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Need help "down-converting" for standard DVD

Specific to Premiere Elements Version 9.

Need help "down-converting" for standard DVD

Postby boogieted » Wed May 15, 2013 12:38 pm

I have a 1920x1080i HD project that I need to "down-convert" somehow to look ok on a standard DVD. It looks very good on Blu-ray, but most people who want a copy of this video want it on a regular DVD, not a Blu-ray. I tried burning a copy of it to DVD and it just doesn't look very good. It's sort of "fuzzy" I guess is one way to describe the picture. I need to make 15-20 copies of this by tomorrow if I can, so I'm kinda freaking out right now and don't know what to do about this! Thanks
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Re: Need help "down-converting" for standard DVD

Postby Steve Grisetti » Wed May 15, 2013 1:33 pm

Don't judge how the DVD will look by how it looks when you play it on your computer. DVDs are both lower resolution than your original footage and they are interlaced, both of which can make it look "fuzzy" on a computer monitor, which is both high-resolution and non-interlaced.

Output your DVD, burn it to a disc and try it on a TV. It should look great.
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Re: Need help "down-converting" for standard DVD

Postby boogieted » Wed May 15, 2013 1:35 pm

Thanks Steve, but I've ONLY tried it on a TV. Haven't tried it on computer yet at all.
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Re: Need help "down-converting" for standard DVD

Postby Steve Grisetti » Wed May 15, 2013 3:07 pm

Try outputting an AVI from your high-def project. Then open a new project, set up for DV, and use that AVI as your movie. Lay in your menu template and output your DVD from that. Sometimes doing this as a two-step process can give you better results. Though, of course, DVDs are only about one-sixth the resolution of high-def, so it's not going to look nearly as sharp and detailed as your original video. But it still should look very good!
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Re: Need help "down-converting" for standard DVD

Postby boogieted » Thu May 16, 2013 7:48 am

Thanks Steve, I'm about to try this idea now. Do you recommend that i change any of the Advanced settings or leave the defaults?
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Re: Need help "down-converting" for standard DVD

Postby Steve Grisetti » Thu May 16, 2013 8:10 am

Use the defaults. Although make sure you've selected the preset for a widescreen DV AVI, of course.
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Re: Need help "down-converting" for standard DVD

Postby Chris B » Thu May 16, 2013 2:27 pm

It may sound obvious I have been finding that applying some sharpening to the DVD resolution project can "lift" the final movie - it's worth a try. DVD is also (AFAIR) a smaller colour space so playing with the overall levels and/or gamma can help.

Edit: Sharpen value of about 7-8 seems to do the job.

Second Edit. OK - A worked example. I have taken a photo and placed in an HD project then exported and HD MPEG from this and reimported this mpeg into the project then exported a jpeg captre - looks as follows (click to expand):
hd export.jpg


I then imported the HD Mpeg into a Standard (pal) project and exported a DVD resolution MPEG. I then reimported the DVD MPEG into the SD project and exported a jpeg.
sd image .jpg


Finally I applied some sharpening (7) before the MPEG export and did the same trick again:
sd sharpen 7.jpg


I think that the final image shows much more apparent definition. Obviously YMMV.....
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Re: Need help "down-converting" for standard DVD

Postby boogieted » Wed May 22, 2013 9:59 am

Thanks guys. Unfortunately none of these methods have helped improve my quality in this particular case.
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Re: Need help "down-converting" for standard DVD

Postby Dave McElderry » Wed May 22, 2013 10:59 am

You might want to take a look at this recent thread:

viewtopic.php?f=100&t=11915&p=101599#p101599

I found that Premiere Elements V11 actually did a worse job than V10 in the downconvert. I don't know how V9 compares. My solution was to export in HD MPEG-4 to DVD Architect Studio (DVDAS) and then let it do the converting when it made the DVD. Mostly I just got tired of messing with it and found a solution that worked for me. I realize that if you don't already own and use DVDAS this may not be a real practical solution. However, if you're looking for a disc menuing program that I can recommend, it's very full-featured for a price of only $40.00. There's a little bit of a learning curve, but Steve Grisetti does have an excellent book on the program (no, I don't get a percentage :) .)
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