Has anyone found a solution to the poor downconverting of HD video to standard def DVD?

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Level 7

21,066 points

Has anyone found a solution to the poor downconverting of HD video to standard def DVD?

I discovered the double-line/aliasing/interlacing problem back in 2008 when I started shooting HDV and burning it to DVD using FCP 6, Compressor and DVDSP.

At the time the web was rife with similar experiences and some time-consuming "cures" such as the Bonsai technique which usually had little beneficial effect.

Apparently there was a weakness with QuickTime and Compressor.

I recently started shooting AVCHD converted to ProRes 422 and the problem persists even when using FCP X.

So it looks as though the latest Mac apps contain the same inherent weaknesses as legacy FCP. (It was claimed that Windows apps had workarounds that produced superior results to Macs but I cannot verify that).

So has anyone come up with a reasonably quick and simple cure recently?

Preferably for FCP X but I would be happy with one for FCP 7 etc.

For anyone not aware of the problem I have just found these on a google search.

http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?12528-HDV-to-DVD-Why-is-no-one-bothered-by-Li ne-Doubling

http://www.calgaryfcpug.com/final-output/15912-aliasing-artifacts-hdv-to-dvd.htm l

http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/8/1055919

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1508378?start=0&tstart=0

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), FCE 4 + FCS 3 . . . Little Knowledge, Many Opinions.

Posted on Mar 16, 2012 6:20 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

darbypsnm

Level 3

730 points

Mar 16, 2012 12:29 PM in response to Ian R. Brown

Whether this is quick or simple could be subjective.

I have found consistent success with exporting a reference or self-contained QT and then re-importing and placing the HD file in a 16x9 SD sequence and then letting FC do the down-convert(actually a Kona LHe card is doing the work). Export your SD movie and then compress for DVD in Compressor.

Would if you have a 120 minute show? This approach is still way faster than running a 120 minute show through Compressor on a Mac Pro 2.4GHz Quad-core with 8GB of ram and Qmaster.

I find Compressor to be consistently inconsistent when it comes to any HD to SD conversion for DVD no matter what the source is. Sometimes it works wells sometimes it doesn't.

I would suggest a test with one minute of your most complex footage and even play with no interlacing on the SD sequence. It may seem counter-intuitive but in my experience it works.

I am using FCP7 and cannot say how different your X experience will be.

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Answer 2

Ian R. Brown Author

Level 7

21,066 points

Mar 16, 2012 3:25 PM in response to darbypsnm

Thanks. I actually down-converted in 2008 by simply copying an HDV sequence into an anamorphic DV PAL sequence and letting FCP 6 render it.

That was for a different problem. At that time I used iDVD and burning an HDV sequence to SD in iDVD resulted in a DVD with appalling jitter and shimmer, but forcing the down-conversion resulted in rock steady video.

I never used it again as I moved onto DVDSP which didn't have that problem, but which revealed the current one!

Maybe I should try it again.

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