Originally posted by Maroonie
[B]I heard it was just recording to mini DVD’s?-M [/B]
“In all modes, the signal is recorded to MiniDV tape”
Cheers!
World's first consumer HD camcorder!
dmaas
#22
This looks pretty cool, but it’s still a bit hobbled for professional use. The MPEG-2 compression won’t be too bad - 1080i broadcast signals are around 19 megabits, the camera is 18.6 megabits (but at 720p), so compression-wise it’s just as good as, if not better than, most HDTV broadcasts. (of course it won’t have the sharpness of true 1080i captured with a really good lens or transferred from film). MPEG-2 is pretty nasty for editing (you have to break apart and re-encode a few frames surrounding each cut), not to mention FX work (I wouldn’t even try it)… It’s good as a final-delivery format (like JPEG), but not for source material.
MPEG-2 uses 4:2:0 sampling. This means if the total image resolution is say 720x480, the luminance channel is stored at 720x480 but the color channels are stored at 360x240. Or at 1080i the luminance is at 1920x1080 and the color is at 960x540.
4:2:2 (Digital Betacam/HD D5) means that if the total resolution is 720x480, luminance is 720x480 but color is 360x480. (it’s sub-sampled horizontally but not vertically).
4:1:1 (NTSC DV) luminance 720x480, color 180x480 (yes DV has only 180 color samples horziontally!). PAL DV uses 4:2:0 like MPEG.
HDCAM uses a weird scheme where it stores 1080i luminance at 1440x1080 and color at 960x1080. People call this “3:1:1” but by the numbers it’s more like 3:2:2.
alphatron
#23
Hey dmaas,
Nice to see someone who really knows their stuff.
Have you seen the Viper HDcam in action? It’s 4:4:4 and records completely uncompressed. 9.6 megapixels for each of the 3 ccd’s. You need a harddrive array entitled “The Director’s Friend” to record 
It’s about 3x the resolution of the F900.
Savage_Henry
#26
Thanks for the info…
I’d like to buy a dvcam soon…but I don’t know shite about them. I love to get the inside scoop of products from people who do more than videotape thier kid playing with their dog…or opening birthday presents…
This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.