Converting HD footage to SD

[Nick Norton]

Ok, i have the option to use either final cut pro 5, or adobe premiere 2.0 to do this...

 

however, neither of the computers running these programs are powerful enough to handle HD footage.

 

therefore, i am trying to convert the footage to SD, or something more practical to work with.

 

i do not know if i should originally capture the footage as SD (or something with a smaller file size) or convert the full quality HD footage. furthermore, i have no idea how to go about doing this.

 

any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

thanks-

 

nicholas

[Tim Terner]

Have you tried bring the HD footage into a Premier SD project ?

[John Sprung]

For offline purposes, the little downconverter built into the HDCam SR decks is plenty good enough. Most facilities want big bucks for broadcast quality downconversion thru a Teranex or other expensive box, but straight off the SR deck would generally just be the price of a dub. That would be the way to go if you're shooting on HDCam or SR.

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[Guest Kyle Waszkelewicz]

Your computers can handle HD, they just can't handle it real time.

 

By your wording, it seems like you only want the SD for an offline. If that is the case, then by all means capture to the highest quality possible, then render quick proxies in whichever program you decide upon by just exporting the whole thing in a lower resolution. Then edit with those, and conform them back to the capture files (which should be exactly the same except higher resolution as your working files) when you're done. Then no clunky re-capturing necessary.

 

But if you mean you only want a nice SD deliverable, then still capture in the highest quality possible. As a general rule, higher quality acquisition leads to a higher quality result. All variables beside basic pixel-resolution aside, the consensus is that HD properly downrezzed to SD looks better than if just captured to SD (same principal as when scanners oversample). I mentioned properly, as premiere and final cut do not downrez properly, they do it quickly. I know you'll get better results with after effects if you are sticking with software, others here can probably recommend other solutions.

 

If you're unsure which way you're going, do an offline, online to HD, then properly downrez to SD. That way you're all set for whatever happens. I hope my post helped in some way.

[Jorge De Silva]

Convert the HD images to SD with "Grass Valley (ex canopus) Procoder 3", it's an amazing software for transcodings (in windows territory), i use that in broadcast TV ;)

 

Best Regards,

Jorge De Silva