The problem of viewing SD footage on an HDTV

[scorsesefan]

Shot a short doc (100a, 24p, letterboxed) about an artist and I know he's going to watch the finished product on a HDTV. I want to impress him, and SD footage on a HDTV looks like complete crap (especially on an upscan DVD player). I played around with Instant HD a little, but besides having problems getting it to work, I've heard negative things about this program. Does anyone have any suggestions as how to improve the footage?
- Thanks

 

[Batutta]

Not much you can do really. 16x9 DVD's look better on HDTV's as you get extra lines of resolution, but you shot it letterboxed.

 

[adkimery]

Spend the money on taking it to a post host that can do a hardware up conversion or show it to the artist on an iPhone and talk about how TV is dead and the internet is the future. :tongue:

You can also give Compressor a shot since you already own it.

-A

 

[24pfreak]

I've done a few DVD from my DVX100b (squeeze mode) output via FCS via compressor as 16:9 anamorphic footage. DVD studio pro will burn the disc as proper anamorphic 16:9 dvd and your dvd player will show the correct ratio regardless of your output hardware (as letterbox footage on 4:3 TV or widescreen on a 16:9 display such as any HD capable LCD or plasma or projector)

In my experience, the footage came out decent (of course you can't compare with a full 720p output from an HVX) but nobody really can tell (unless he's in the know).