Which HVX Format Best For DVD?

John J.

John J.

Active member
Is there a setting that would be considered the "go to" setting when shooting HVX200 footage for a DVD production?

I've already learned in the last couple weeks with the new camera that the impressive HDCPRO 720P24P rez isn't so impressive when applying quick pans (24P don't like those...). Even for some static tripod shots with required highway traffic whipping by aren't as defined due to blurring. So know I'm considering 720P/60 or 720/DVCPRO50.

Which HVX formats do you guys shoot with knowing the end result will go to DVD? Thanks.

- John
 
Barry's tests indicate that DVCPro50 looks the best and he's the person to ask. I did some similar tests where 720p seemed to give the best results but it may be because I pushed the detail settings up too high and this caused issues. Regaurdless, the difference between DVCPro50 compared to 720p and 1080p is incredibly small (I'd say only about 2% if that). Thus, I'd rather shoot 720p 24pN and take advantage of the variable frame rates, larger recording time, and have an HD master for possible projection.
 
David,

Having read through Barry's generous posts today + my own test this afternoon with DVCPRO50, I'm interested in learning of more users experience with shooting DVCPRO HD and outputting these clips in different FCP sequence settings.

DVCPRO50 looks nice but for the existing & upcoming contracts I'm looking for which end result for DVD will yield a classic film-like wide-screen look. Including best final output via Compressor (settings?) or FCP export? Thanks.

- John
 
DavidBeier said:
Barry's tests indicate that DVCPro50 looks the best and he's the person to ask.
Click to expand...

That's the equivalent of saying that Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" looks the best over the Mona Lisa.

No offense to Barry whose contributions and acumen are among the best, but what "looks best" on the scopes isn't necessarily what looks best to others.

We like the look of downconverted 720/24pn over DVCPro50.

It looks best to our clients.

best wishes
 
David S. said:
That's the equivalent of saying that Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" looks the best over the Mona Lisa.

No offense to Barry whose contributions and acumen are among the best, but what "looks best" on the scopes isn't necessarily what looks best to others.

We like the look of downconverted 720/24pn over DVCPro50.

It looks best to our clients.

best wishes
Click to expand...

Good for you. I'm not speaking as far as scopes go. I saw Barry's tests and DVCPro50 looked very slightly sharper than down-rezed 720/24pn. As Barry has said, this makes sense since all footage is already downrezed in camera from a 1440x1080 image and then compressed thus, downrezing before compression to 720p yields a slighly sharper image (though very slight). The bottom line is that Barry has most likely forgotten more than you or I will ever know about the camera. I make reference to his stuff since, put plainly and simply, he's the guy to go to.

I don't know what tests you guys have done but just saying 720/24pn downconverted "looks best" is a pretty vague statement. I'd love to see some comparison shots and reason why you find one looks better than the other rather than just a rather unhelpful generalization.

Now, my own limited tests actually had 720p having a bit less aliasing when downconverted than the DVCPro50 but, once again, the differences were so minimal that it was hard to make a call. Just as I'd say DVCPro50 looked about 2-5% better in Barry's tests, it looked about 2-5% worse in mine. At the end of the day, you really won't be able to see much of a difference one way or the other. Thus, 720pN with it's higher record time, variable frame rates, and HD master is my choice.

John J. said:
David,

Having read through Barry's generous posts today + my own test this afternoon with DVCPRO50, I'm interested in learning of more users experience with shooting DVCPRO HD and outputting these clips in different FCP sequence settings.

DVCPRO50 looks nice but for the existing & upcoming contracts I'm looking for which end result for DVD will yield a classic film-like wide-screen look. Including best final output via Compressor (settings?) or FCP export? Thanks.

- John
Click to expand...

I'm using Avid. First off, as far as "film-like-wide-screen" goes, the difference between DVCPro50 and 720p isn't going to make much difference. DVCPro50 will just be VERY SLIGHTLY sharper.

For my own output, I export as a QT reference to the compressor (which means I keep it in it's native 720p resolution as I edit). I then go ahead and compress it as an 7.5 mbs MPEG 2 720x480 non-square pixel (16x9). I then burn this file to a SD DVD with great results.
 
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David thanks for the workflow details!

Looking forward to trying them on this end along with others I'm ready to burn to DVD. I know a few newb HVX users consider experienced details as gold - a "tried, tested, true" sticky for best HVX camera settings / NLE sequence / output for DVD would be a busy thread. Cheers!

- John
 
We use BitVice 1.7 with a custom droplet for 720/24pn -- two pass VBR with a target of about 6.8 and a maximum of less than 7.4 -- all for less than 60 minutes.

Always use Dolby2 audio.

Looks pretty darn good.
 
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