HV20 HDMI question

[ernesto]

According to Chris Hurd's overview of the HV20:

"Perhaps more importantly, a significant advantage of the HDMI connection is its uncompressed video and audio output. Those who have an HDMI capture card (such as the Blackmagic Intensity) in their editing computer can use it to bypass HDV compression completely."


What would this uncompressed signal be like? 4:4:4? How much data per minute? What resolution?

[Huy Vu]

It be 4:2:2, 1440x1080.

[BDLAB]

Currently only the HD-Connect MI HDMI -> SDI converter works with the HV-20 in full resolution (rev. 1.54 firmware). With the BM Intensity capture card the HDMI output downscales to 480p (1.3 driver).

[jenningsp]

some people were speculating if it's 4:2:0 or 4:2:2 and 1440x1080 or 1920x1080.

canon is evil. so i think it's 4:2:0 at 1440x1080 up-sampled. but wish it was 4:2:2 at 1920x1080


has any one got any conclusive results?

[kyle.presley]

I'd really like to know this. Also, does anyone have footage captured this way?

[logic108]

If you live capture from HDMI through Blackmagic Intensity then you definitely get 4:2:2. The issue is whether or not you get full 1920x1080. There has been a lot of discussion about this over on dvinfo. If you use a codec like NeoHD then it seems that the video that is captured is actually very close to the 1920x1080 that is output by more expensive 1920x1080 cameras - output being similar in terms of the extra sharpness you get from 1920. However some people are saying that no camera that does 1920x1080 actually outputs pixel to pixel 1920x1080 footage - so the HV20 like other HD cameras is not actually outputting 100%. This stands to reason as RAW capture is the only way to get 100% info from the sensor.
Anyhows the long and short of it is that using a Blackmagic Intensity to capture live via the HDMI of the HV20 does get you a 4:2:2 signal at a HD resolution. Neo HD is a codec that is often used with this setup and offers a lossless compression of the signal so that your RAID 0 setup doesn't get eaten up too fast by the uncompressed data. If you are a FCS2 user you can also use ProRes 422 as the BM card supports ProRes 422 now. You can also capture the HV20 signal via hdmi live using the DVCPRO HD codec.
With good lighting (extremely important with the hv20), a 35mm adapter, a BM Intensity card and a codec such as Neo HD or ProRes 422 you can get actual 4:2:2 HD footage that looks fantastic. But obviously you must capture/record live. Anything which is recorded to HDV tape will be 4:2:0. Blackmagic have updated their drivers to ver. 1.5 and this supports the HV20. One important thing to remember when using a BM card is that your camera should be plugged in to the card via the HDMI before you turn the computer on. HDMI in this case doesn't seem to be hot-swapable like firewire. I think this issue has caused a lot of people to think that their setup is not working. So connect your camera via HDMI before you turn on the computer.

[Texture]

Any Macintosh MacBook Pro input options for this? Sounds like one is stuck to a desktop PC with card slots...

[logic108]

No portable solutions available at the moment. You can put the BM in a shuttle micro pc. So it is possible to do 422 HD with the HV20 on location.

[c.g._eads]

All this stuff makes my head spin so I'm going to try and ask a simple question.

Let's say I want to record something on my DV20 in HD and play it back on my HDTV. But before I do that, I want to import it into Premiere, cut it together, maybe add some color correction, output back to the camera, and play it through the TV.

What's the best way to do this without losing picture quality?

4:2:2 and 4:2:0 -- I don't know anything about this stuff. Is it one of those techy things where only super-technical people can see the difference in image quality? Or is it a big deal?