HD -> SD Workflow Advice

TimTyler wrote on 3/24/2009, 10:00 AM

I'm shooting 720p 30P DVCPRO-HD on Wednesday, and the client want s a 4:3 60i DigiBeta tape on Friday. Finished length ~5 minutes.

An associate has a Digibeta deck connected to his Avids that i'd like to use. I want to send him a file that he can import and burn to tape.

Yesterday I sent him several SD test files. The MPEG2 and Sony YUV worked, but he was not able to import the M-JPEG and DVCPRO-50 files.

Will the finished SD quality be different if I work in a SD or HD Vegas timeline?

Is there a format I should render to that will look best once it gets to the Avid?

Any other tips for the HD progressive to SD interlaced conversion?

Comments

farss wrote on 3/24/2009, 3:20 PM

"Is there a format I should render to that will look best once it gets to the Avid?"

The Sony YUV would be ideal. It's as close to what's on a DB tape as it gets.

"Any other tips for the HD progressive to SD interlaced conversion?"

As you're only shooting 720p you should be fairly safe with aliasing and line twitter problems. As it's 30p field order issues that I've had with 50p>50i should also not be there.

Watch your vision levels, some of the HD camcorders seem to output vision that's pretty hot compared to what you'd get from a DB camera and what the client might expect to see on a DB tape.

Bob.

TimTyler wrote on 3/24/2009, 3:35 PM

Thanks, Bob.

Are "vision levels" the same as 100+ IRE?

farss wrote on 3/24/2009, 3:57 PM

"Are "vision levels" the same as 100+ IRE? "

Yes, just check with the waveform monitor in Vegas.

Bob.