Canon HF20 - any thoughts?

[peggig]

My current understanding is that BluRay discs are encoded in .H264. Is that correct? Or can they also be MPEG4?

I believe I once saw a video on Vimeo that was recorded in HDV, that was first output in .H264 to get the highest resolution, then converted to MPEG2 to reduce the bandwidth requirements and buffering lag you get with Hi-Def streaming video. (I looked for the video so I could post a link to it, but couldn't find it, so it's possible I may have gotten the workflow wrong.) Is this a viable processs for getting high quality video from HDV without such heavy bandwidth requirements? Does it work better than just outputting direct to MPEG2?

1. What's the best way to get the highest quality video from an HDV source that will play on YouTube with minimal buffering lag?
2. What's the best way to get the highest quality video from an HDV source onto a standard DVD, assuming the video is short enough to fit on a DVD in a high-def format?
3. Is there a way to create a DVD that will play on standard TVs with standard quality, and on HDTVs with HD quality?

Thanks!

[Paul LS]

Blu-ray discs can be burnt with MPEG2 or H.264, H.264 being the more compressed format. H.264 does NOT have higher resolution than MPEG2, they can both be 1920x1080 but for the same quality the bit rate of H.264 will be less. Now HDV MPEG2 has a resolution of 1440x1080 with a PAR of 1.333, so a lower resolution than full 1920x1080.

Regarding bandwidth requirements, if anything I would have thought MPEG2 would require the higher bandwidth as it requires a higher bitrate to achieve the same quality as H.264 and it also has larger file sizes.

1. For Youtube I would imagine the buffering lag is due to the size of the file... so the smaller file size would give less lag... so H.264 or an MPEG4 variant would be prefered.
2. You can burn AVCHD discs to standard DVDs... the AVCHD disc format is H.264, however Premiere Elements does not burn this format. And as usual most other video editors do.
3. Not that I know of.

[peggig]

Thanks, Paul. I'm still waitihng for my copy of PE8, so I don't know what output options it has. Can you burn a DVD in MPEG4? If so, will that play on a standard TV?

If you output a video to an MPEG4 or H.264 file, and copy that onto a DVD, can it be played back on a TV?

I'm brand new to high definition, so please bear with my massive ignorance. I'm still trying to sort it all out.

Thanks!

[Steve Grisetti]

Unless your DVD player is specifically set up to play MP4s or unless you're using a BluRay disc player, you will not be able to play H.264 videos on it, Peggig.

[peggig]

OK, here's my situation. I produce videos for local public access TV, and then post them on YouTube and give copies on DVD to all the participants in each episode. Most of these people are unlikely to have HDTVs. I have no problem with outputting separate versions for YouTube and the DVDs, but I want to get the highest possible quality on each, without compromising people's ability to view them.

It sounds like I should use either MPEG4 oe H.264 for YouTube. Any recommendations on which is better if the original footage is HDV? What are the pros and cons of each?

I'm still not clear on what's the best way to get the highest possible quality on DVD that can be viewed on standard TVs or computers. Or am I doomed to end up with the same quality DVDs I was producing when I was shooting standard definition video?

[Chuck Engels]

Premiere Elements does a fine job of down converting the HDV footage to standard Definition Widescreen.
HDV is recorded in widescreen and you will always get widescreen output so you can't get away from that, not that you would want to anyway.

You can output /export your YouTube version in H.264 or MPEG4 (which I am pretty sure is the H.264 codec anyway), either would be fine for YouTube. Then just burn a standard DVD and Premiere Elements will create a DVD with the best possible quality. Don't try and make this any harder than it really is.

[peggig]

Will the DVD of the HDV video look any better than if it was shot in standard definition?

[Chuck Engels]

That has been my experience, the quality is a little better. I think it might be that the colors are richer and deeper, the shadows and highlights look better and it has a much nicer overall look.

Don't expect miracles but it will definitely look better than using a standard definition camcorder.

[peggig]

Thanks, Chuck.

[Ken Jarstad]

Will the DVD of the HDV video look any better than if it was shot in standard definition?

Definitely. You have four times the pixels being interpolated into the final image and the registration accuracy is superb.

I would love to see a side by side comparison of any of the new breed of consumer Hi-def camcorders but especially the HV20/30/40 with a standard definition prosumer or even a pro camcorder. I think our little wonders would perform quite well.

[Chuck Engels]

I can do this Ken, give me a few weeks and see what I can come up with.
I even have some Pro SD camera footage too, that should come in handy for this test.

[Ken Jarstad]

That should very interesting, Chuck. I just did the math and found that full HD has 6 times the pixels of SD. HDV has 'only' 4.5 times the pixels. When you think about it, the down conversion process is going to be very accurate for starters and has probably been carefully optimized. There are issues with color subsampling but with at least 4.5 times the pixels to choose from even the color channel should be very accurate. The luminance information should only be limited by the quality of the lens.