TPR is going HD!

[robbalvey]

So as many of you all know the world is going HD so that means that TPR eventually had to do it too. While we won't be producing any "BlueRay" DVDs in the next couple of years (until the price for raw materials drop) we will be shooting everything in HD and probably creating some HD content downloads.

 

So having said all that, we have some new equipment and a few questions about this HD world.

 

Some of our new equipment records onto a memory stick or the internal hard drive an .mts AVCHD file, and if anyone has used these file types, please let me know.

 

Ok, now the questions -

 

1. Have any of you had experience with these AVCHD .mts files? I've heard that you can import them into CS4, but I haven't tried it yet. I know there are other ways to convert them, but I haven't found too much. I want to be able to import into Premiere and edit like I do when I capture off a DV tape.

 

2. Which "record mode" to use? There is HD FH (16m), HD HQ (9m), HD SP (7m), and HD LP (5m). For those of you using an HD camera, which one do you currently use and what results have you gotten?

 

3. Have you seen any difference in quality from DV tape based HD cameras and memory stick based cameras?

 

4. What do you use to edit/capture with?

 

5. Once I have edited something in HD, what do I need to do to play it back on my HD TV?

 

6. Any other suggestions? Like any settings that I should know about that may be overlooked. (for example, I've found many people never knew about recording 16 bit audio versus 12 bit on the DV camera because the factory setting was 12 bit)

 

I know some of these may sound like basic questions, and I think I know the answers to most of them, but I'm totally new at HD so I want to make sure I'm getting as much information as possible.

 

Thank you!

 

--Robb

[Jds03]

Cool! That’s great! I have an HD camcorder myself, its a Cannon Vixia HF 10 , one of the commercial handheld kinds, but it's highly rated on the consumer market. It's really compact and easy to carry, so it's perfect for on-ride filming, plus it has a great IOS system. Also because it has flash memory instead of a hard drive, it can handle the vibrations and turbulence of some rides. I'm still figuring out all the details t myself, but overall I’m very satisfied with it so far.

 

I edit on Premier Elements also, but so far there’s been allot of lag time because of the large image sizes, although I imagine that’s because I need a better graphics card on my computer. As for capturing video from the camcorder onto Premier, It's allot different that capturing from a DV camcorder. It's more complicated with my camcorder, since I have to use a special program to save the video files into a folder, which I then have to open in Premier elements to access the files. But in general, its more about transferring the files instead of recording clips into files.

 

It's sometimes a bit more work than DV camcorders, not often. It's definitely worth it, though. The quality is so great; it just produces such better videos. I can't wait for some of the new HD TPR videos!

[robbalvey]

^ I appreciate you replying and telling us about your camera, but are you actually able to answer any of the questions above?

 

Other than saying you edit in Premiere elements, a little more detail would have been appreciated. For example:

 

I edit on Premier Elements also, but so far there’s been allot of lag time because of the large image sizes, although I imagine that’s because I need a better graphics card on my computer.

What kind of computer and graphics card do you have? If you gave me this information and I started running into the same problems at least I'd know this is a common issue with similar configurations.

 

As for capturing video from the camcorder onto Premier, It's allot different that capturing from a DV camcorder.

How so? It's one thing to tell us about a problem, but what was your solution? That's what I'm asking about...what are the solutions that people are finding?

 

I have to use a special program to save the video files into a folder

Which program? What is the process? What does it convert to?

 

I then have to open in Premier elements to access the files.

What kind of files are you opening? What resolution are they?

 

It's sometimes a bit more work than DV camcorders, not often.

Is it more work or is it not? You basically just contradicted yourself in that sentence! And what makes it more difficult?

 

Again, I really do appreciate you responding, but I want everyone to know that I'm specifically looking for some solutions here, not other people's problems.

 

Thank you for your help.

 

--Robb

[Jds03]

My computer has a NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430. I use a Program that came with the camcorder called Image mixer 3 SE to get the files off my camcorder into folders where they are saved as M2TS files. Then I open those files in Premier Elements, by selecting "get media from files and folders". Then I can edit them as M2TS files, without converting.

 

As I mentioned before, I’m also still figuring out HD video, but I hope that helped at least a little.

[michielh3]

I'm also a recent HD-video user with my Sony HDSR11E, and though I haven't shot anything yet there are a few questions I can anwser for you :

 

4.What do you use to edit/capture with?

- I use Sony Vegas for the editing , it does great with HD videos!

- I use it to edit HD videos, from coasters out of NL and RCT3, and I see no reason why it could not work with home-shot videos. ( though I have no experience with camera recorded HD videos, yet )

 

5. Once I have edited something in HD, what do I need to do to play it back on my HD TV?

- That would really depend on what kind of TV you have , and what kind of devices are standing next to it.

- The most perfect solution would be a connection between your TV and PC with and HDMI cable. DVD's ( in a dvd-player connected with HDMI ) should also work perfectly

- And depending on your camera you migth already have a slot to directly plug it in you tv ( like the Sony cam I own already has a miniHDMI output ) so that if you have a camera with a harddisk , you can play it from there.

 

 

I don't know if these awnsers will be any help at all , and I'll be watching this thread as I would also like to know what format is best to use when recording.

 

Michiel 'It's my first camera , in HD' h3

[texashorns82492]

^ As he said, Sony Vegas is a great program to edit videos. I don't use HD videos myself, but it's very quick and easy to edit whatever you want. Doesn't take long at all to learn.

 

As for the cameras themselves, I'm of no use. Sorry

[TheRapidsNerd]

We picked up a new sony camcorder for work last year and had a tough time dealing with the AVCHD format. There just wasn't much support for the new standard yet and most of the forums we read said they didn't like it and to just leave it alone until there's more support. This was also before CS4 was available. I remember there being complicated conversion tricks that would provide so-so results, but can't remember who said or where exactly. Yeah, big help there.

 

Hopefully a lot has changed in the past several months.

[jjeerr]

The main problem with miniDV HD cameras is that you need to play it back in realtime to transfer to the computer, whereas a SD/Hard Drive you can copy the files as fast as it can handle. Then again, DV tape is cheaper then flash cards, and most (all?) hard drive based cameras you can't add more space later.

 

Premier CS4 *should* do AVCHD natively, though I haven't tried this myself (iMovie does enough for me). From reading the internet, as long as you have a fast enough computer, CS4 should be able to do AVCHD just as you would DV.

 

You can burn High Def normal DVDs that play in game consoles (and maybe standalone bluray players) in most HD file formats (Divx/Xvid, AVI, MP4, H264, maybe others), just dump the file onto a DVD then pop it in a 360/PS3. You can theoretically do this over a home network, but I have never gotten it to work, on both my network with a PS3 or on a friends network with a 360.

 

Maybe someday a 720p TPR DVD that plays in computers/game systems?

[mcjaco]

I then have to open in Premier elements to access the files.

 

As for Premiere Elements, the latest edition (6 or 7) allows capturing HD.

[DenDen]

I recently got a new camera from a "real" camera shop, not a retail chain. So the advice I got from the sales rep was quite suprising. I didn't go HiDef, but I did go HardDrive. (That alone is a huge difference.) Here's what I know from your questions with a mix of advice I got from the cam store, and the experience I have in editing media...

 

1)The new PowerDirector (what I use) supports AVCHD. Without editing software that supports this directly, don't bother with it. It's really is as simple as copying files from your cam's hard drive to your PC hard drive, then working with it from there. It's pretty seemless, and much faster than DV tape. Using an external conversion process would be a step backward, and VERY time consuming!

 

3)There is no quality difference in my opinion. I'd still go with a Hard Drive cam though, much more convenient, and no media to lose track of.

 

4) Cyberlink PowerDirector

 

5) PC HDMI connection, which in my opinion is TERRIBLE, or burn to Blueray.

 

Hope this helps a little.

[Ledgy]

Maybe you made a decision for a software and gather more experience.

 

I bought in last years a Sony Handycam HDR-6CX and the HXR-MC1P (flexible Cam - for filming on Rollercoasters). Both are (Full)-HD hardware and uses a Memory Pro DUO Stick. I´m filming mostly on both cameras in the HQ-XP Mode (9M), cause they have different Modes in the highest Level (15M / 16M). I think this could make Problems in the postprocessing???

 

The Software including in these Packages are very useful, for archiving and for the datatransfer to the PC. Cutting is possible, but not so configurable. You can export the files in WMV or MPEG and stream it to online-player-sites like youtube. A special Option is the AVCHD burning on DVD or DVD-DL! It´s said, they could be played by Blu-Ray Players or the PS3 and it´s a cheaper variant to burning on Blu-Rays, but you can´t create a Intro Menu.

 

I use Sony Movie Studio 9 Platinum (a smaller Version of Sony Vegas 9) and Ulead Video Studio 11.5 Plus - the last one is not much stable, but can export in different formats then Sony´s.

 

In my opinion the best Player for m2ts files or other HD-Stuff is Cyberlinks Power DVD Player - I´m using my PC in connection with my Plasma HD TV like a Multimedia Station.

 

But it´s a lot time gone ´til your question and the possibilities are much better to find something supporting avchd.

 

- I have a question too, know: What software is the best to convert AVCHD (MPG or M2TS) in streaming HD Material, for example for the "Coaster Tube"-Site? (I mean with configurable Bitsize or MB-Size of the File)