Behind the Sceans with John L

[Wheat King]

Some of your will find this interesting, especially starting at about 8:50 seconds in when they are talking about a file based workflow. Exciting stuff. As that's the direction I want to go even at my level as a just your average family storyteller. (and maybe someday semi-pro or pro) How far behind is Adobe on this? do all major competitors support all the file based formats? I'm a little confused about the format in the Panasonic P2 Cameras is this AVCHD? or a different format?
Would love to hear more thoughts on this.

You can download the episode from here.

http://www.creativesuitepodcast.com/

John Loiacono (aka Johnny L), the SVP of Adobe’s Creative Solutions group, is back! Join Johnny and the Production Premium team in the DVA lab at Adobe San Jose, as Johnny in his unique (never boring!) style talks with the team about what went into the CS3 release, customer reactions, surprises, how we stack up against the competition, and what’s hot right now including the new update that adds compatibility with Panasonic P2 cameras. A demo of the P2 update is also featured.

[Chuck Engels]

Wow, great stuff Jamal, thanks for sharing this

[Bob D]

This was very interesting and concerning. I've never heard of P2 format before. I also think this presentation gives pause to the thinking of continuing to capture via tape. Thanks for posting this. It certainly will keep me interested in how this develops.

[Wheat King]

Seems like some professionals want to move to a file based workflow. Mostly those that are doing news stories and want to cut together a piece really quick. makes sense. I was previously under the impression that only consumer level editors (like me) wanted the file based workflow. Based on this I'm hopeful we'll see an edit friendly file based format for pros and consumers... someday...

Here's some more info on P2
ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasonic/D ... /P2-WP.pdf

[Maxine370]

I've been on the Pro forum a bit now that I'm using Pro and that seems to be the big topic of conversation among Pro users. It seems there is a even newer format. (mind you it's all Greek to me and I'm not ready to learn it yet) I believe Adobe, has released an update for Pro for the P2.

[Paul LS]

I must admit using a memory card based camcorder is sooooooo much easier. I have always been a "fan" of tape... both DV-AVI and HDV. But recently I bought the Sony HDR-CX7 high definition AVCHD camcorder that records to Memory Stick Duo flash memory cards. You simply transfer the file to your PC. The 8GB cards can store a little over an hour at full high definition quality and up to 3 hours at lower quality high definition. And to swap out the cards takes seconds just like a stills camera. After using it for a while I realise what a hassle tape is. Also I find I use my camcorder much more often... if I dont like what I have recorded one touch of a button and it is gone. Another advantage is that the camera is totally quiet, no tape mechanism noise and also it is incredible small but still records in high definition.

I also note a number of the new pro camcorders, as P2 and other Sony pro camcorders are moving to flash memory cards for storage. Beginning of the end for tape?

[Bob D]

So, to continue the debate. On one side we have the advice of using DV-AVI because that is the best format for PE (usually Steve's advice). This leads one to consider mini-DV tapes as the best format to capture with.

On the other hand the points provided by Paul (and reading the P2 article) bring out compelling reasons to go with a memory card. (I still wold need to think through the archiving options, but not unsurmountable)

I guess a question for you Paul is how well PE (pick a version) works for you with AVCHD?

Don't you also have a mini-DV HD camera that you downconvert in the camera before bringing into PE, or is that soeone else?

[Wheat King]

There's no question that Dv-AVI is the most edit friendly format. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but essentially it's because it uncompressed. (maybe that simplified) but I totally agree with Paul, I have a Canon S3 IS that takes decent movies, Quality is as nice in well lit situations as my Canon Optura 20. Anyway, lately I've been leaving the camcorder at home when going to the park, zoo, or somewhere where we are out and about. one less thing to carry. It's great to come home load the files into photoshop elements, tag them and forget about them until I'm ready to sit down to a project. I can easily get what i'm after by date or tag and send it into a Pre. El.

Jamal

[jackfalbey]

From what I have read on AVCHD, it does not play well with most NLE software because of the massive compression. This also means you have to have major PC power to keep up with it.

P2 is a flash-memory system developed by Panasonic that records in DVCPRO HD format ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasonic/D ... /P2-WP.pdf

Digital still cameras that have a video mode usually record in lower-resolution AVI to the memory card, although the quality leaves a bit to be desired. They are, however, easy to edit with most all NLEs.

I say, if you need to do HD now, go with HDV recorded to MiniDV tape. I'm going to wait for P2 to get cheaper or a better codec than AVCHD to come along. I do think that some sort of flash-based HD format will be the wave of the near future.

[Paul LS]

Yes Bob, I have both a high definition HDV camcorder recording to tape and an AVCHD camcorder recording to flash memory cards. To be honest there is very little difference in the quality... both are superb. The HDV camcorder has many manual controls which enable you to get the best from the scene... whereas the AVCHD cam is more point and shoot. With both on full auto there is little between them.

The big difference is in editing. The HDV will edit on a high end single processor or a low end dual-core processor. However to get smooth editing and playback from the timeline for the AVCHD I need to use a quad-core processor.

Having said that... the convience of the AVCHD (small, pocket size and the ease of transfering files) means I rarely use the HDV cam unless it is for a formal type occasion... whereas I would even take the AVCHD cam on a trip to the store.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Posted on 22nd April 2007

It might not be a (classic 4.7Gb/DL) DVD based future we are looking at as a replacement for MiniDV. There are other contenders out there which are beginning to make some inroads in terms of increasing data capacity/reducing cost.

The FireStore product line is one way things might go, or the Panasonic P2 card route and the Sony flash card option (http://www.sonybiz.net/biz/view/ShowCon ... 5002588701). Then there is the Sony's Blu-Ray recording initiative (see the Sony F350 XDCAM).

Wish I could get that crystal ball to tell me whether to go Blu-Ray or HD-DVD