Best codec for video from Macbook's webcam

[miamicanes]

I'm helping out a friend with a Macbook, but 99% of my experience is Windows-related, so there are a few "nuts & bolts" questions I can't really answer.

He's making videos using his Macbook's webcam, editing them, and ultimately publishing them to YouTube. He wants to capture the source video from the camera at the highest possible quality, keep it at the same quality level while editing, then ultimately render it to two files: one that's the best-possible quality that can be uploaded to YouTube and/or Google Video, and one that's his "highest quality within the bounds of sanity" copy kept around for posterity.

Does the Macbook's webcam have inline hardware compression that compresses it with something like h.264 before it's even accessible to the OS? Or can its raw output be captured with something lossless (or mostly-lossless) like HuffyUV? Does HuffyUV even EXIST in the Mac universe? What are the camera's actual hardware specs (352x288? 640x480? 30fps? 60fps? RGB? YUV? etc).

I don't know the exact model of his Macbook, but it's about a year old and was bought new.

[Frobozz]

Use the new iMovie that's in iLife 08. Select Import from Camera... in the File menu. iMovie can export using various built-in codecs.

There are other options. QuickTime Pro is one. I also use the application iGlasses that lets me adjust the picture quality with the built-in iSight camera.

[miamicanes]

Update: Forget the webcam. I just found out that his camcorder is a real, honest to god HDR-SR1, so he'll be using THAT for any HD content going forward.

I'm not totally sure why, but for some reason my friend REALLY doesn't like iMovie v8 (to the point where he's been holding off upgrading to Leopard because it would force him to go from the version he's currently using (v6 or v7) to v8. I think he said it's because v8 crashes a lot, or has (had?) some other major problem(s).

Does the Mac have any video-editing programs that are better than iMovie v8, but cheaper than Adobe Premiere? Kind of in the same league as a Windows program like Premiere Elements or Ulead Video Studio?

Also, what's the best way to get the AVCHD source from his camcorder into some HuffyUV-like intermediate format for editing?

[terryj]

Final Cut Express is his best and least expensive bet.
He can then import his AVCHD footage in, and then choose his
codec of choice for export.

And tell him that iMovie 08 is NOT part of the default Leopard install.
it is part of the iLife 08 install, and unless he bought that,
he doesn't need to worry about iMovie.

I have several clients now running Leopard and iMovie 06,
( the last stable version) and they are happy with it.

[rumplestiltskin]

The v6 version of iMovie continues to work quite nicely in Leopard. In fact, should your friend upgrade to iLife'08 (which the Leopard upgrade will -not- include), the installer leaves the older version of iMovieHD (which is v6) in place.

Apple's upgrade from iMovie'08 is actually iMovieHD (v6) although they won't tell you that. They will, however, suggest Final Cut Express as the logical upgrade ($99 IIRC). That's a great app and, if you don't need the major league of Final Cut Studio (with Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, etc.), FCE is a good choice. FCE also will import the AVCHD footage directly.

[Frobozz]

I was prepared to hate the new iMovie too until I used it. There's no reason your friend has to give up using the previous iMovie, either. I have both and use the older one for what it does best and the newer one for what it does best.

When you say he's using his MacBook's webcam I'm presuming that means its built-in iSight camera. If he wants to use those videos in the previous iMovie he can use get QuickTime Pro and record in either Device Native format (which is equivalent to DV) or as MPEG-4 or H.264. However, his version of iMovie won't import an H.264 video.

The next step up from iMovie is Final Cut Express. My brother has edited nationally televised HDTV programs using FCE. Seems like overkill for YouTube.

[miamicanes]

OK, cool! I'll have him look into FCE.

I know it's overkill for YouTube *today*, but apparently YouTube is going to eventually offer a premium service that allows people who pay them some monthly fee to watch YouTube videos in HD, while everyone else watches them for free at their current picture quality. Seeing how they'll probably have some kind of revenue-sharing deal with people who upload HD content (to give people a REASON to subscribe to YouTube's HD service), I told my friend that it's probably in his best interest to make his videos in HD going forward, render a copy at lower quality for YouTube *today*, then either save the intact source or at least a very high-quality MPEG-4 HD copy before purging the source & working files so he'll have a pile of HD videos ready to upload IMMEDIATELY (more or less) when YouTube (or someone else) eventually has the means to deal with them.