The TRUTH behind HD?

J

jerbuds

Active member
Ok guys and gals...I will try to make this as simple as possible...and hopefully you can help me make it more simple! :) Help me understand please!!!

The DVX100 shoots in 480P, which = Standered Def = Viewable on regular T.V's or anything else that is SD as well. This will also burn a SD DVD. CORRECT?

The HVX shoots in 480P/720P/1080i...which has the capablity to shoot SD & HD. But you can only view the HD on a HD monitor. Even if you shoot on HD you would have to burn a DVD to a SD to view on a regular monitor. CORRECT?

Ok now the real questions...

If you have nothing to view the HD shots on...then why shoot in HD? And if you shoot in HD...and make a SD DVD of the footage...will you still see a difference in quality vs. the SD of the DVX100, and why?

Am I correct that if you shoot in 1080i lets say, and you edit in FCP5 in a HD timeline and burn a DVD in DVDSP4 to be seen on a SD monitor, the footage would be better, sharper, cleaner, than if you shot on the DVX100 and transfered a DVD to SD, because when you shot the footage...there is still more information recorded?

I hope I am making some basic since...

Can someone please break down in a simple format the basics of shooting 480P, 720P, 1080i, and how you would then use each one to the best of it's ability in a standered def monitor.

I hope I made some sort of since guys and gals :)

Thanks for the help...

Jeremy
 
HD can be viewed on any HDTV. It can be played from the camera, from a computer (via DVI out or a card that provides component out), or from an HD media playback device - such as HD-DVD player, Blu-Ray player, Playstation 3, etc., from an Apple TV set-top box; and I'm sure some mre ways I can't think of right now. For filmmakers, HD files on a HD can be projected digitally or transferred to film.

Benefits of shooting HD for SD are questionable, though when speaking of specific cameras there may be some (that is, and HVX downconvert may be sharper than a DVX (or not), though not as good as a high-end 2/3" SD cam.

Some people like to shoot HD so they can re-frame shots in post without dropping below SD resolution.

Anyway, some research will get you much more information.
 
jerbuds said:
The HVX shoots in 480P/720P/1080i...which has the capablity to shoot SD & HD. But you can only view the HD on a HD monitor. Even if you shoot on HD you would have to burn a DVD to a SD to view on a regular monitor. CORRECT?

Jeremy
Click to expand...


I thought that you could burn a hddvd with the sony blue rays or hddvd burner?
 
Thanks ullanta,

One more question...

If I shot on HD (HVX) and shot on either...720p or 1080i and edited into FCP5...would I have to burn a HD DVD to see the effects of the HD, and once the HD DVD is burned...can I play the HD DVD on a SD TV, or monitor as well? Or can I burn a regular DVD say through iDVD and still see a better picture, because I shot and edited in HD?

Or do I have to burn a HD DVD and then only play it on a HD monitor, or TV?
 
Also...what would happen if I shot in HD...and played the HD DVD on a regular TV? Would it work and just look SD, or would it not work?
 
It would just be downconverted to SD. Technically you can burn HD content to HD-DVD or Blu-ray but the software and the hardware to accomplish this is not yet common enough to make them significant forms of distribution media.

And alternative is to burn the HD video files to a DVD as data, and then use a DVD player that can read .wmv HD, that would work.
 
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but HD-DVD and Blu-ray are not playing back full stream HD anyway. Its markedly better than conventional DVD but they aren't playing back the full HD data stream. I think I read somewhere that its around 15Mb\s which is not even half the data stream of the SONY cameras which are 35Mb\s for their XDcams.
 
Blu ray and HD DVD are playing back encoded/compressed HD footage in the same way as SD DVDs are playing encoded/compressed SD footage.

Our HD DVDs rival cable/comcast HD feeds particularly when we used h.264 encoding
 
David S. said:
Blu ray and HD DVD are playing back encoded/compressed HD footage in the same way as SD DVDs are playing encoded/compressed SD footage.

Our HD DVDs rival cable/comcast HD feeds particularly when we used h.264 encoding
Click to expand...

So what kind of data compression rate is that compared to the original acquisition?
 
I shoot 720p all the time, edit in FCP, encoded my MPEG-2's for DVD authoring in SD. I get MUCH better looking footage than shooting with my DVX in SD. I also get more of a flim look without doing anything extra for that effect.
 
I think what you are missing is that HD and HDTV are two different things. You can do a web search to find out the differences.

As far as TRUE HD devices, there are very few. There are computers with HD monitors, theater projectors, and film printers, but a computer is required to drive the display devise. The 1080i files produced by the Panasonic record at 1GB/m, so if you want to show a 90 minute feature on an interlaced screen you will need 90GB of disk space. If you can go to 24P then the file can be shrunk a bit due to removed pulldown frames, but it will still be to large for a BluRay disk.

One benefit to working with true HD is that it allows for content manipulation before compression (or at least before the major HDTV compression, if that's your target distro). Applying a visual effect in HD may get the gradient you are after, while if you downconverted first the effect might not be as smooth.

People with this equipment have invested for the future or are trying to prove that they can make a printable (to film) product today. A lot of cinematrographers own 16mm cameras, which have limited utility as well. But they have them because the limited utility they provide is valueable. 1080 24P will become the next cost saving method to go to film, as a $30,000 investment in hardware will allow you to capture, store, edit, and, conform an HD image. That is a lot of steps that used to require the resources that only a 'film city' could provide. Now you can make a film anywhere, but will it be good enough to make it to theaters to become a movie?

I'd say that's very valueable.

Bob
 
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