Downconverting 720P/24P to Digibeta

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Whathafa

Member
I have an HD project I shot with the HVX200 in 720P/24P using the Firestore drive. I just found out that I now need to deliver it in SD -- letterboxed digibeta to be exact (with a DVD backup) . I am editing in Final Cut Pro, and have a full AJA board set-up and DBC deck.

Does anyone know the best way to downcovert this project so that the quality of the 720P is preserved as much as possible on digibeta? Do I export it into an SD project in FCP? Do I just "Edit to Tape" from the DVCProHD project and count on FCP and firewire to do all the conversion?

This is my first time around, and I'm terrified. If anyone out there knows the best workflow, could they please, um, hold my hand?

Thanks.
 
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Whatever you do, just don't downrez in FCP - it doesn't do a great job - and it takes forever.

Hook the Digibeta deck to the Aja card outs and layoff to tape that way from the 720p sequence - the Aja card should be able to downconvert on the fly. There should be a way to set it to letterbox, but I don't really use Aja cards, so perhaps someone can chime in on that part. That'll be the best way short of running it through a dub house setup - which also adds the step of getting the footage into a form that your particular dub house can use.
 
You should have an application installed called the Kona Control Panel. In this panel you'll have options for selecting the primary and secondary output formats (there are two SDI outputs, and they can be set independently to either SD or HD. Under one of the tabs in the Kona Control panel, you have the option to set the output to letterbox, crop etc. Just go with letterbox, and the card will downconvert for your output to DBeta.

Joe Murray
 
So I succeeded in this down conversion. And despite Pheboglobi's reservations, FCP did a fantastic job... It just took a while to tweak it to do so. I exported a straight 720P mov of the project, opened up an SD 10-bit uncompressed project, and placed this mov on the timeline. THEN, I had to change three settings -- Playback settings in Sequence Settings, Audio/Video Settings, and System Settings -- adjusting everything along the way to be as high quality as possible. Then render. It took a while to render (2:1), but man did it look fantastic. Seriously. I could not be happier. I used Edit To Tape and my AJA IO board to output to Digi, and there was much rejoicing.
 
Sure thing. Check back late tomorrow. I'll detail it all. (away from my system today).

UPDATED -- Sorry fellas. Seriously, I'll try to do this on Friday.
 
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SETTINGS for HD-SD Down Conversion in Final Cut Pro 5.1:
(This is what I used, and it worked REALLY well. There may be others who can improve on it...)

Note: We use an AJA IO board running SDI to a Sony Digibeta deck. Settings may vary slightly if you use something else.

1) EXPORT a straight 720P QUICKTIME FILE from your 720P project (does not need to be self-contained), and close the project.

2) EASY SET-UP:
Select "AJA Io-NTSC US SDI AV 10-bit Uncompressed 4:2:2" (or some equivalent thereof).

3) SYSTEM SETTINGS:
PLAYBACK CONTROL Menu:
PLAYBACK SETTINGS:
RT:Safe
Video Quality: Dynamic
Frame Rate: Full
Pulldown Pattern: 2:3:2:3
Gamma Correction: Accurate
RECORD SETTINGS: Full Quality

4) AUDIO/VIDEO SETTINGS:
SEQUENCE PRESETS Menu:
Edit...
GENERAL Menu:
Frame Size: 720x486 CCIR 601 NTSC (40:27)
Pixel Aspect: NTSC-CCIR 601...
Field Dominance: Lower (even)
Editing Timebase: 29.97
Timecode Rate: Same as Timebase
Quicktime Video Settings:
Compressor: Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2
Quality: 100%
VIDEO PROCESSING Menu:
Render 10-bit material in high-precision YUV
Process Maximum White as White
Motion Filtering Quality: BEST

5) Open a new project in FCP and import your exported 720P project. Place it in a sequence.

6) Click on the Sequence in the menu and go to SEQUENCE top-menu and select SETTINGS...

7) Double check that all the "General" and "Video Processing" settings are correct (should match the above.)

8) Go to SEQUENCE top-menu - RENDER ALL and make sure all items are checked under "Video". Then RENDER ALL, grab a beer, and relax.

9) Always double check your rendered sequence, as FCP can occasionally do funny things with render files. Re-render if necessary.

10) Edit to tape and away you go.
 
I down convert in FCP all the time...usually looks/works great.
For people who don't have SDI cards for beta sp delivery, this works great.
 
Nice! the music video I completed was selected for a film fest..so I need to do the exact same conversion to beta sp. you rock!
 
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