? About shooting HiDef then playing back normal re

Ok, so I have taveled to the tropics and now refuse to go on such exotic trips without videotaping it to later enjoy with friends.....I am getting a Sony HDR FX1 HiDef camera...it has a switch on it to switch from normal to HiDef, which I am sure there is not a corresponding control on any housings.....so if I shoot in HiDef.....will a movie made with Apple's iMovie HiDef saved HiDef to a DVD disc play regular resolution on a regular DVD player? Or am I slightly screwed because I shot it in HiDef?

How do I record in HiDef but play it back for others not having a HiDef DVD player?

Hi,

I highly recommend shooting your entire trip in HDV mode. Once you get back, you can down convert it standard def. What housing did you get?

There's nothing on the market now that will be able to playback HDTV based on DVD, unless you encode it in Microsoft HD formats, Quicktime HD. To play it back, you'll have to watch it on a computer.

Curtis

I have the videocam on order, I haven't decided on a housing yet. I haven't tried out iMovieHiDef yet, but it seems lame that you can only play it all back on a computer, whose monitor I don't believe will support HiDef, but what do I know!

As to housing, there is the huge Gates, the Amphibico which looks nice, etc.

Patience Dave, they'll be more HiDef options soon...

I would opt for the Amphibico Phenom. I looked at it at the Scuba Show in Long Beach, and this housing was really well built. I normally like Gates with mechanichal controls better, but this Amphibico housing looks like a gem...

The Amphibico Phenom housing is what I am getting for the Z1 camera.

Anders

The Amphibico does look like a nice housing....they told me at that show that they were coming out with a 45 degree sort of prism that would angle the lcd viewing port more rearwards... it seems like an interesting idea to be able to use the existing lcd display that way instead of buying an external one.

There's some players on the market from asia that will play HDTV, from a set top box. Burned on DVD, using WMA encoding.

oh BTW, when converting your HDV footage to mpeg2 for DVD, the image quality will be razor sharp. Most people would mistake it for HDTV

Curtis

The Amphibico does look like a nice housing....they told me at that show that they were coming out with a 45 degree sort of prism that would angle the lcd viewing port more rearwards... it seems like an interesting idea to be able to use the existing lcd display that way instead of buying an external one.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes I heard about that too, it will be a nice option. An external monitor (HD) would be nice when mounting the camera on a scooter though. They will also come out with a 120 degree wide angle lens for this housing in 2006.

Anders

Both HD-DVD and BluRay HD DVD Players should be available starting around 3rd quarter this year. However, pricing is still an unknown. By the end of the year we should have more options. Hopefully, the format battle will be dealt with a bit as well...

I would shoot in HD, and down-res as needed for your DVD's until the players/recorders are available and more "affordable".

Im over here in Australia and my Phenom housing is in transit to me as I type. As soon as I have it under the water I'll post some nice big wmv files.

Shoot in HDV, suck it in and edit in HDV (Premiere Pro and Cineform) and then encode to normal DVD with a good encoder to Mpeg2.

The dvd will look beter than a normal dvd made with a 3CCD DV camera and its true 16.9.

More soon

Wags

PS: if anyone knows how to encode a quicktime file the same quality & size as I can with Windows Media 9, please tell me your secret. Even encoding using H.264 to a quicktime file, I still cannot match Windows Media 9 for file size and quality??

right now there's no H.264 quicktime for the PC yet. Apple hasn't finalized QuickTime 7 Pro yet. It's soon to be released.

You can get it here.

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/preview/

I've already tried another beta of it and it works quite well. I think it's time for me to get back into video....

If I shoot in HD, can I capture in "normal" def with my non-HD capable software? And if I do that will the final DVD quality be any better or worse than what I'd get from a 3chip camera.

As far as I know based on my research, editing HD not ony requires new (expensive software) but a really fast computer (min 3.0 ghz).

Since I can't make a HD DVD, I see no point in upgrading software and computer now. But I'd like to shoot HD, burn "normal" DVDs and maybe later remaster my project to HD.

Any thoughts?

The Sony FX1/Z1 can shoot in HDV and downconvert to SD directly from camera as you download the footage to your computer. In that way you have your footage saved on tape in HDV for future use when burning to a HDDVD or Blueray.

Final Cut Pro has been able to edit in HD for quite a while now. If you do not like to edit in HDV there is a plug-in/program called HDVxDV that can convert the HDV format to DVC Pro HD codec. You can also use Apples own codec while editing in FCP if desired. You also have the Final Cut Express HD that cost less if money is a main factor.

Even Apples Imovie HD can edit HD footage and this normally comes free with the computer when you buy it.

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/hdvxdv_wright.html

If you are a PC user I am sure there are programs that can handle this as well.

The higher pixel count and native 16:9 format on the chips in the FX1/Z1 cameras makes the standard DV look quite a bit better compared to my old Sony PD-150 camera. In my opinion well worth the extra investment.

Anders

Thanks a lot. do you know if the new Sony HDR-HC1 will allow me to capture in SD too? I haven't been able to rind that.

Yes it seems that it does this as well. You can read a review I found for this camera on this forum (review of Sony HDR-HC1).

There is a question mark with the WB control on this smaller camera though (possibly only accessible through touch screen). The CMOS sensor on this camera is also not native 16:9.

Anders

The Z1U HDV picture can be downconverted to 480P (progressive) for better picture quality on DVD productions. I like the quality of picture from the Z1 but find it a bit lacking in lowlight where gain noise is a bit more pronounced in lowlight situations. Still having 1080i of noisy clips can sometimes be better than 480i of cleaner clips. YMMV

The minimum needed is still a HD monitor or at least a LCD monitor that has at least 1920x1200 standard resolution (most 23"+ LCD should be able to do it).

Also realize that the only output for HD is DVHS which only JVC has right now.

For the HVR-Z1U/E I think it is better to set the gain to manual or lock it to 0dB to minimize noise. In really low light situations this has to be compensated with good lights though. I still only have limited experience with my camera (since I received it fairly recently) but I find that the more manual you "ride" the Z1U, the better image quality you can get.

I also discovered that the low light capabilitiy of the Z1U is not as bad as I thought it would be (based on information from different forums and some early reviews) but it is not as good as my old PD-150 (3 lx vs. 2 lx). However, I suspect that with good dive lights this will not be an issue.

Anders

For the HVR-Z1U/E I think it is better to set the gain to manual or lock it to 0dB to minimize noise. In really low light situations this has to be compensated with good lights though. I still only have limited experience with my camera (since I received it fairly recently) but I find that the more manual you "ride" the Z1U, the better image quality you can get.

 

I also discovered that the low light capabilitiy of the Z1U is not as bad as I thought it would be (based on information from different forums and some early reviews) but it is not as good as my old PD-150 (3 lx vs. 2 lx). However, I suspect that with good dive lights this will not be an issue.

 

Anders

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I find it to be definitely worse than the PD170, which is still king of lowlight. It's fine when you can light the scene, then of course HDV kicks butt. But natural lowlight, say in open ocean 1 hr after sunrise, it went down to 1/50 fps which caused a blurry effect on the picture and gain up due to lack of light, it suffers. Even the PD170 struggles and just barely makes the grade. I just tried it with the test mule S&S housing from Japan, since the S&S guy was in South Africa. What a difference a manual zoom makes for composition.

Of course I've seen the F900 and 950 with special gammas gobble it all up with no probs

I find it to be definitely worse than the PD170, which is still king of lowlight. It's fine when you can light the scene, then of course HDV kicks butt. But natural lowlight, say in open ocean 1 hr after sunrise, it went down to 1/50 fps which caused a blurry effect on the picture and gain up due to lack of light, it suffers. Even the PD170 struggles and just barely makes the grade. I just tried it with the test mule S&S housing from Japan, since the S&S guy was in South Africa. What a difference a manual zoom makes for composition.

Of course I've seen the F900 and 950 with special gammas gobble it all up with no probs

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, to beat the 1lx rating of the PD-170 you would have to use way more expensive and much bigger cameras. It is quite an amazing unit. On the other hand, the Canon XL2 has a minimal lux rating of 5.5 (or GL2 6 lx) which is quite e bit worse than the Z1Us 3 lux.

I plan to use twin 50W HID lights with my Z1U and I think this combination will light the sceen evenly. I was aiming for Halcyon twin 50 HID, but due to the upcoming shortage of WelchAllyn 50w bulbs (ended production), I am quite hesitant about this setup. I may have to find another solution.

Sincerely

Anders