HD Tape Played on SD TV Looks Far Better than DV-AVI Version

[Chuck Engels]

George, When importing HDV footage into a SD project there may be a difference in the quality whether or not you have the 'Scale To Frame Size' Selected or not. If selected the program will automatically reduce the image to 720 x 480, if not selected it will leave the image as is and allow you to manuall reduce the size. The latter option has proven better in most cases, but it may require some testing on your part to determine what is best for your particular needs.

[George Tyndall]

....The latter option has proven better in most cases, but it may require some testing on your part to determine what is best for your particular needs.

Thanks for that tip, Chuck, as what I have been doing is the former rather than the latter--albeit with good results. For example, when I imported my HD WMV 720p movies to the Timeline using the 720p project preset, then exported them, in High Quality, to my iPod, Premiere 3.0 did an excellent job of scaling them to fit. Nevertheless, I will also try the latter method when performing my comparison, then report back.

[Ken Jarstad]

The unquestionable result, as many others have noted, is that a DVD created via downconversion is markedly visually superior, especially when viewed on a larger SD (31-inch) TV. Even at an abnormally-close viewing distance of only 2 feet, I was struck by the quality.

This should not be the case. A decent decoder should give a better DVD image from an HDV Timeline. Perhaps the better performers command a higher price?

[George Tyndall]

The unquestionable result, as many others have noted, is that a DVD created via downconversion is markedly visually superior, especially when viewed on a larger SD (31-inch) TV. Even at an abnormally-close viewing distance of only 2 feet, I was struck by the quality.

This should not be the case. A decent decoder should give a better DVD image from an HDV Timeline. Perhaps the better performers command a higher price?

Ken,

How I wish that is true. I have no desire whatever to go through a separate capture and editing process, using downconversion, so I can produce a DVD of acceptable quality.

Unfortunatley, as I wrote in the post, the Premiere Pro CS3 trial version does not have a project preset for HDV, and the Encore CS3 trial will not produce a DVD. One has to purchase the software to avail of those capabilities.

[Ken Jarstad]

In the aforementioned topic on DVInfo forum it says:

Quality Scores, best to worst:

10/10 : HDV Clip import into Virtualdub, resize from HD->SD via Resize filter (method Lanczos3, Use Interlaced), export via frameserving or uncompressed temp file to Tmpgenc. The quality via this method is excellent. All lines are sharp but without jaggies or noticeable sharpening artifacts. The contrast and color balance are unchanged from the original.

TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress is $99.95 - much cheaper than the Adobe suite. http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/te4xp.html

[George Tyndall]

TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress is $99.95 - much cheaper than the Adobe suite. http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/te4xp.html

Hi Ken,

I read the entire topic on dviForum, including the paragraph you cite, but what caught my eye was one of the more recent posts in which the author states that PP CS3 does it all, from capturing the video to burning of the DVD, beautifully. Problem is, when i downloaded the trrial version, I learned that some of the most important functions are not available in the trial version.

Thanks very much for the link.

[tiny]

How are all of you down converting in camera? I am running and HV20 and am not familiar with this practice.

[tiny]

Nevermind,

To accomplish this, set HV20 to DV Locked (called iLink conversion on Sonys) and connect your camcorder to your computer via FireWire. Premiere Elements will recognize the connection and you will be able to capture the video as if it were standard miniDV.

[Chuck Engels]

Or, for future reference
viewtopic.php?p=6223#p6223