HD to SD conversion

[xeberdee]

D1 to DV also? Not tried that.

So for the Sony that's 1080 50i (HDV) to SD 576i what? D1 or DV preset?
Other words: Are you using hardware (D1 or DV) or choosing an OHCI project preset (DV)

Andrew has a point, if you use hardware then you might be switching top to bottom fields or not.

Just the change from 1080i to D1 shows degradation on my monitors.

Ronnie - what wrapper and codec are you using in Procoder Express?

[andrewwhiteley]

Hi Ronnie

You say you are using version 4.x - please could you tell me what the x is? I'm using 4.52 and there is still a very annoying bug whereby if you switch between D1 and DV or vice versa then you lose a lot of sharpness. I wonder if this is happening HD to SD? - it certainly sounds like it!

I hate to whinge as I love Edius, but the loss of sharpness issue is seriuosly really screwing up my workflow and I would LOVE to see this issue resolved promptly.

[RonnieMartin]

I have been shooting HDV Son z1 for two years now and using Edius 4.x.

My end product is a SD 4X3 and 16x9 DVD.

Here is my work flow and it gives stunning results in SD.

1. Capture HDV
2. Edit in HD 16x9 save for future use.
3. Change settings to 16X9 SD save encode with PE
4. Change settings to 4x3 SD double click all titles and save encode with PE

I have had outstanding SD DVD results.

Ronnie

[xeberdee]

I realise this post is a bit old but...

We never got a clear idea of what you were downscaling +/or interlacing :)

My point is, a downscale from a 1080 25P over 50i project/1080 25P/720 50P etc. will look different for each downscale because of the extraction of the fields for the interlacing at 576i (if necessary) or resolution differences.

The best results I found are 1080 50i to 576i in hardware, which is a pure downscale at highest res, interlaced to interlaced. The worst is from 720 25PSF to 576i.

Like Jerry says - you're best bet for quality would be a resample direct from a source to a target format, regardless of what card you use (I was not talking about BM by the way). Allthough if you're allready in Edius at some HD format edited, then you're options are limited.

[Jerry]

Hej great! - so it works with SP then?

NX is strange. I have the NX with expansion card where this seemingly doesn't work with Edius.

What I'm doing -

• Creating a 720P 50P project with the NHX-E1 at 50Hz DVCPROHD 720/50P.
• Import using DVCPRO HD P2 media at native format.
• Edit the content.
• Choose - Settings>Project settings>Output device to change the project settings.

In project settings I get nothing under NHX-E1 SD PAL. The output format is empty. I can choose OHCI SD if I wanted to output to firewire, but the only output formats there are HDV 576/50P 16:9 or 4:3.

I think you hit the nail on the head earlier. Capture using the Decklink card(hardware downconversion) as uncompressed SD or MJPEG. Bring this into Edius do your edit and spit it out. I use my Intensity Pro to capture at least 75% of my HD footage.
I do not have a problem outputting through PC3 to SD NTSC. You must add the filter for color space. It is crisp and clear.

[antonsvideo]

well, SD should technically be lower resolution than HD

if your target is SD DVD, then you don't have much choice

also, you maybe experiencing additional resolution drop caused by a bug in Edius 4.5

I am using 4.03 and don't see too much of a drop (not worth crying about it) when switching from HD to SD

encoding from SD timeline to DVD mpeg should not really reduce resolution unless you compress too much

[Josh J]

all Australian stations prefer SD 16:9 over SD 4:3 (in fact they will soon ban SD 4:3)

so, all you need to do is change project from HD to SD 16:9 and you are done

no need to render a thing

simple

Hi Anton

That sounded like a great solution to my current problem but changing the project settings from HD to SD produced a noticable drop in sharpness. That drop will be made worse as a I convert to mpeg for DVD no?

[xeberdee]

Hi Kenneally,

Thanks for that, but I'm not really clear yet.
The Canopus website is very specific in the tech specs for NX:

• Realtime conversion of different aspect ratios (including 16:9 to 4:3), frame rates, and resolutions (including NTSC to PAL)

As it fails to mention conversion of what, I would expect it to apply to everything - conversion of all supported HD & SD resolutions to each other, including projects. Otherwise it should say 'Clip based realtime conversion of different aspect ratios (including 16:9 to 4:3), frame rates, and resolutions (including NTSC to PAL)' or something.

The workflow from HD to SD projects with realtime conversion is what we seek.

If conversion is on a file basis only and not possible for projects, then my project would need to be streamed, that's not realtime.

[GrassValley_KH]

Sounds good pjsssss... and I think I've found out why. You're probably using PCIe and I'm using PCI-X. There's a difference in the capabilities of these cards I wasn't aware of at first glance. NX workstation does not offer 'Realtime HD/SD resolution conversion and output'

The only difference between any NX solutions, would be the daughterboard - the one included in the NX Express package has the MPEG-2/MPEG-4 encoder chip. Otherwise, all NX boardsets are created equal.

As far as 50p goes, the 2 Output Formats I have in my Generic OHCI SD PAL output device are.

• HDV 576/50p 4:3
• HDV 576/50p 16:9

This is correct. EDIUS can switch project resolutions. It cannot switch project frame rates. 50i is considered different a frame rate to 50p (see for yourself, look in the 'Description' area of each of the project settings and see the value for 'Frame Rate'.

[xeberdee]

Sounds good pjsssss... and I think I've found out why. You're probably using PCIe and I'm using PCI-X. There's a difference in the capabilities of these cards I wasn't aware of at first glance. NX workstation does not offer 'Realtime HD/SD resolution conversion and output'

As far as 50p goes, the 2 Output Formats I have in my Generic OHCI SD PAL output device are.

• HDV 576/50p 4:3
• HDV 576/50p 16:9

[GrassValley_KH]

I could be wrong but I think 50p nx out will be added in 4.5. Maybe KH can answer this because I could be confusing things.

SR

Quite correct - 60p/50p for JCV (ie. 1280x720) make their debut with 4.5.

[SRsupport]

I could be wrong but I think 50p nx out will be added in 4.5. Maybe KH can answer this because I could be confusing things.

SR

[pjsssss]

It works with NX also. I am on the road for the next few days so I can't check the NX settings.

[xeberdee]

Hej great! - so it works with SP then?

NX is strange. I have the NX with expansion card where this seemingly doesn't work with Edius.

What I'm doing -

• Creating a 720P 50P project with the NHX-E1 at 50Hz DVCPROHD 720/50P.
• Import using DVCPRO HD P2 media at native format.
• Edit the content.
• Choose - Settings>Project settings>Output device to change the project settings.

In project settings I get nothing under NHX-E1 SD PAL. The output format is empty. I can choose OHCI SD if I wanted to output to firewire, but the only output formats there are HDV 576/50P 16:9 or 4:3.

[antonsvideo]

yes, correct, titles need to be double clicked and closed in order to adjust for SD

the rest works fine here on SP card, have not tested with NX card but should be the same?