dvcpro hd 1080 to high quality avi

Hi all

problem: I have a sequence of DVCPRO HD 1080i60 @23.98 (pulldown by Raylight). I need to export a high quality AVI to a post house. They are doing further compressions, so they asked for the highest quality AVI I could make, preferably @23.98psf.

so far: Between FCP (Quicktime Conversion) and Compressor, the second gives better results. On Compressor I choose Quicktime Export Components (then avi w/ no compression). I get a clip of 1280x1080 (original dvcprohd format) which has apparently the same quality as the original with the exception of some weird pixel movement (which could be due to the fact that it is not stretched to 1920x1080?).

question: Can I get a 16:9 (1920x1080) avi? I haven't found any options to that effect. The clip has 23.98 fps according to info on QT, how can I be sure to have 23.98psf (and where or how should I check that)?

Any help would be much appreciated.

PMG5 2.3dual; 2.5g ram; osx 10.4.11; FCP 6.0.2; QT 7.4.1(14)

The first thing I'd try would be to send them native DVCPRO HD. Final Cut Pro and Avid both deal with this format (in different ways) and likely the post house will have one or the other to then format it an AVI.

But frankly, I'd be distressed at the request. AVI has been officially obsolete since 1996, when Microsoft knifed it. There are much better alternatives and AVI workflow between Mac and PC is very, very difficult. I'd be very suspicious of any "post house" asking for AVIs at HD specs. (There was no HD when AVI was stopped being developed).

You really have only "None" as a codec choice that will stand a chance of being read at the other end, and you'll need to keep each file under 2GB (hard with uncompressed) as that's the original AVI specification (third parties took it beyond that but the last specs published by MS were at 4GB and the last supported by QT is 2 GB).

You will not see any difference between PSF and progressive. PSF is simply a way to put a progressive signal in an interlaced carrier, and you're no longer working with interlace in that sequence or in the digital files you export.

Ask about an alternative delivery format.

Cheers

Philip

Thanks Philip

I'm already talking to them about alternatives. AVI is indeed a weird format to ask, so either DVCPRO HD or some sequence of images would be better.

Cheers.