Mixing codecs, choosing sequence settings & interpretation in CS5

olindacat

Well-known member
I recently switched from NTSC-DV 4:3 to HDV and mixed codecs and am stumped as to which sequence preset I should pick to set-up a new timeline and if I am interpreting correctly. I will be shooting mostly with an FS100 but also a D7000, so the HDV will slowly go away. I have actually mixed 1080p24 H.264 with 1440 60i HDV with 1080p30 ProRes and output/rendered it all as 1080p30 (29.97) mp4, after interpreting everything as 1080p30. But I (oddly) I had to put the 1440 60i back to its original format when it looked squeezed prior to rendering. Can anyone explain what I'm seeing and give tips on proper workflow for this?
 
You should choose a sequence which matches what most of your footage is. Beyond that, I'm not sure what you're asking.
 
3 ways to deal with this:

1: Pick the footage you have the most of. It should be significantly more than any other format to make this your deciding factor.
2: The highest quality codec, which sounds like either 1080p30 ProRes.

3rd choice, is to just convert all the footage into 1 format prior to placing in a timeline, this is what I would recommend for a couple reasons.

1: render times, every time you move or modify a non-native file, it will eat you up in rendering.
2: if you have a 2nd computer or just a third party app to convert outside of CS5 you can then convert footage while you edit.

As for the HDV footage looking squished, it's because it's pixels are rectangular, where as your timeline is probably square pixels.
 
Thanks guys. I won't have this problem for much longer but I never really knew if what I was doing was proper.
 
HDV fits perfectly in a 1920x1080 square pixel sequence. Just make sure its interpreted correctly.
 
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