HD 101

OhMyGosh wrote on 11/28/2007, 9:48 AM
I have spent the last couple of months trying to get a real understanding of High Definition. Mr. Wikipedia and I have become quite intimate friends after all we have been through together, but I still feel I’m missing something (OK, lots!). I figured I could eventually figure it out on my own, but my timetable has changed. While filming a golf ball ‘The Ole Gipper’ took one at over 100 mph to the lens (God rest his soul, he was a good camcorder) and now I need to see about a new one. I need to understand more about HD to see if that is the direction I should go, or wait a couple of years as Eugenia suggests. Here is a laundry list of rambling questions in no particular order. I wouldn’t expect any one person to answer them all, but if you could answer one or two along the way, it would be appreciated. Please try to make them as non ‘Techy’ as possible, if possible. :)
1. What makes HD HD? The optics, the sensor, the format?
2. If you make a movie in HD, can you watch it on a non HD TV, and if you did would it look any better than SD?
3. What is the difference between a ‘field’ and a ‘frame’?
4. If you were to buy a HDTV, would you want it be ‘I’ (interlaced) or ‘P’ (progressive). Which is better?
5. Can you film in either ‘I’ or ‘P’, which is better, and what would you see on a TV if it was different than the film? (the TV is ‘I’ and the film is ‘P’ or vice versa)
6. Is it true that Cinema movies are shot at 24fps? Seems weird, wouldn’t a movie shot at say 100fps look smoother with more detail than one at 24fps? Should I shoot my stuff at 24fps? And wouldn’t using the PAL setting on my camera do the same thing?
7. It seems as the though the Canon HV20 is the camera of choice on the internet. Is that true, and has anyone heard of rumors that a new one should be out shortly? Hate to buy it only to see a new one in a couple of months :/
8. What are ‘black frames’? Are they limited to HD, are they a result of the camera, or the importing software?
9. I read the gurus talking about editing using ‘proxy files.’ Is that something an average (OK, slightly lower) person could do?
10. How many people actually have HD TV’s? I don’t know a single person that does, so is HD really the future?? Thanks in advance. Cin

Comments

Eugenia wrote on 11/28/2007, 11:48 AM
1. The resolution and the bitrate. Mostly the resolution. 1280x720 or 1920x1080 or 1440x1080i.
2. Usually yes.
3. Don't bother yourself with that, you don't need to know, as long as you de-interlace.
4. Progressive. They are more expensive too.
5. Consumer cameras usually capture and playback in interlaced format (except for PAL 25p), so the only way to get a progressive image is to export this way. I use a Sony PS3 to playback true progressive content.
6. Movies are usually shot in 24p, yes. It is like that for historical and legacy reasons, not for practical reasons. Cinemas around the world still use projectors that can only do 24 or 48 fps. If you are after the movie look, yes, shoot in either 24p or 25p. If you shoot in 24p, then you might need to remove pulldown. If you shoot in 25p, you are not required to.
7. There are always new cameras coming out, this never stops. But so far, the HV20 is the best there is for the price.
8. If there are black frames then this is a bug, not a normal situation.
9. Kinda. But it you want to edit HDV, you better be ready for it: http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2007/11/07/the-added-cost-of-hdvavchd/
10. In USA recently a survey made known that only about 39% have an HDTV. In Europe is much less than that as most countries don't have HD content yet.
Daveco2 wrote on 11/28/2007, 1:37 PM
Eugenia,

Can you give me a brief description of the mechanics of using the PS3?
Does it offer chapter points like a DVD or is it simply a straight video playback?
Can I render a Vegas feature to AVI and download it directly to the PS3 by firewire?

Thanks,

Dave

Eugenia wrote on 11/28/2007, 3:35 PM
Straight video playback. AVI does not work on the PS3. You need either .m2t or .m2ts or h.264. If you are using Vegas Pro you can export directly for the PS3 with its two h.264 encoders. VMS does not offer custom h.264 exporting, so you need to use this in that case: http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2007/08/11/from-dvhdvavchd-to-ps3xbox360appletv/

To upload your video clips on the PS3 there are various ways to do that: either via an SD/MMC card, or a burned CD/DVD (as plain files), or you install a UPnP server on your computer connected to the same home network as the PS3, and then the PS3 can connect to the UPnP server and download these files on its hard drive. I personally use the TwonkyMedia UPnP server for that job.
4eyes wrote on 11/28/2007, 4:46 PM
Eugenia, Question - 3. What is the difference between a ‘field’ and a ‘frame’?
Are you suggesting for him to de-interlace HDV?
Eugenia wrote on 11/28/2007, 4:54 PM
If you are exporting HDV tape of course not, because the camera can only playback interlaced material. But ANYTHING else, from DVDs to youtube, to PC playback to PS3 to AppleTV, they all should be de-interlaced, yes.
4eyes wrote on 11/28/2007, 8:36 PM
Deinterlace
HDV export/render to:
Standard Defintion DVD's = NO
PS3 = NO
AVCHD in Transport Stream Container = NO
AVCHD in MP4 container = NO, if encoded by Vegas / Nero 7/8.
HD-Divx = NO, (depends on target, my hd-divx player plays back interlaced hd-divx just fine).
(Divx Decoder de-interlaces & blends if needed for computer playback).
HD-WMV9 = No, Windows Encoder de-interlaces & smooths/blends the video. WMV9 needs to see both the fields to do this. Vista's Directx10 & WMP11 is excellent for this.
V1 also supports interlaced.
UTube = Yes/No doesn't matter, codec will de-interlace.

Computer playback = NO, playback program performs de-interlacing in software or better yet hardware.
Eugenia wrote on 11/28/2007, 8:41 PM
I beg to differ. Strongly.

If you had read my blog you would see how much I curse over terrible de-interlacing or no de-interlacing support that media players and PMPs do. The BEST way to get around these problems and incompatibilities is to de-interlace. I always do, and I was able this way to be as compatible as possible with my target devices. People who don't de-interlace they find themselves in the pit sooner or later.

The only time I don't de-interlace is when I write back to DV/HDV tape, or sometimes when creating a DVD. But for every other usage, de-interlacing has served me well because it's the safe approach.
OhMyGosh wrote on 11/29/2007, 9:13 AM
Thank you Eugenia for your reply. I think I got a good portion of it, and for the rest, I guess me and Mr. Wikipedia will be spending some more time together :) Thanks also for the link. Take care. Cin
Daveco2 wrote on 11/29/2007, 1:55 PM
So, if I had Vegas Pro, I would encode to h.264, then burn to a DVD and insert that into the PS3. Is that right, or do you mean something else by "plain files"?
Eugenia wrote on 11/29/2007, 2:02 PM
No, tha'ts what I mean. You just encode in h.264, you burn the file to a CD or a DVD or an SD/MMC card or you transfer it via the network, and then you play it back by the PS3. I named the CD/DVD burning as "plain files" simply because I didn't want it to be confused as "DVD-video burning".
Daveco2 wrote on 11/29/2007, 2:17 PM
Ok, very good. Thanks for the clarification.
By the way, is XBox equivalent to PS3 for video playback purposes?
Eugenia wrote on 11/29/2007, 2:42 PM
Yes, the XBoX360 can playback WMV and h.264 up to 10mbps bitrate only though (the PS3 can do up to 20mbps). The XBoX360 can't playback .m2t though afaik, while the PS3 can. The PS3 will soon have the ability to playback DivX too, it was announced a few days ago.
Daveco2 wrote on 11/30/2007, 4:34 PM
Eugenia,

In your blog, a comment by Love2Scoot mentions capturing video from the Canon HV20 by Vegas. Do you know if this is a trouble-free procedure? I've heard that Vegas can only capture HDV from Sony cameras.

Thanks,

Dave
Eugenia wrote on 11/30/2007, 4:59 PM
Vegas captures from any HDV camera without a problem. The problem was only for some AVCHD cameras, but latest versions of Vegas have better support for these cameras too. The only bug on Vegas is that the last frame of each scene is the first frame from next scene. If you split and discard, you will be fine.
Daveco2 wrote on 12/1/2007, 3:29 PM
Ok, thanks.
Do you know of a method to capture HDV from a tape in a DV deck - a software application hopefully? Or is having an HDV camera to serve as the deck the only method?
Eugenia wrote on 12/1/2007, 4:48 PM
If the DV Deck does not support HDV then you must use the camera. They are not the same format you see.