Upres from DigiBeta to 720p

Guys,

what is the current wisdom on the best method for upresing 10Bit Uncompressed PAL footage (some of it Anamorphic, some letterboxed, some full frame) to 1280 x720 ? Job starts next week, to be shot on DVCProHD P2 720pn (lots of off-speed shots), and incorporates several archive footage sequences which have to look prisitne perfect.

Or, is it inherently better to cut the 720pn stuff together in DVCProHD, then drop it down to a 10 Bit Uncompressed SD timeline, and finish the rest there?

Delivery format is PAL SD Anamorphic (1024x576).

Thanks for any tips on this, not sure how to approach it.

Clay

If you are delivering an SD master, I'd suggest DOWNCONVERTING the HD to SD when it comes time to master. Upconverting SD to HD, then downconverting it again...won't be pretty.

So use the mixed format timeline that FCP 6 has to offer to offline cut, but when it comes time to master, downconvert the HD footage to SD. HOW? That's up to you to test the best options. Compressor, rendering in FCP, outputting to tape and downconverting via a capture card and re-capturing. Terranex at a post facility. Heck, even test what upconverting SD to HD does. A capture card like the Kona 3 is required for SD to 720p...or you can use a terranex.


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>>Upconverting SD to HD, then downconverting it again...won't be pretty.<<

Right you are of course. Shoulda thought of that.

How about this (all in PAL): capture the 720p 25 from P2 footage natively first. Back it up. Downconvert the 720p footage via Batch Export to 10 Bit Anamorphic SD.

Or is there an advantage to using Compressor for the conversion to SD?

Thing is, we're going from DVCProHD 1280 x 720 (960 x 720) pixel aspect to SD Anamorphic 720 x 576 (1024 x 576).

Can you tell me what the exact aspect and size correction calculations are?

Thanks muchly for the expertise.

Clay