HD help

[Kevin Lee]

I have a firestore hd, that records to m2t codec. That must be more compressed than DV footage because I can store more of it on the firestore. Thats confusing. And I do not have Vegas yet, but I understand you can import m2t files directly into it? Is it full quality HDV? Is it better to use tape and transfer that? Or is that just as compressed? I just got my XH A1 and would like to get the best quality footage from it.

 

[plainman007]

M2t stands for Mpeg2 Transport. Its is nothing but an mpeg2 with mostly 1440x1080 @ 60i (if its from a sony z1u). Its pure HDV. High Definition Video. Which is heavily compressed Mpeg2. DV is a totally different compression standard that employs full frames and comes in an avi wrapper. But the bitrate of HDV is = to DV. It occupies the same 25 Mbps. And hence sits onto the same DV transport (Normal DV tapes) but in Mpeg2 stream format. Yes vegas will directly import M2t files when u hit capture and your HDV camera is connected via firewire. The resulting files will all have the m2t extension. Just drag them onto the vegas timeline. Period. And yes its is Full Quality HDV. Theres no stepdown unless you hit downconvert on your HDV camera so that it gets demuxed into a normal DV stream. Full quality HDV is compressed (mpeg2) its not like uncompressed avi. As long as youve got the m2t files, your dealing with the raw stream and theres been no quality loss. They edit as good as DV on the Vegas timeline.

Firestore is only a harddisk system right ? It has nothing to do with the codec (i think). The codec is decided by the camera which puts the m2t onto the firestore. If the cam puts an mxf on the firestore it will store even that. m2t in size and bitrate are equal to DV avi. Approx 13gb per hr.

Whats XH A1 ? lol. Ive never seen that cam. Canon ? Anything else feel free ask. If i know i can tell you.