3CCD High Definition cameras and MF - bit rates etc

ruggy1 · Post by **ruggy1** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 9:52 am

Until now all my work has been with 800K pixel DV cameras, which look OK put onto DVD and viewed on a normal television, but look very ordinary when seen on large LCD or Plasma screens, even when rendered at 9500. If I buy a new 3CCD, wide angle, high definition Panasonic camera, will things look any better when rendered, given it will still be at 9500 but displayed on a screen that has 3 times the resolution of my normal television? ALso, what effect will it have on rendering times using high resolution cameras, and what effect would there be on MPEG-on-the-fly conversion settings. I get transcode buffer problems even now using 7000K settings on some old Video8 tapes, and I have a P4 3.4GHz CPU. What will happen when the high definition stuff is being converted? I am a bit confused about this so I would appreciate advice from anyone with experience in this area. Thanks.

tyamada · Post by **tyamada** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 5:27 pm

3CCD HD camera doesn't make a difference on the file you capture to the Hard Disk. The file is captured in the format that is on the Camera's tape be it 1440X1080 or 480p, MPG bitrate 25000(no transcode). The 1440x1080 resolution uses about 190,000,000 per minute of capture. If you are going to create DVD from the output you should get a camera that down converts the video to DV. If you wait for a few months then you will be able to create HD DVD or Blue ray HD. and get the full HD video to your HD TV.
Rendering times for a 7 minute clip in HD is a little over 30 minutes.

You could get a DVD player that converts DVD to HD, like a Toshiba SD-K850. I have one and am happy with the picturi I get on my HD TV.

maddrummer3301 · Post by **maddrummer3301** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 8:58 am

Hi,
>>Until now all my work has been with 800K pixel DV cameras,

The Size and resolution of the CCD is very important in the consumer camcorders.
On the consumer level the CCD quality is "Fair/Good" in comparision to
a "Sony" $3,000 dollar camcorder, which is the start of the very good CCD's quality.
I've found to get a nice picture with any of the cams use very good lighting yields the best results.

I've experienced with my Canon camcorder displayed on a big screen TV looks nice. I disable the "Image Stabilizer" and the "Auto" setting for the lighting etc.
If I set my camcorder(s) to "Auto" for the light level & exposure controls, because of the video amplifiers working to meet the famous "Low Lux" levels this seems to introduce alot of background noise in the picture.
That noise isn't very noticeable on a 27" to 32" TV but can be seen on a big screen.

I have a VideoCard with HD output hardware circuitry. Everything is upconverted "On_The_Fly" in realtime to 1080i, 720p, 480p or 480i.
In my opinion any of the video I've worked with always looks best
in the format it was originally captured at.
What I do use alot is the software's video controls to enhance the picture with greater detail, light levels, exposure & luminence before recording that to a dvd recorder in real-time.

If your heading into HD video I would look at HD hardware based cards or video card(s) so you can output & preview in real-time. Previewing HD
on a computer, then burning a disc or even standard DVD is very time-consuming.
On my dual-monitor/display system I use 2 - 21" Analog Sony Monitors.
The 2nd monitor can be active or be the TV with RGB component progressive outputs to a big screen TV.
Using a program like VideoStudio_9 you can preview in real-time using VS9's features of dual-head or DV etc for displaying the video.
Also anything you run on the computer can be displayed onto a TV. The quality & resolution on the TV is not just nice, it's "Excellent".

You are also going to need a program like MovieFactory_5 to be compatible with HD equipment & software.
I don't believe that MovieFactory_4 will cut it for you in the HD equipement unless your camcorder can downconvert to SD before sending
to the computer. MF4 is SD only.

Hope some of this infomation helps you with your decision.

MD

ruggy1 · Post by **ruggy1** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 10:09 am

Thanks both of you, but I am still a little confused. I use firewire to connect to the PC - are you saying I should buy a new HD card (any ideas for one here in PAL land?) rather than firewire to PC? Will this avoid the need to render the AVI? With this new card I can presumably connect to the soon to be released MF5 to author and produce great quality DVDs? Is this right? Thanks.

tyamada · Post by **tyamada** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 4:06 pm

You don't need a new HD card you can edit and playback HD and see previews and results in HD. Your HD captures from your camdorder will be in MPG format not AVI. Media Studio Pro 8 and Video Studio 9 both will cature and edit HD Video. Only MSP8 will output HD video back to the camera. All this is done via iLink(Firewire), on a computer with Windows XP and SP2 installed.

I have read some folks are capturing HD with SP1 but, you are taking a chance by not installing SP2.

I'm not sure you can caputre HD video other than fire wire, my camera has analoge component video out but no analoge HD input. I have a Dvico Fusion HD TV capture card that has analouge composite/s-video/audio input, however, those inputs will only capture at standard 720X480 NTSC or 756X480 PAL.

The Dvico software does interface with my iLink(Firewire) port and I can capture and record HD video to a HD VCR.

When Movie Factory 5 does come out you will still need a way to capture HD video and a HD/Blue Ray disk burner to be able to make HD video Disks.

You can use current software to produce HD video to DVD if you have the right DVD player, see this:
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=10132

Hope this helps.

ruggy1 · Post by **ruggy1** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 11:24 pm

Thanks, getting a little clearer now. Just one thing - do I have to wait for HD/BlueRay to output HD video, or can I still use ordinary DVDs and just get a better picture than I do at present with my 800K Pixel DV camera?
Thanks

tyamada · Post by **tyamada** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 11:41 pm

I haven't tried down converting from the camera or in the application to standard DVD format should give you a better picture than what you are getting from a standard camcorder.

I've created a DVD from a HD TV program by down converting a 1920x1080 HD to 720x480 SD and got a gret picture. The HD picture is better so you should end up with a better picture

maddrummer3301 · Post by **maddrummer3301** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 3:05 am

Hi,
The post I made referencing a HD card was to PREVIEW the video on a
large screen display in real-time as your editing the video and to
preview the final product before the burning process.

As posted above you don't need a video card that outputs HD.
Just another tool and method to save time.

MD

ruggy1 · Post by **ruggy1** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 9:52 am

Thanks guys I have a better picture now, but one thing bothers me - what do you all do with all the high tech expensive stuff you seem to have? Are you in business or just super-techies??

tyamada · Post by **tyamada** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 5:54 pm

I'm a high tech junkie, always on the bleeding edge of technology, sometimes regetting that I didn't wait for things to mature.

There are a lot of thing I don't have but have decided that waiting is better for the pocket book.