HDV -> DVD Best options

Mr. Hector

Mr. Hector

Active member
I have some HDV footage captured on an HVR-A1E (PAL) and as I see it I have a couple of options.

1.
To use the in camera HDV-SD output option
Capture in Vegas and edit
Adjust Gamma
De-interlace using a third party smart de-interlacer for PC similar to the Nattress one for FCP (advice welcome)
output 25P to DVD

2.
Capture HDV using Cineform's Connect HD (open to alternative suggestions)
Edit in Vegas
Make Gamma adjustments
De-interlace using a smart de-interlacer as above
Compress using .. what? for DVD


Obviosly the first is the easiest and cheapest, but will I see better picture quality using the second option?
 
Assuming your using Vegas (its what I use)

Place HDV in the timeline and edit as normal

apply sharping filter (I use about 0.450) you should experiment and see what you like.

also in the properties tab set to progressive and interpolate as the de-interlace method.

then render the clip (i suggest you use about a minutes worth of clip, because when I'm testing, I always do very small clips that way I can do many different combinations to see what variable has what effect, then when I am happy with the combinations I can do the full clip.)

when rendering set to quiktime and go to custom, find the compression and set it MJPEG (OK, in theory you are suppose to set it to uncompressed, but to my eyes there is really no difference, and plus it saves on HDD space)

now, take a look at the quiktime file, it should look amazing, in fact it should (on a small monitor, mine is 17"" CRT display) you cant tell the differance between the HD file and SD file (the differance is small)

NOW encode this file to MPEG 2 DVD and use the highest settings in the encoder such as set DCT precision to 10bit.

The mpeg2 file should look miles better than if you whent HDV>>DVD
 
Yas Kassana said:
Assuming your using Vegas (its what I use)

Place HDV in the timeline and edit as normal
Click to expand...

Hi Yas, thanks for your detailed reply.

Are you saying that you are not using an intermediary codec like the cineform one? Surely vegas will not capture HDV, I tried and failed.

Additionaly, I thought hdv would be very slow to edit in its native form.
 
David Jimerson said:
Vegas 6 captures HDV. The speed of editing depends on your system.
Click to expand...

I have Vegas 6, when I try to capture out of the camera, I get a message saying that the device is not available or is being used by another progaram.

when I switch the camera to the downconvert mode HDV to SD it captures fine.

Are you saying that these (fairly expensive) intermediary codecs like Connect HD are not necessary and that they simply speed up editing?
 
Cineform is a product that is amazing. I would definitly invest in that, it saves time, makes your image look better, and the effiency of editing. Your camera problem I don't understand, try starting vegas first, then plug in your camera, and capture.
 
Yas Kassana said:
Assuming your using Vegas (its what I use)

Place HDV in the timeline and edit as normal

apply sharping filter (I use about 0.450) you should experiment and see what you like.

also in the properties tab set to progressive and interpolate as the de-interlace method.

then render the clip (i suggest you use about a minutes worth of clip, because when I'm testing, I always do very small clips that way I can do many different combinations to see what variable has what effect, then when I am happy with the combinations I can do the full clip.)

when rendering set to quiktime and go to custom, find the compression and set it MJPEG (OK, in theory you are suppose to set it to uncompressed, but to my eyes there is really no difference, and plus it saves on HDD space)

now, take a look at the quiktime file, it should look amazing, in fact it should (on a small monitor, mine is 17"" CRT display) you cant tell the differance between the HD file and SD file (the differance is small)

NOW encode this file to MPEG 2 DVD and use the highest settings in the encoder such as set DCT precision to 10bit.

The mpeg2 file should look miles better than if you whent HDV>>DVD
Click to expand...


I have used your workflow as far as the quicktime file which was great, even if the rendering seemed to take forever (on my laptop!) but would it not have achieved the same thing rendering the cineform .avi straight to Mpeg2 without converting it to quicktime first?
 
I did a LOT of reading on this yesterday. From what I could tell and what I tried it really makes no difference really downconverting in cam or in your NLE. What seems to make a little difference though, is making sure that when you export after your edit, you export with the highest bit depth possible. In ppro 2.0 I can export as Uncompressed AVI with either 8 bit or 10 bit. But after it exports i can view the footage or use it with anything; I don't have the right codec to decode :(

But if you export as regular Microsoft avi then under Video > compressor, instead of selecting NONE, select Uncompressed UYVY 422 8bit. Then do all your 720 x 480 frame rates, PAR etc... Then that last menu ( Keyframe and Rendering), click the radio button Maximum under Bit Depth. Also I always like to select Deinterlace Video Footage. I'm very supprised how good premiere is now as deinterlacing.

For me it seemed to keep the footage the best looking as possible.
 
[SIZE=+0]I tried to PM Yas on this, but I guess, like me he does not look at his private messages.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0][/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0]My footage is HDV in the timeline as the footage was captures by Cineform's HD connect as a cineform .avi which edits and plays in the timeline as easily as SD.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0]As I do not have the ability to preserve the vertical resolution with a motion compensated or so called smart de-interlace (as I do not have AE or similar) I have opted for Yas' sugestion to use interpolate as the method in Vegas. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0][/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0]Previewing the timeline footage I am more than happy.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0][/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0]I am interested what you said about downconverting in camera, as it would obviously save hard disc space but I thought it would be better to work in HD preserving the color space and allowing me to output to HD DVD in a few years time.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0][/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0]What I am still not clear about is whether I gain anything from the step Yas takes going to quicktime before mpeg encoding.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0][/SIZE]
 
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