HDV > DV > DVD workflow advice

navydoc wrote on 12/18/2005, 6:50 AM
Well, I finally bit the bullet and bought my very first camcorder, the Sony HDR-HC1. I have a series of short videos I want to do and place on a dvd as seperate titles. My question is which is the best way to go from HDV to mpeg2 and keep the highest quality video?. Below are my choices before rendering to mpeg2 as I see them:

1. Shoot in HDV and downsample to DV using the camcorder during capture.
2. Shoot in HDV, capture the m2t and downsample to .AVI in Vegas...or
3. Shoot in DV to begin with.

I will need to do editing within Vegas to trim video, add cut shots etc. Suggestions are most welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Doc

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 12/18/2005, 7:24 AM
First, HDV *is* MPEG 2. m2t represents "mpeg 2, Transport Stream."

Shoot in HDV, then downsample either in camera or on timeline of Vegas. It's best to use Vegas, while your eye won't see a tremendous difference by converting in camera, shoot a resolution chart, and you'll see a huge diff.
Don't shoot in DV to begin with, especially with the HC1. CMOS works quite well with high resolution, but it suffers quite a bit when it's in lower rez.

Render straight to MPEG 2 from the timeline.

It's all about TIME. If you want to save time by downsampling, you're getting the worst possible image given the source footage. However, even the worse is pretty darn good. This is the fastest method.
For the BEST image, convert in Vegas, using the CineForm DI (Digital Intermediary) and you'll be shocked at quality. However, this is very slow for the conversion/reconversion.
navydoc wrote on 12/18/2005, 4:57 PM
Thanks for the info on the best route to go for quality rendering to dvd from HDV footage. I looked high and low for the Cineform DI template til I realized that's within Connect HD. I've downloaded the trial version and the results are pretty amazing...very good quality without all the stuttering on the timeline using other methods. Time is not an issue as I have no deadlines.

Doc
Spot|DSE wrote on 12/18/2005, 5:23 PM
Well, you do have the CineForm codec in Vegas. The "intermediate" codecs you see in the avi templates are all CineForm.
GearShift makes this just a touch easier, but you can use the Regions/Batch render to do the same thing should you wish.
However, if you use the CineForm Connect product, it converts to the CineForm codec on the fly during capture.