Firestore too expensive

[zoobie]

I was wondering if there's a way to record uncompressed HDV out thru it's HDMI to, say, a portable hard drive?

[zoobie]

I'm specifically speaking of HDMI jack on the Sony HC3...

[Scorpion King]

The Sony file is MPEG2 1440x1080i @25Mbps from the HC3. I think the only way to get the 'raw' file out of the camera is through the firewire (i-link) cable. That takes a program. I use Ulead VideoStudio v10 and it works great for that.

[zoobie]

Yes...HDV is high def put on a standard DV tape...but raw HD would be over 4 times the DV bitrate...and that's what needs to be saved to a hard drive via HDMI

HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is the first industry-supported, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface. HDMI provides an interface between any audio/video source, such as a set-top box, DVD player, and A/V receiver and an audio and/or video monitor, such as a digital television (DTV).

So, I want to forget the compressed DV tape and go from the HDMI output to a portable hard drive...I think

[guns1inger]

To what advantage ? The uncompressed version will be identical to what is on the tape, and there is no generation loss when transferring DV (assuming you transfer the HD version).

Perhaps you need to explain what outcome you are trying to achieve

[Scorpion King]

Yes...HDV is high def put on a standard DV tape...but raw HD would be over 4 times the DV bitrate...

I don't think thats right. You need to look over your manual. The format on the tape is 25Mbps 1440x1080i mpeg2. That is the format raw or not. DV is also 25Mbps but its 720x480 DV, not mpeg2. The compression value of mpeg2 is probably quite a bit more than DV but still the source on the tape is 25Mbps VBR MPEG2.

[zoobie]

Well, that's what the glossary here says about it anyway.

I was thinking the cam has a live feed from the HDMI jack which could then be saved to a laptop in a higher bitrate than DV tape.

But it comes out of the HDMI as compressed mpeg2? That definition above says HDMI is uncompressed.

I've joined a forum on the HC-1/3/5/7 because the answers to these questions will help me decide on the final model purchased.

Learning is half the fun...Then bashing your mother-in-law in the haid with your new HDV cam is the other half...ha ha

[edDV]

If it is being played from tape, then the file has been compressed to HDV 1440X1080i (4:3 aspect pixels) MPeg2 @25Mb/s. Playback out the HDMI port will be the decompressed version of the MPeg2 resampled in H to 1920x1080i. This would not improve the quality and could be considered lowered quality at much larger data size.

The HC3/HC1/A1U can also downscale the HDV playback to 720x480i in hardware to the IEEE-1394 port.

The real question is what happens when the live source is output over HDMI. It isn't clear that these camcorders have sufficient sensor resolution for true 1920x1080 (1CCD for R,G and B processed to 1920x1080i). HDMI can be RGB or YCbCr. If the HC3 outputs that latter then this Black Magic card can capture the 4:2:2 YCbCr HDMI

DeckLink HD Studio
http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/connections/index.asp?prodID=20
http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/hd/

... but, I think the HC3 outputs RGB over HDMI.

[Scorpion King]

I think you're right.

I have been pretty disappointed with the quality of the down convert to 720x480 from this camera. The problem I see is the camera does not do a good job dealing with the interlace during the resize. Resizing in VirtualDubMOD with either the Precise Bicubic or Lanczos3 does much better but the best I have found is AVISynth and Lanczos4 resize. The camera just doesn't handle that task very well IMO.

The video does play back on my standard definition TV very very well.(?) I think the camera does better being setup to capture 720x480 DV than to cap HDV @ 1440x1080 and downconvert.

I am not sorry I bought the camera because the picture quality @ 1440x1080 is very good. Resizing with AVISynth script and reencoding with Tmpgenc with 1hr dvd setting the quality on my TV is excellent indeed (for a country boy )

[Cornucopia]

If it could output direct uncompressed HD to HDMI from a live source (not off tape), that would be very good. Kind of like the DVX100's "Andromeda" 4:4:4 mod.

Scott