How best to downconvert HD to PAL using a NTSC HVX200?

G

gmehl

New member
Question on best format for a particular situation I'm faced with:

I'm going to be doing a project in Thailand with a HVX200 NTSC model. The final product for the client will need to be a DVD playable on PAL TVs. I want to shoot HD so that can evetually produce a high res version of the the video.

I would like to shoot to p2 cards in some form of 720p....Which HD format would be best for my needs... of being able to playback on PAL TVs as a DVD? I'll be shooting mostly talking heads -- Is it better to shoot 720/24pN or 720/24P or 1080/24pA?

I can only afford to do the downrezzing using software and a macbook pro.... should I be using FCP alone or should I be using FCP with Nattress plugins to do the conversion appropriate for DVD...? or should I edit in HD in FCP and then convert in compressor? Do I need to use Nattress plugin at all for this job of getting it to DVD playable on a PAL TV?

Or should I have rented a HVX200E PAL version? ;-) Unfortunately this isn't an option.

Thanks for any insights anyone has... I'm getting really confused the more I read the HVX forums.
 
Any of those modes can be used. Obviously using a PAL HVX would be the best choice, but if that's not an option then you have two others:

1) master the DVD out as a 24p DVD. Most PAL DVD players can play 24p footage.

or

2) finish as 24p and render out 24p files. Then speed them up to 25fps and render out a PAL DVD from there. As long as you are shooting 24p (and not 30p) the conversion to 25 can be lossless (but you'll have to speed up your audio by 4% to keep it in sync).
 
Barry_Green said:
Any of those modes can be used. Obviously using a PAL HVX would be the best choice, but if that's not an option then you have two others:

1) master the DVD out as a 24p DVD. Most PAL DVD players can play 24p footage.

or

2) finish as 24p and render out 24p files. Then speed them up to 25fps and render out a PAL DVD from there. As long as you are shooting 24p (and not 30p) the conversion to 25 can be lossless (but you'll have to speed up your audio by 4% to keep it in sync).
Click to expand...

Thanks so much Barry. I look forward to pouring over your book after I purchase the HVX200! One last question -- If I only have software at my disposal for the downrez, is the best workflow to edit in the HD format that I captured in, (optionally speed things up 4%) and then "master the DVD" using FCP or compressor or DVDSP? In other words is there a preferred way to go from the HD (eg. 720/p24) resolution to the DVD (mpeg2) format?

Thanks again.

Garrett
 
Someone who's an FCP expert should chime in on the specifics.

In general I would finish the project entirely on a 24p timeline, making a final HD master. Then once you have that finished, perform the 24p->25p conversion on the finished product.
 
I would recommend that you shoot 24pN to P2 cards, edit in FCP in a 23.98 timelline and then create NTSC DVD. As Barry said, virtually every European DVD player can play NTSC DVD's.

Should you wish to take that to PAL SD, I would use the Nattress plug-in. Keep in mind that the standards conversion process is not only frame rate but frame size. The Nattress plug-in will keep that in mind. So, I would render out a movie in HD and bring that back into FCP. Drop that into a 23.98 SD timeline (compressor of your choice... I would do 8 bit uncompressed) and render. Then follow the documentation with the Nattress Standards Converter plug-in to convert this to PAL. But, if you are delivering in DVD, there is really no reason to go through all of this.

Ned Soltz
 
Thanks Ned and Barry -- great advice that I will try out before heading off to Thailand. Much appreciated.

Garrett
 
For best quality, I would do the speedup in Cinematools which is supplied with FCP.
It's quite easy to do it on the final edited master like this:

- Shoot in either 720p24 or 1080p24
- Edit in a matching sequence setting - (720p24 or 1080p24).
- When you are done editing - export the sequence by using: "Export > Quicktime Movie..."
- Open that exported file in cinematools.
- Click the "Conform..." button
- Change the pop-up to "25"

Cinematools has now speed the exported file up so it runs at 25 fps, both the image and the audio. As the audio is also speed up the pitch has also changed and is 4% higher.
It's just a little change to the header of the quicktime file, and it is saved back to the file you exported.

- Go back to FCP, and create a new 16x9 SD PAL sequence of your codec of choice (like DVCPRO 50 or Uncompressed 8-bit)
- import the export file, and drag it into the PAL sequence. (FCP should be able to convert the aspect ratio so it fits, and gets the right poportions.)
- Render
 
Last edited:
Anders Holck said:
For best quality, I would do the speedup in Cinematools which is supplied with FCP.
It's quite easy to do it on the final edited master like this:

- Shoot in either 720p24 or 1080p24
- Edit in a matching sequence setting - (720p24 or 1080p24).
- When you are done editing - export the sequence by using: "Export > Quicktime Movie..."
- Open that exported file in cinematools.
- Click the "Conform..." button
- Change the pop-up to "25"

Cinematools has now speed the exported file up so it runs at 25 fps, both the image and the audio. As the audio is also speed up the pitch has also changed and is 4% higher.
It's just a little change to the header of the quicktime file, and it is saved back to the file you exported.

- Go back to FCP, and create a new 16x9 SD PAL sequence of your codec of choice (like DVCPRO 50 or Uncompressed 8-bit)
- import the export file, and drag it into the PAL sequence. (FCP should be able to convert the aspect ratio so it fits, and gets the right poportions.)
- Render
Click to expand...
Hi Anders,

I am in the same situation as gmehl, I'm shooting NTSC, would like to shoot HD and then convert to PAL. But the client wants it in 4:3 not 16:9. Is that possible?

Thanks - Alex
 
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