HDV to SD. Best method?

[Mark Bryant]

Michael,

Yes, I'll post with how I got on after I've completed my first edit (or most likely when I need help with it!).

Mark

[Mark Bryant]

Well, I just tried Gearshift with a 45 second clip (148 MB m2t file). I told it to shift gears to create a proxy. It did 2 renders - the first created a 5.8 GB (!) avi file, the second created the DV proxy file (177 MB), which is what I was expecting. I don't understand why I got this first huge file. It says it is Sony YUV codec. Any ideas?

EDIT: Sorry, I think I see the problem now - under HD files something was set, rather than "none". Never mind.

Mark

[John Rofrano]

Yup Mark, you go it. You probably had HD 1080-60i YUV selected under the HD Media dropdown which is the default. For anyone else reading this, if you only want a DV proxy, remember to change HD Media option to (none) and it won’t render that file anymore.

~jr

[Mark Bryant]

JR,

Thanks - got it.
Seeing that you are developer..... -) one other small problem, when I run Gearshift it is hard to see, like it is missing half its "skin". I sent you an email with an attachment. Any ideas?

Mark

[John Rofrano]

Mark, Got your email. Oh my! GearShift is NAKED! I have never seen anything like that before. It certainly is missing its skin entirely. I’ll work with you off-line on this. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

~jr

[Jason Lowe]

So, let me get this straight:

I capture .m2t files from the HDR-HC1 using Vegas. These are in HDV format.

I use Gearshift to create DV proxy files for editing in Vegas. This is to increase speed and keep things moving along.

The DV proxy files can be used to create a DVD in regular DV format using Architect.

Gearshift can then make a .m2t file of the final product, which Vegas can play back to the HDR-HC1, so I'll have an HDV master when bluray finally comes along.

The part I'm fuzzy on is the creating a DVD in regular DV format part. Plus, does Geareshift work with the Vegas DVD Platinum Edition?

[Mark Bryant]

Jason,

Almost but not quite. The proxies are for ease of edit, but you don't want to render to DVD from them. You do your edits on the proxy, when you are happy with it you "shift" back to the m2t files. You then render to DVD from these m2t files, you can also print back to the HD cam from these as well.

Mark

[John Rofrano]

While you could use the DV proxy to print to DVD, you probably want to shift gears back to the M2T files and create the DVD MPEG2 from that. It will be slightly better quality.

Unfortunately, GearShift does not support Vegas Movie Studio because Movie Studio does not support the Vegas Script API that GearShift uses.

~jr

[John McGinley]

This thread saved me so much grief this week. I used Steve's settings for MPEG 2 compression with 2 pass VBR and it yielded tremendous results. All the other input was extremely useful as well. I'm burning DVDs of my brother's wedding that I shot on the FX1 and as my family is not yet in the world of HD they will be very pleased with these SD DVDs. Thanks to everyone on this thread. Good stuff.

[Brian Karr]

Yes, I also just found this thread and it has been extremely helpful. How do you list all of the people on this forum in your credits!

[Fred Foronda]

Originally Posted by Mark Bryant

Jason,

Almost but not quite. The proxies are for ease of edit, but you don't want to render to DVD from them. You do your edits on the proxy, when you are happy with it you "shift" back to the m2t files. You then render to DVD from these m2t files, you can also print back to the HD cam from these as well.

Mark

I think this is what I am having trouble with. From the supplied Cineform codec I render straight to DVD architech and the quality doesn't look smooth. I'll try switching the files back to the m2t and see what happends. Thanks guys for a great forum!!

[Mark Bryant]

Fred,

You can certainly try switching to do the render from the original m2t file, but my comment was about using DV proxies. Rendering to CineForm as an intermediate, then from this to SD-DVD should result in quality indistinguishable from rendering the m2t. If you are seeing poor quality from a CineForm to SD-DVD render there may be something else happening, like the settings used for the mpeg2 DVD render? What template/settings are you using?

[Fred Foronda]

Originally Posted by Mark Bryant

Fred,

You can certainly try switching to do the render from the original m2t file, but my comment was about using DV proxies. Rendering to CineForm as an intermediate, then from this to SD-DVD should result in quality indistinguishable from rendering the m2t. If you are seeing poor quality from a CineForm to SD-DVD render there may be something else happening, like the settings used for the mpeg2 DVD render? What template/settings are you using?

"Houston, we have a problem" Seems like I was doing it correctly but some how its not coming out smooth. Just the slightest pan you could see "pixles". Even in certain shades of color you see "pixels:
Templates: NSTC DV
Field Order: Progressive Scan
Pixel aspect ration: NSTC DV
Render Quality: Good
Motion Blur: Guassian
Deinterlace method: Blend

Can someone tell me what I may be doing wrong?

Thanks

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

When rescaling MPEG 2 in particular, you want to use BEST as your format.

[Fred Foronda]

Originally Posted by Douglas Spotted Eagle

When rescaling MPEG 2 in particular, you want to use BEST as your format.

Perfect..it came out perfect. Thanks a million to all. Now I just need to learn how to use dvd architect.