HDV Capture For Down-Conversion To PAL DVD (SD)

[soccerman]

I am using a Canon XHA1 to film fast-moving soccer matches in HDV 1080i format with the intention of editing and archiving the footage in HDV (mpeg2) and then down-converting thereafter to create SD PAL DVD's.

Initially, I down-converted from HDV to SD in-camera during the capturing process, thereby capturing the footage into VS11+ as DV Type 1, Lower Field First, 720 x 576, 16:9, but the finished product on DVD was really no better than the results of my normal workflow (as above) when filming in 16:9 SD in the first place....hence the experiment with capturing to VS11+ as HDV. (I have read several postings that this will produce better results on SD DVD's).

However, I am having a few problems.

Firstly, VS11+ is only allowing capture of SD footage from the Canon XHA1. The correct details to capture HDV are in the source and format dialogue boxes, but the capture buttons underneath are greyed out, while an error message comes up 'Unable to switch to capture mode. Check if your video capture driver is working properly'.
I have found this problem documented on several other Forums as well as this one, whereby Windows Vista, the Canon XHA1, the removal of certain capture plug-ins from VS11 and the two recent VS11+ upgrades to VS11.5 (which are installed on my system) all appear to have been to blame at various stages. ?
I did, however, manage to capture the HDV files to my hard-drive using Roxio Creator Basic and then import them into VS11+ where they read as MPEG-2 video, Upper Field First, 1440 x 1080, 16:9, 25mbps. For File Format, it came up as PAL HDDVD. These were all saved as Project Properties.

I then edited the footage using titles, transitions, saved still-frame (de-interlaced) shots of action, various effects & music (as I normally would in an AVI file edit), then saved it as a Video File under 'Same as Project Settings'. This played back perfectly on my editing laptop and looked excellent and obviously far superior to SD, even though it is noticeable in fast-moving sports action filmed in HDV 1080i that there is a slight 'strobing'/trailing effect coming off the players when they run about very quickly near the camera...which is less noticeable in SD.

My next step was to create an mpeg for a SD PAL DVD from the finished HDV MPEG-2 file, which I did using the TMPG encoder (as I normally do for creating mpeg's from SD AVI files). I then import the mpeg into Movie Factory 6 to author the SD DVD master, although I sometimes use VS11+ instead.
The TMPG encoder automatically read the file as Upper Field First and produced the mpeg accordingly, which then went into MF6 as Upper Field First. I had read on various forums that the key to HDV to SD DVD conversion was keeping the Field Order the same all throughout the process.
However, on playing back the finished SD DVD on a variety of different stand-alone DVD players and TV screens, it is coming out in 'film mode' as if every other frame (or field ?) is missing, while on computers it is all very blurry. It is more or less unwatchable and nowhere near as good as the SD PAL DVD's I produce from captured SD footage.
I have also tried experiments with a single short clip of unedited HDV footage (with no de-interlaced still-frame clips included) and with Lower Field First and Frame-Based as properties for the rendering of SD PAL DVD files, but it makes no difference whatsoever.

Could it be something to do with the initial HDV capturing process that is causing this ?
I have no idea if the HDV footage I was editing was in Program Stream (which it is supposed to be for editing ?) or in Transport Stream. It doesn't say under Properties.
From what I have read in JC Hunter's Tutorial, editing Transport Stream files (m2ts) can cause problems.