effects of record mode on final project

Flyboy40 wrote on 6/26/2009, 3:00 PM

My camera is a Sony HDR-SR12, and there are four different record modes within the HD format: HD FH; HD HQ; HD SP; and HD LP. The FH mode says it is 1920 x 1080, the HQ says higher image quality, SP says standard, and LP says lower.

My question is this: In order to keep my options open in the future as far as the quality of the final clip burned on DVD, should I record in the highest quality mode? My main concern is that if I want to be able to fit it on a regular DVD, will I be able to compress it enough to fit if it's recorded in best mode, or should I make the original file size smaller when I record it?

I'm recording a wedding, so it will probably be about an hour long.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Comments

Ivan Lietaert wrote on 6/26/2009, 8:56 PM

To keep all your options open, record in the highest possible quality (full hd). Remember there are many possible outputs nowadays. When I filmed my sister in law's marriage last year, I put it on a dvd (in SD), but I also put parts online (in HD) and on a memory stick. On such media, you can easily put HD files, which will make people very happy.

Chienworks wrote on 6/26/2009, 9:49 PM

You have a couple of premises wrong here.

DVDs are SD, not HD, so you'll lose a lot going to DVD no matter what quality settings you've used. You can't get the HD resolution back from SD material.

The original file size has no relation on the finished file size. The finished file size is determined by the bitrate and the duration, nothing else. So, if your original file is a splendorous 300GB monster and you encode 70 minutes at 7Mbps you'll get an output file of about ... 4GB. If your original file is a super crappy 50MB web video file and you encode 70 minutes at 7Mbps, you'll get an output file of about ... 4GB. The first case will probably produce a much better looking result than the second one, but the file sizes are still the same.

So, record at the highest mode that you have sufficient storage space for.

Flyboy40 wrote on 6/28/2009, 5:43 PM

Thanks so much for the help. I must admit, I don't yet understand the encoding part yet, but I will record on the highest mode.