mjolnarn:

Or, it might be that simple that, as we have seen what can be done with Avid Liquid, we have higher demands than many other users not knowing that this can be done in a very high quality way.

Tomas, as Monty Python said many time, "Now it's getting silly"

I have obtained the feedback I asked for from this thread and I have posted 2 tutorials which show how ithe HD/SD thing can be done in MC.
For my part I will let it go at that.
Thank you for your participation.

Regards,
Douglas

drbgaijin:

mjolnarn:

Or, it might be that simple that, as we have seen what can be done with Avid Liquid, we have higher demands than many other users not knowing that this can be done in a very high quality way.

 Tomas, as Monty Python said many time, "Now it's getting silly"

I have tried to reproduce the bad res downscale error and not succeded, all is looking well this time, actually a little better than Liquid.

Either my eyes was bad when I did my first couple of tests or was it an ordinary user error, propably the latter I think, might have been a green- green versus green- yellow issue into the previewing settings , I don´t really know as I not am able to reproduce it any longer

I did some experimenting earlier this week and found that indeed it is the fact that the inlay resolution was defaulting to green/yellow. When switched to green/green the downscaling looks fine. So, this is a non-issue except to make sure that the viewers are set for high resolution (green/green) playback. It seems to want to default back to green/yellow when you change project format.

Thank you Lew and Tomas for posting your findings.
Regards,
Douglas

What sort of surprises me about this discussion is that I was sure the orginal claim way back was that the HD to SD conversion was very soft when viewed in the final product (DVD for example), not just in MC.

I'm stepping into this conversation a little late, but, I hope I have something constructive to add.First, let me establish that i work on indie productions, films for festivals, and the like, as DP and editor. These are small productions, need I say low budget...like no budget. Many times, the director is a shooter himself and insists on shooting his XL2, or similar DV cam. All  my hardware has been exchanged for HD or HDV. So, what I end up with, in the editing booth, is a mish mash...I know...a nightmare. Distribution is typically DVD.I provide the director with dailies in mpeg4, generated with STREAMCLIP from a QTref from MC. Most of the time, this is sufficient to convince the director he needs a new camera...;o)

My workflow is almost exactly what Douglas has described in his tutorial. I deliver 16:9, color matched, DVD product. Color grading in Avid is de riguer. Visual quality is something that can't be matched. SD is SD, HD downconverted to SD is WAY better than native SD. I have learned to shoot in 720 format when I'm mixing HD and SD. 720 downconverts much better than 1080, especially in the area of flicker/twitter. Even tho' all cameras shoot in a 16:9 matte, many times it's necessary to put a mask on some footage to match the aspect ratios across all cams. I hardly ever match by zooming, 'cuz of the obvious loss in image quality.

Hope this is useful info.

best,

BR

cuervo:

Visual quality is something that can't be matched. SD is SD, HD downconverted to SD is WAY better than native SD.

Bill, thanks for that. That about sums it all up. Better late than never
I was glad to hear that in my stumbling around making the tutorial I almost found the same way that an experienced editor like yourself is using.

Regards,
Douglas

Actually, Dougles, you've taught me very much. There's always something in your tutorials that I didn't know. Many thanx.