DV Cams VS Vegas Video?

XTREEMMAK wrote on 9/21/2003, 5:16 PM

I've recently read an artical about DV productions about the two differences between a standard DV Camera, and a Pro DV Camera. They say that on a regular DV Camera the Color Shape standard thing is 4:1:1 while on a pro video cam, the Color Shape standard thing is 4:2:2. Can vegas convert between the standards if needed, and if your using a regular DV Cam ($500.00) how would you look to get it as if you were recording on a professional cam?

Comments

John_Cline wrote on 9/21/2003, 8:21 PM

NTSC DV is 4:1:1 regardless of whether it is MiniDV, Digital8, DVCAM or DVCPRO. Professional tape formats like DigBeta, D9 and DVCPRO50 use 4:2:2 color sampling.

However, there is a much more to video quality than color sampling at 4:1:1 or 4:2:2, the quality of the camera, lens and chips has a LOT to do with it. The difference between a $500 DV cam and a professional camera is night and day.

John

riredale wrote on 9/21/2003, 10:35 PM

I myself am about to graduate from using a very good single-chip Sony miniDV camcorder to a 3-chip VX2000. Yesterday I took my camera to Fry's in order to capture a quick A-B comparison. The VX-2000 was unavailable, but a Canon GL-2 was nearby. I shot 30 seconds with both cameras, then brought the tape home and threw it on the Vegas timeline, and watched each clip with a monitor.

(1) For some colors, there was little difference, but for other colors the GL-2 was much more saturated and intense (=more realistic).

(2) The GL-2 was clearly sharper.

(3) The GL-2 showed much less video noise in dark regions of the image. This means it will look much better on DVD, since video noise really messes with the MPEG2 encoder.

So I guess the transition from one to three chips will not be as obvious as the transition from S-VHS (or Hi-8) to DV, but there is still an improvement.