Hi,

I am working on documentary of a live show.  The doc footage is all HDV1080i (50i) and the show material is DV25p (16:9).

I have the show saved as one project and the doc in another.  When I need to reference the 25p footage in the 1080i doc project I've found I can bring it in by opening up the bin and copying in parts of the sequence in to the timeline.  This does bring up a warning saying that I may run in to problems if I mix progessive with interlaced.  However the footage plays fine in the monitor window even at full resolution.  What I am worried about is the export.  If I do a video mixdown to DN-HD TR 120 MXF (the only mixdown resolution available in this project) and copy that in to a new sequence the progressive footage appears inflated as if the application has treated the 25p footage as a different aspect ratio - it appears squashed in the frame as 16:9 footage does when squshed in to a 4:3 frame with the obvious result that the top and bottom of the frame is cropped.

Am I going about this entirely the wrong way?  Is there a better way to import the 25p footage in to the project and what workflow should I be using to export the footage (the end product will be a standard-definition DVD).

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

You will need to apply a reformat effect to the 4:3 SD video to have it match the 16:9 HD video. Mixing interlaced and progressive was not a supported feature in the x.8 release of the Avid and why you are receiving the error. This is supported in Media Composer 3.0.

It's easy to find all of the mis-matched footage by turning on the SD/HD setting for the sequence. To do this go to the fast menu in the Time Line select Clip Color and SD/HD. Any clip that doesn't match the format of the project will be yellow.

 Hi, thanks for replying.

I think you have misunderstood, or perhaps I wasn't clear enough, but reformatting is not an option here.  The SD video is already 16:9 but when performing a video mixdown the SD footage appears bloated and squashed with to make it look like 16:9 has been crushed in to a 4:3 frame though this isn't actually the case.  Reformatting or resizing the image doesn't work as visual information has been cropped from the top and bottom of the frame.  I already have my timeline setup to display the different formats.

Any other suggestions (other than upgrading to MC?)

It sounds like it isn't actually anamorphic 16:9 SD video. It is likely a 16:9 image inside a 4:3. Try this, place a Pan and Scan effect on a clip and go to the effects editor. Under Aspect Ratio for source select 1.78 (16:9) and Target 16:9 (Anamorphic) and see if it looks correct.

Can you post a screen grab?

 OK, none of the above had any effect.

The SD video was shot on a JVC HD100e DV25p 16:9 and the HDV shot on a Sony Z1.

I have uploaded a screengrab from my timeline showing in the source window on the left the video as it now appears in the video mixdown.  The right monitor shows the frame as it is displaying in the mixed format timeline.

I have also uploaded a graphic grab from the timeline you see in the screen grab (the image in the right monitor) and it you will notice it exports exactly as it looks in the video mixdown.

I haven't uploaded an image before on here.  Did I do it right?

You will need to close the Pan and Scan effect for it to have an effect.

What type of HD project are you in? Change the format to 1080i/50. The image loaded on the source side looks like it needs a 16:9 effect; resizing the vertical. The image in the sequence looks correct.

There isn't any reason to mixdown the video, it won't change the aspect ratio. If needed, the SD clips can be transcoded to HD, still transcoding won't change the aspect ratio, rendering the reformat effect will effectively transcode any SD to HD.

 Hey Bob,

I did close and render the pan and scan effect but this changed nothing.

Project is HDV 1080i 50i.  I know what you are saying about 16:9 effect but when applied you get the following (image attached).  It puts bars top and bottom and as you can see the image has been cropped severely in the right monitor.

I also tried trancoding the entire sequence to HD but the result is the same (I'll post in a seperate reply as for some reason I can only upload one image at a time).

 transcoded image as promised

Yes there are black bars, but the aspect ratio is now correct. I feel confident that a Pan and Scan effect as I  described will correct the image or this is anamorphic 16:9 image in a 4:3 SD project.

Try this, place a Resize effect (Image - Resize) and adjust the Scaling - Width parameter to 125% and leave the height at 100%. The aspect ratio should look correct.

 It's not just the black bars, though, the image itself is cropped.  The frame is identical in all images if you look at the one at the top, the original in the mixed timeline project, the subjects arm and fingers are clearly visable whereas in all other instances this part of the image is missing.

The project, is as defined above, HDV 1080i (50i).

The Pan and Scan effect offers no change after rendering, I'm afraid.

The 16:9 effect doesn't crop the image, it only scales the height. In the format tab switch the project to 1080i/50 from the 1080i/50 HDV project and see if this changes anything. What does the image look like if you switch the format to a SD project?

I can't explain what the camera recorded and what you're seeing. If the video was recorded as 16:9 SD it will look correct in a HD project. Some SD cameras crop off the top and bottom so the image "looks" like a 16:9 image.

My only suggestion is try a new user setting and a new project.