all you'll get is crappy uprezzed SD for the whole project. Once the resolution is lost, it's gone forever.

July 26th, 2009, 04:31 AM	#4
Harm Millaard Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Posts: 1,832	DVD is SD by definition. To make is easy on yourself downrez the HDV material in camera and only edit DV AVI. If at a later stage you want BRD, then recapture HDV at HDV resolution and uprez the SD material, which will take a quality hit.