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  1. Hello, A year ago I recorded a theatre play with 3 cameras. I`ve recorded other before but this time I decided to throw an extra camera into the mix.

    The cameras I used:
    Canon DM-XM2 (SD, DV-tape)
    Canon MVX 330i (SD, DV-tape)
    Sony Handycam HDR-Cx115

    Now.. Ive recorded and edited with the Canon-cameras before, but throwing the Sony-camera into the mix seems to have been an mistake. I think Ive put way more time into the exporting part than the actual editing part by now.

    Ive followed guides like: http://www.precomposed.com/blog/2009/07/hd-to-sd-dvd-best-methods/

    I downscaled from HD to SD and did the multicam-editing without noticeable problems. (Except from the lagging and crashing due to the large amount of large video files - and my PC not being a beast...)

    However, when I did a DVD export test I noticed something when I tested it in a DVD-player. The footage that was chosen from the Sony-camera kind off "waved" across the screen. Not sure how to explain it, but it was distorted. My working theory is that the footage from the Canon-cameras are interlaced while the Sony downscaled footage is progressive.

    Looking at the source footages thats what it looks like for me atleast. The source footage from the Canon shows what I think is interlacing, while the Sony-cam doesnt.

    Here is what Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 tells me when clicking "Properties" on the footage from some of the Canon MVX footage:

    Type: AVI Movie
    File Size: 10,5 GB
    Image Size: 720 x 576
    Pixel Depth: 32
    Frame Rate: 25,00
    Source Audio Format: 48000 Hz - 16 bit - Stereo
    Project Audio Format: 48000 Hz - 32 bit floating point - Stereo
    Total Duration: 00:49:41:09
    Average Data Rate: 3,6 MB / second
    Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1,4587

    AVI File details:
    Reel name: Untitled Tape
    Contains 1 video track(s) and 1 audio track(s).
    Interleave: 1 : 24.99

    Video track 1:
    Size is 9.99G bytes (average frame = 148.12K bytes)
    There are 74534 keyframes.
    Frame rate is 25.00 fps
    Frame size is 720 x 576
    Depth is 24 bits.

    Audio track 1:
    Size is 545.90M bytes
    Rate is 48000 samples/sec
    Sample size is 16 bits
    This is the info on some footage from the XM2:
    Type: AVI Movie
    File Size: 3,7 GB
    Image Size: 720 x 576
    Pixel Depth: 32
    Frame Rate: 25,00
    Source Audio Format: 32000 Hz - 16 bit - Stereo
    Project Audio Format: 32000 Hz - 32 bit floating point - Stereo
    Total Duration: 00:17:40:00
    Average Data Rate: 3,6 MB / second
    Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1,4587

    AVI File details:
    Timecode:
    Reel name: Untitled Tape
    User Timecode: 00:44:49:05
    Reel name: Untitled Tape
    Contains 1 video track(s) and 1 audio track(s).
    Interleave: 1 : 25.00

    Video track 1:
    Size is 3.55G bytes (average frame = 145.62K bytes)
    There are 26500 keyframes.
    Frame rate is 25.00 fps
    Frame size is 720 x 576
    Depth is 24 bits.

    Audio track 1:
    Size is 129.39M bytes
    Rate is 32000 samples/sec
    Sample size is 16 bits

    This is downscaled SD footage from the Sony:
    Type: AVI Movie
    File Size: 8,4 GB
    Image Size: 720 x 576
    Pixel Depth: 32
    Frame Rate: 25,00
    Source Audio Format: 48000 Hz - 16 bit - Stereo
    Project Audio Format: 48000 Hz - 32 bit floating point - Stereo
    Total Duration: 00:26:30:14
    Average Data Rate: 5,4 MB / second
    Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1,094 (1,4587)

    AVI File details:
    Contains 1 video track(s) and 1 audio track(s).
    Interleave: 1 : 1.00

    Video track 1:
    Size is 8.08G bytes (average frame = 220.58K bytes)
    There are 39764 keyframes.
    Frame rate is 25.00 fps
    Frame size is 720 x 576
    Depth is 16 bits.
    Compressor: 'LAGS', Lagarith Lossless Codec

    Audio track 1:
    Size is 291.24M bytes
    Rate is 48000 samples/sec
    Sample size is 16 bits
    If I show properties on the original HD-files (.MTS-format) from the Sony-cam, then this is the result:
    Type: MPEG Movie
    File Size: 2,0 GB
    Image Size: 1440 x 1080
    Pixel Depth: 32
    Frame Rate: 25,00
    Source Audio Format: 48000 Hz - compressed - Stereo
    Project Audio Format: 48000 Hz - 32 bit floating point - Stereo
    Total Duration: 00:23:43:19
    Average Data Rate: 1,4 MB / second
    Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1,3333


    My question is:
    How can I downscale the .MTS-file to work properly together with the footage from the Canon-cameras with maximum amount of SD-quality from the Sony-cam? I simply want the footage to be displayed without problems on a DVDplayer.

    I would like to try more on my own before asking... But Ive tried so much around with this, and everything I try takes so long due to my computer being slow at the rendering etc...

    I would really really appreciate some help on this! Just inform me if you need more information in order to help!

    (And another question: the downscaled SD-versions gets larger in size than the HD from Sony. Its even bigger than the SD-footage from the Canons. How come?
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  2. Member edDV's Avatar
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    How did the Sony clip end up with Lagarith Lossless Codec? You didn't explain that part.

    This should be a 720x576 25i DV project with lower field first.

    Make sure the Sony file properties show 1440x1080 25i with upper field first. Premiere should handle the downscale.

    If your computer bogs down, down scale the clips you need separately to DV format then import the DV clips into the SD project.

    Make sure DVD MPeg2 settings show lower field first.

    (And another question: the downscaled SD-versions gets larger in size than the HD from Sony. Its even bigger than the SD-footage from the Canons. How come?
    Because you are using a lossless codec.
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  3. Basicly I ended up with Lagarith since that was what the guide told me to use.

    How can I know if the footage is upper or lower field first? I can't see it's telling me that when I right click the file and choose properties on the footage.

    Theres been nearly a year since I did the first experiments with the downscaling of the HD footage, but from what I remember Premiere Pro was not able to give it a good quality downscale. I think I remember it as looking way worse than the footage shot on the SD-cameras.

    The guide I linked to starts with that point being made aswell:
    Anyone who has edited HD footage and has had to output to an SD DVD is well aware of the shortcomings of today’s NLEs. Whether you are using Adobe Premiere or Apple Final Cut Pro, when you export your HD footage to MPEG2 DVD, the results are very poor. In fact, you might be thinking to yourself that it would look better had it been recorded in SD to begin with. Well you would be correct.


    Actually.. looking at the .MTS file I think that might be interlaced aswell. But has then been turned into progressive in the downscale and then been deinterlaced (without actually being interlaced), thus giving me the wavy/interlaced effect I noticed the easiest when played on the DVD player. Not sure if that makes sense or not. Tried to play around with the virtualdub and avisynth settings, but can't seem to find out what will work together with the other footage and the sequence.
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  4. Member edDV's Avatar
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    Your camera files are

    Canon MiniDV 720x576 25i lower field first.

    Sony AVCHD 1440x1080 25i upper field first.

    Premiere doesn't do that great going 1080i to 576i. It will deinterlace first to 1080p then downscale to 720x576p then re-interlace to project format (in this case DV which will be lower field first).

    I'll look at the method referenced above tomorrow. Very late here. Others will post their favorite 1080i ->576i avisynth downscale methods.
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