Best settings and capture for HV20 for SD delivery?

[jackfalbey]

I just got an HV20 to use as a B-roll backup to my PD170. The video will be edited in Premiere CS3 and delivered to the client in SD on DVD. I'm just interested in what other HV20 owners have found to be the best settings for recording and capture when the end result will be SD...

EDIT: I will eventually be taking full advantage of its HD capabilities, but for now I just want to get good SD filler video to mix in with the primary video from the PD170...

[Paul LS]

PPro2 was very bad at downconverting HDV to standard definition, similar to PE. That is where this suggestion came from: http://adobeforums.com/webx/.3bc434fa
Infact exporting as HDV and downconverting in NERO gives much better results. However I have heard CS3 is a little better but can not comment as I dont have it. Hopefully Ken will jump in and give some input on his experiences with the HV20.

[jackfalbey]

A little more detail on how the HV20 will be used for now...

It will be set at a fixed location to get wide coverage of weddings/lectures/seminars, etc. The PD170 will be for close-ups, interviews, primary coverage and main audio. I don't intend to use the audio from the HV20 at all, except maybe in an emergency if there's a problem with the main.

I know if I shoot crowd coverage in HD, I will have room to pan & zoom extensively in post, but I don't want to invest in any additional equipment (Cineform, Blackmagic, etc.) at this time. So, better to shoot in HDV and downconvert in-cam before capture, or just shoot in DV? And should I just ignore the whole 24p format for now?

[Ken Jarstad]

The PD170 is SD DV, right? The easiest method is to downconvert in camera when you capture. I suggest you try side by side footage from each camcorder and put them on a DV Timeline. You might be tempted to swap A-roll and B-roll camcorders!

There is no reason to shoot in DV since you throw away so much image detail. And, I can't prove anything but I believe that Canon is doing something in the downconvert process that preserves detail, especially the color channels.

I know that the PD170 is a more professional camcorder and will lend itself better to the close-ups. So the long/wide shots from the HV20 may give you increased clarity for them.

I found the regular video mode displayed far too much in the way of motion artifacts. This camcorder is just way too sharp! I recommend using the Cine Mode since that preserves black detail, avoids bright burnout and reduces sharpness. There is still plenty!

My first two projects were shot under flourescent lights. The HV20 has two exposure modes to compensate. I didn't use them because the default auto white balance worked flawlessly and made the most natural and pleasing pictures.

I don't even think about 24P. I don't care for the "film look" and the HV20 has kind of a suedo 24P anyway. It takes special processing to make use of it. If that interests you at all there are numeraous topics on the DVI forum and HV20 forum.

Folks who shoot professionally always recommend an improved microphone but I found the onboard mike does a reasonably good job. If you have XLR audio and a crew for your projects then you can disregard most of what I say.

[Ken Jarstad]

I must have hit the quote button instead of the edit button

[jackfalbey]

Thanks, Ken. After some test footage, I have also concluded that Cine mode in regular HDV (not 24p) produces incredibly good results after downconverting in-cam and capturing into Premiere. Playback on my 27" Panasonic CRT TV looks great!

If I wanted to do some panning and zooming in the HD footage but ultimately deliver in SD... for example, a wedding crowd with the HV20 set to cover the whole church but where I would zoom in to close-ups of key people within the wider HD video, what do you recommend as a simple way to get the HDV MPEG video into Premiere for editing? I realize it will have to be converted to AVI, I'm just curious what is the easiest and most lossless way to do this...

[Paul LS]

So using the full resolution in a high def video to allow pan and zooming as you would in a photo. To do this you need to maintain the high definition resolution in a SD project. So import the HDV MPEG2 into a NTSC DV project. Alternatively convert the HDV to an intermediate codec that may play better with PE. Cineform is a common intermediate (I use this with Sony Vegas)... or you could even use MJPEG. Or uncompressed AVI but the file size will be huge.

[Ken Jarstad]

Panning and zooming hi-def clips in an DV project, there is a novel idea! If PrEl will accept the clips -- I imagine you will have to deal with that old bugaboo field order though.

[jackfalbey]

I also have Premiere Pro CS3, if that makes it easier to work with the HDV footage...

I know I could buy Cineform, or hardware from Matrox or Blackmagic, but I'm trying to avoid the added expense right now. I'd also like to avoid spending lots of time experimenting. I was just hoping that someone who has been working with HDV and/or the HV20 would have a relatively simple workflow for what I'd like to do...

[Chuck Engels]

Downconverting to SD in the camera during capture is the best way and you get very good quality video

[jackfalbey]

Thanks, Chuck. So I guess I'm just hoping for too much, to be able to use the HD video in an SD timeline to allow for the close-ups, etc.?

[Paul LS]

Simplest way is to bring your HDV MPEG2 into a standard NTSC project. Select Reverse Field Dominance and deselect Scale to frame.

[Chuck Engels]

Paul is superman when it comes to HDV

[jackfalbey]

Paul, I was under the impression that Premiere didn't handle MPEG2 very easily, and that the video should be converted to AVI. If I did as you suggest, should I capture the HDV MPEG2 right into the NTSC project, or is there a better way?

Also, I captured some HD test video into an Adobe HDV project, then tried using MPEGStreamclip to convert the MPEG2 to AVI, but I keep getting a pop-up that says I need "Quicktime 6 MPEG2 Playback Component". I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling several versions of Quicktime Alternative as well as Apple's Quicktime and still have the same problem.

[Paul LS]

PE does handle MPEGs.. but not so reliably as DV-AVI. That is why it is suggested to convert to DV-AVI. However if you want to pan and zoom a high definition video you must retain the high definition resolution.. so you can not convert to DV-AVI. Does not matter how you capture the HDV, I generally use an external program and just import it into PE. Set reverse fiedl dominace and unselect Scale to Frame and you can pan and zoom with keyframes similar to a photo. Try a short trial project.