I wanted to start a new thread for this so it wouldn't become buried in the other thread.

1. Capture & Edit in Avid in your HDV project (I did a 1080i/59.94 project, Sony Z1 camera)

2. Change the project type to 30iNTSC (or an SD equivalent)

3. Export a QT File, QT Reference won't work. I used the Avid DV codec, lower field first, 4x3 pixels, about a 2:1 time ratio (10 seconds to export 5 second clip), depending on your system of course.

4. Brough it into squeeze to make the mpeg, I've posted a screenshot of my settings. I made the pixel aspect ratio 16x9.

Worked like a charm. Some notes;

- I tried to export an HDV file, which took about a 3:1 time ratio to export. Change the name to mpg and bring into squeeze and would get the stuttering that people have experienced with the resulting MPEG.

- Even though HDV is upper field first, for NTSC export from Avid as lower field first or the resulting MPEG will not look right. 

- not changing the project type to NTSC 30i prior to exporting would cause the movie to cut off all of the edges of the video by a significant amount. If you put "size to fit" in your export settings it will work but the export time is slower than switching to an NTSC project and exporting.

- I didn't notice a quality difference between exporting the QT movie with 16x9 pixels or letting Sorenson make the 16x9 pixels; letting Sorenson do it is my personal preference.

If QT Reference would work for HDV then this wouldn't be an issue, but for now it's a viable workaround.

Looks like a good workflow....have you used the JVC camera?

Nope, just the Sony.

This is what ended up working for me:

1.Capture from Sony FX-1 (ZR-1).

2.Transcode ingested content to DNXHD 145 (Using the avid native codec did WONDERS for system response and performance...probably 'cause of the heavy lifting with long GOP)

3.Edit

4. Export QT **MOVIE** (like scott, not QT Ref)

5. Encode with CCE Basic (Does a VERY nice job for me)

6. This is the kicker...Make DVD with the old DVDit software from my old Avid 4.0 bundle.
CRUCIAL: When DVDit wants to transcode, I let it. For some reason, coming from CCE Basic any other approach produced a "hiccup" in the video on an interval of approximately 3-5 seconds. I spent hours trying different settings in the template...no luck. The consistent fix for me is to allow DVDit to transcode.

Nice quality finished product...nothing but compliments.

BTW, exporting the DNXHD 145 back to HDV produces excellent quality.

I am looking forward to trying Scott's workflow, as well as anyone else's who chimes in.

I've had good luck with Procoder Express and DVD Lab. 

Transcoding to DNXHD is huge in terms of smooth playback and editing speed.  After that, just the usual export to QT Movie, encode in Procoder and author in DVD Lab.  Just make sure you've set the 16:9 flags appropriately both in Procoder and DVD Lab.  No issues at all.

HOWEVER, this was all with Sony HDV camera footage, not the JVC.  Sounds like there may be issues with the JVC.

Many thanks for your guide. It is very helpful; however, I am still having problem.

Here is the steps I took.

1. capture the footage in 1080i/59.94 HDV

2. edit

3. change the Project Type to 30iNTSC

4. File/Export

5. File name: main seq.mov Export Setting: Send to QT Movie

The image I uploaded in here is the Options setting and also the error I got. Help is appreciated.

looks like to me that you need to do what the popup is asking.  choose custom. then select Format Options and choose the codec and how much compression you want for the audio and video. then in the video format tab choose the setting you want.  then hit okay.



Man: "Doctor, it hurts when I do this."
Doctor: "Then don't do that."

Sorry if this is a little off-topic... Here is the workflow I ended up settling on with my HDV work. I've tried the other workflows presented so far (or ones very similar) and have found this to be the best one for me at least. I think after fishing for a good HDV workflow I've finally found one I like that works better than expected... 

1. Shoot in HDV with two cameras, an FX1 and HC1.

2. Capture downconverted to DV into an HDV 1080i/59.94 project switched to the 30i NTSC project type.

3. Edit everything in DV (I love that Group Clip multi-cam stuff, sorry I just discovered it!) with the project type in 30i NTSC.

4. Author and burn DVD. I still haven't found the best settings here yet. I have both Sorenson 4.2 and ProCoder 2.0 and I am still looking for the right settings. How to do this should be covered in one of the many, many, "how do I burn a DVD from my SD or DV project" threads. Bottom line you are just authoring and burning another DV/SD project.

5. Capture same tapes in HDV.

6. Switch project to the HDV project type and relink sequences to the HDV captures.

7. Touch up any color corrections or FX that don't look right in HDV. Rarely I find I have to do this, but most of the time it looks fine.

8. Render the effects and color corrections.

9. A week later when all HDV rendering is finished... Export to HDV Device to create an HDV dump to the M10U HDV deck.

There are many reasons why I went this route. The primary reason is, rendering in HDV is way too slow for me to be productive. I see some edits that render in DV for a few minutes, in HDV, rendering for a few hours (unfortunately usually more than a few). HDV rendering is so painfully slow, I keep feeling like I've got some bad settings or something, yet I've tried every idea and suggestion I can find.

Another reason is this, my goal is to burn an SD DVD. Since my delivery media is currently SD DVD, the HDV version of my work is really just a "master" or "archival" version. I figured since the end result is an SD DVD, I should work the entire project in SD DV which is a "tried and true science" in Xpress Pro. I had to switch my mind set from "I'm editing HDV and transcoding SD to a DVD" to "I'm editing in SD/DV and rendering in HDV".

I like using the Mojo when editing with Xpress Pro. Switching between SD and HDV project types is too clunky and IMHO a really poorly implemented solution for HDV client monitoring. If you accidently render something in SD, you end up with an SD render even if you switch back to HDV. The list goes on and on. I detailed my experiments trying to incorporate a Mojo in an HDV editing workflow in another thread in the old forums.

I still encounter some problems with Xpress Pro trying to deal with HDV. They aren't show stoppers just things like lag and "mooshy" transport controls. Xpress Pro just performs better with DV.

Where I enjoyed editing in HDV with Xpress Pro and have been able complete projects editing HDV, without better rendering and a real-time HDV client monitor with real-time effects, there was really no point. Espcially since I'm delivering SD on a DVD and not delivering HDV. I am more productive with the workflow I present here and end up with both formats. I love the portability of the M10U deck so I can take to an HD TV, plug it in and view the HDV tape of my work.

I chose using the downconvert of the deck because capturing HDV then transcoding to a format like DV25 to edit took 3 hours for a 1 hour tape. It was quicker to just spend 2 hours (1 hour to capture DV, then 1 hour to capture HDV).

Oh well that's my 2 cents for what it is worth...

Jeron

Thanks! I under the Video Format tab, should I use 720X480 (DV, DVD) or should I use 864X486 (16:9 square pixel)?

Below are my custom settings. This time nothing happens. There is no errror and it's not exporting either.

So does anyone have a solution this problem? The settings that I showed on my previous post does not work. Avid is simply not doing anything once that above settings has been set. Help is appreciated. I'm able to export as .m2t but it takes too long to export in m2t format.

JeronCoolman wrote:

9. A week later when all HDV rendering is finished... Export to HDV Device to create an HDV dump to the M10U HDV deck.

Jeron, the "week later" comment cracked me up

Bill

Does anyone have this problem? Am I the only one that experience this issue?

Time to add this thread to the Everything you need to know sticky.. thx for contributing here.. very much appreciated...

Menno

I agree because it hasn't been working for me yet.