ongoing issue : HD to SD

[Adam Forgione]

ive tried about 40 different tests to get ex1 footage (mostly 1080 60i 25mbps) burned to dvd and play on various sources. i am pulling my hair out hearing lots of people say "my downconvert sd footage looks great!" ive tried :

method on ken stones website, export hdv and use compressor with various settings including switch fields, deinterlacing with blur, increasing sharpness, etc. nothing is even close. ive tried bring hdv to sd time line doing all different settings, ive exported 8bit quicktime conversion, exported dv50, etc. every possible test thats been mentioned here, dvinfo.net, apple.com, videouniversity, creative cow, you name it. outputting the ex1 via av cable to sd is a joke too (vhs looks better seriously). ive played the sd dvd's on tube tvs, small lcds, sony 40" bravia 1080p hdtv its all bad. then tonight i whipped out my new fx1 connected the video out (rca jack with the single yellow video cable) to my sd tvs in my house and the footage blows away anything ive ever done on the ex1. what can i possibly be doing wrong. i will need to deliver sd dvd's for at least another year and im about to return my ex1 cause of this issue. the best way i can describe what it looks like is like burning a dvd at 4 hour mode.

has anyone REALLY had luck burning sd dvd's, i mean the footage looks as good as if it were shot on 1/2 or 2/3 inch sd cams?

why would my $3000 fx1 output sd so much better than the ex1 right out of the cam?

sorry for the vent, i havent been sleeping and my first hd gig is 6 days away (wedding)

[hunter richards]

Most of the time I just let compressor do the work for me, (or iMovie if I need to burn something quick). Make sure you have high-quality multi-pass encoding on.

Try this for kicks:

Take your full 1080p video and import it into iMovie with the high-quality mode on. Then burn a dvd.

That should look pretty good.

[Adam Forgione]

Most of the time I just let compressor do the work for me, (or iMovie if I need to burn something quick). Make sure you have high-quality multi-pass encoding on.

Try this for kicks:

Take your full 1080p video and import it into iMovie with the high-quality mode on. Then burn a dvd.

That should look pretty good.

i always burn encoding rate of 8.0 in compressor that usually beats every other mac app for dvd's ive been burning sd dvd's for years with stunning results, its the ex1 footage to sd thats killing me. i thinking imovie is not the best solution and im looking for the best solution. im actually wondering if there is a problem with my ex1, for some reason my 1080 60i sp footage is looking progressive on most burns

[cinephil]

I did once burn a dvd with imovie and playing it back on a plasma tv it looked awful.
I tried again using dvd studio pro and it looked much better. Maybe your problem is not the ex but rather the encoder your using. I started by exporting a quicktime (ref) from the timeline to the desktop. I than dropped this QT in imovie/ dvd studio.

hope this helps.
Phil

[Adam Forgione]

I did once burn a dvd with imovie and playing it back on a plasma tv it looked awful.
I tried again using dvd studio pro and it looked much better. Maybe your problem is not the ex but rather the encoder your using. I started by exporting a quicktime (ref) from the timeline to the desktop. I than dropped this QT in imovie/ dvd studio.

hope this helps.
Phil

those ideas do not give acceptable results for my clients. im opened to any other down converting recipes but ive tried so many. i ask please anyone if you think your ex1 footage downconverted to sd looks great, can you attach an m2v (small sample even 30 secs - preferably 60i cause i dont shoot progressive but anything is better than nothing) so i can burn it in dvdsp and see what your seeing. after 50 encoding tests am convinced the ex1 donwconverted to sd looks like crap. please prove me wrong i want this to work, i have an hd wedding coming up in 6 days and im about to go and rent sd gear to shoot it.

[Adam Forgione]

update :

i just compressed basic default dvd 90 setting in compressor to make an m2v and burned it in toast as opposed to dvdsp and it looks awesome, im running more dvdsp tests, there might be something wrong with my dvdsp, hopefully. this makes me happy, ill keep you posted

[Steve Shovlar]

I Adam thats good to hear. Keep us all informed please.