Best work flow for downconverting 1080 60i to SD

googen wrote on 4/24/2009, 12:12 PM
I am sure I will get lots of opinions here. But what is the best work flow and settings to downconvert 1080 60i to SD Mpeg2 shot with Canon Vixia HFs10. I am combining footage from a Sony VX2100 with an anamorphic lens 16x9 with the new Canon. one big issue is that the Sony shoots lower field first and the Canon shoots upper field first. Should I just convert the Canon footage to progressive via deinterlacing??? There are so many options......HELP

Comments

NickHope wrote on 4/24/2009, 9:17 PM
When I convert 1080-60i HDV to NTSC SD for DVDs I don't deinterlace. I use a project properties template that looks like this:



I frameserve out of Vegas using the Debugmode Frameserver and I encode to MPEG2 using Cinemacraft Encoder Basic which I find is faster and gives better quality MPEG2 than Vegas.

The PAR of 1.1852 is different from the 1.2121 in the Vegas NTSC DV Widescreen template but this is the figure you need if you want to fill your screen and have no pillar-boxing.

It's really important you set an interlace method (blend or interpolate) otherwise Vegas will treat the footage as progressive when it downsizes it and you'll get artifacts.
googen wrote on 4/25/2009, 9:22 AM
Nick, Thanks. I am a little confused. You said NOT to deinterlace in the first sentance, but at the end you say it is important to choose the correct interlace method. Am I missing something.

jerry
googen wrote on 4/25/2009, 9:35 AM
I can't find 1.1852 in the pixel aspect ratio drop down.
NickHope wrote on 4/25/2009, 7:21 PM
>> You said NOT to deinterlace in the first sentance, but at the end you say it is important to choose the correct interlace method. Am I missing something. <<

This is a Vegas peculiarity. You need to set a deinterlace method but you're not actually deinterlacing. It will only deinterlace if you set "None (progressive scan)" in the "Field Order" box. If you don't set a deinterlace method then Vegas makes a hash of resizing.

>> I can't find 1.1852 in the pixel aspect ratio drop down. <<

You won't. because Vegas uses a PAR of 1.2121 for NTSC DV widescreen, but you can type in 1.1852 in that box and it will stick. 1.1852 is the aspect ratio you need to fill the frame. Do a search for "1.1852" in this forum with "any date" set and you can learn more.
googen wrote on 4/27/2009, 8:22 AM
Thanks Nick. I have been editing with Vegas programs for 3 years. And there is always something to learn.
corug7 wrote on 4/27/2009, 2:57 PM
If you know why you're doing it, setting the deinterlace preference isn't really a peculiarity. The deinterlace preference deinterlaces on a per field basis, and after the video is scaled, it is reinterlaced. If this is set to none, and interlaced video is scaled, the interlacing from one field will be introduced into the next, and this can cause all kinds of visual problems.