What does "Hold up to much" mean?

Brian_Rice

Brian_Rice

Carbonite Member
In reading Bloom's take on the AF100, he kept coming back to the 24mbps not being able to "hold up to much" and that most serious filmmakers will have to get an additional recording device in order to get the most out of this camera.

What exactly does he mean? I'm assuming it's in reference to the process the data/codec has to go through in color grading/correction and the transference of data between formats (MPEG, etc). I've heard this mentioned before regarding camcorders with data rates under 50mbps.

Is there more to it than this?

Thanks!
 
Nope, you're right on, though several experts here have contradicted it ("A Verse Before Dying", for example).
 
I think Philip's comment was made prematurely, and was probably made based on thinking that the bitrate was lower than on a DSLR. However, while that kind of thinking was common prior to the AF100 actually being released, the story since then has pretty much been the opposite -- most folks are expressing welcome surprise at just how well the native codec does hold up.

My advice has always been to try it as-is, because you may very well be pleasantly surprised. If you encounter scenarios where the codec truly doesn't hold up for you, well, that's the point to consider an external recorder.
 
Thanks --

And sorry for being a noob regarding the subject of codec. But how does one know if their codec isn't "holding up"? Is there something in the image that changes?

For instance if I did general after affects layering on a piece of video, what could happen to the image?

Additionally does using the in-camera settings (CINE, gamma changes, etc) affect the codec?
 
Sometimes when there's too much detail or too much image change in a scene, the codec won't be able to accurately represent it all. In cases like that, the image might go really blocky (like in HDV) or really mushy. It's basically a visually observable degradation in the picture quality.
 
My understanding of "holding up" is about how many generations the source will take before it starts displaying "errors" such as artifacts . Historically applied to tape to tape to tape - dubbing)

So that would be use the source, export it, re export,re export it....

Now this would tend to be export to the same CODEC ...and as far as I know...one can not export to AVCCAM ( its a capture format..that can be edited as source only but not exported).

My post work has involved edit AVCCAM native ( CS5) send source files to Da Vinci Resolve and Flame...Clip wrap for files to be processed (C.C, fx and compositing). Works like a dream (despite 8 bit 4:2:0)

So...I dont think "hold up" actually factors in AVCCAM / AVCHD shot and post
 
It's been awhile but I seem to remember being able to edit the "raw" .mts files (AVCHD) in CS4 without issue.

In the end, though, it has to be transferred/transcoded to MPEG or some other format for DVD/web video, etc.

But I think it's worth knowing that the processing (CC, etc) AVCHD footage doesn't necessarily involve a prior codec conversion to work with popular effects programs.
 
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