New Z7U - Downconverting 1080i or shoot in SD?

[Ryan DesRoches]

Hi gang,

Just upgraded cameras from a Canon XL2 to a new Sony HVR-Z7U and I'm curious of anyone knows the process to get the best quality SD DVD possible out of this camera.

Should I shoot in HDV 1080i mode, edit 1080i in Avid, and then downconvert to SD when making the DVD

Or

Should I shoot in SD and just edit as normal?

What do you think would be the best way to go? I use Avid Media Composer ads my editor and Encore 2.0 as my DVD authoring program if that makes a difference.

Thanks
Ryan

[Chris Leffler]

Downconvert when making DVD.

[Ervin Farkas]

I think outputting an SD file from the HD Avid project and feeding that into Encore will give you the best result, unless Avid can encode straight to MPEG2/SD. I imagine Avid would do a better job, but I don't know Avid - does it include a compressor?

[Boyd Ostroff]

Mod note: thread has been moved from the Z1 forum to the Z7 forum.

[Ryan Valle]

downconvert to sd for dvd and master a copy of the video onto tape as hd.

that way, you're more future safe in case the client wants to come back for an hd blu-ray copy. plus, you end up with higher looking quality video on the dvd

[Brian Boyko]

You might also want to consider discarding every other line of information to create a 960x540 30p file to save on editing time (and get that awesome progressive look) if you KNOW you're not going to go to need the high-def.

[John Knight]

I shoot in HDV 1080i and then use the down-convert feature of the camera to capture SD files and edit in SD, deliver in SD. I found the hardware down-convert far superior to software.

[Ed Plamondon]

I just shot an HD program last week and made an SD DVD after the face using Compressor.
The dvd looked great.

[Jonathan Richards]

Down convert on capture. Much superior SD than conforming to SD and MPEG2 at the same time.

The interlacing is handled better this way.

[David Montgomery]

Folks, the future is HD. I do not shoot anything in SD or downconvert from the camera in SD. Literally I take my M2T files from my camera and store them on hard drives. I then can play them natively on my PS3 or burn them to disk. If I ever make a DVD, I then convert the finished video to MPG. I noticed the quality is better this way. I use Sony Vegas Pro 8 and editing 1440x1080 is a breeze. Sometimes I like to change the pixel ratio to square and produce 1920x1080 (which is the same ratio as 1.33 at 1440x1080). However, keeping the same specs and dimensions 1440x1080 allow for a much faster rendering time.

[Keith Forman]

i have noticed some slight artifacts and motion issues when using HDV for DVD. I started to capture with SD to CF and HDV on tape on the camera. The issues are gone when using the SD.

kdbf

[Chris Barcellos]

Best result with FX1, and we are talking about same HDV concept here, is capture and edit with Cineform intermediate codec in Vegas 8, then render to Vegas DVD Architect Mpeg video...

[Keith Forman]

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

Best result with FX1, and we are talking about same HDV concept here, is capture and edit with Cineform intermediate codec in Vegas 8, then render to Vegas DVD Architect Mpeg video...

Yes, that may be true but with the Z7 using CF cards there is no capture... It is really just downloading.

kdbf