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csgaraglino
csgaraglino
Known Participant
August 9, 2011
Question

Down-Converting 1080p to 720p

  • August 9, 2011
  • 2 replies
  • 33406 views

I shoot AVCHD 1080p form a verity of different cameras - but 99% of all my final projects are for the Web or DVD - no big screen and no blue-ray. I want to shoot what I can in 1080p for future use or projects.  My question is what is the best solution (free or nominal fee) for down-converting my footage to 720p for storage and editing?

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    2 replies

    B
    billmatthiesen
    Participant
    August 10, 2011

    Can I ask a related question here? (maybe in the "dumb question department) ...

    I'm also shooting with a brand new NX5U -- which lets me shoot 1080 and 720 simultaneously (one to chip, the other to a flash drive). My projects also end up on the web and non-blueray DVDs.

    So is the quality going to be better if I work in 1080 timelines and then import the final into a 720 timeline? Or is it going to look the same if I work in 720 right from the start?

    I haven't run any tests to judge rendering time, etc. I'm assuming higher rez means longer processing time. But maybe it's worth it for better quality.

    Anyone have any advice about this?

    Thanks in advance!

    Bill Gehrke
    Bill Gehrke
    Inspiring
    August 13, 2011

    I have a related but slightly different question.  I will be videoing my grandson's high school football games with my Sony NX5U.  Is there any advantage using 720p over 1080i for action events.  Last year I did not experiment and try 720p,  I used 1080i and produced primarily DVD's and an occasional BD-R

    E
    excited_Genie16B8
    Legend
    August 13, 2011
    any advantage using 720p over 1080i for action events.

    Yes.  Much better temporal resolution.  1080 is 30 interlaced frames, 720 is 60 progressive frames.

    Colin Brougham
    Colin Brougham
    Participating Frequently
    August 9, 2011

    Why downconvert? You can use 1080p footage in a 720p sequence, simply by scaling it down or using the Scale to Frame Size preference or command. It'll save tons of time and space.

    csgaraglino
    csgaraglinoAuthor
    Known Participant
    August 9, 2011

    Hmm... It is my impression that if I edit with actual 720p files, it will be less strain on the system both in editing and rendering as well has hard drive space? The hard drive is a given - I store the originals and only edit with copies - these copies being 720p would be roughly half that of the 1080p.

    E
    excited_Genie16B8
    Legend
    August 10, 2011

    The size of the copies depends on the bitrate used, frame size has little to no bearing on the matter.  In order to get half the size, you'd need half the bitrate.

    I'd agree with Colin on this one.  Don't worry about copies, use the originals.

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