Sony HDR-HC3 1080i question for importing & exporting - will help many

[sepman1]

I am importing into Vista Windows Movie Maker - then editing as needed. Question is: What is the best option for publishing the movie?
Windows Media HD 720 (5.9 Mbps) -- Am I down converting here?
Windows Media HD for XBOX 360 (6.9 Mbps)
Windows Media HD 1080P (7.8Mbps) -- Am I up converting here?

The camera says Fulll HD 1080 (but it is really 1080i)

I will view on 1080i Plasma, but would it matter if I view on 1080P?

Size of final product is no issue as I have plenty of space.

[JohnnyMalaria]

What do you mean by 'publishing'? Just for your own viewing or for distribution via the web?

For home consumption, I'd use Windows Media HD 1080P. There's really not much to choose from as far as bit rates are concerned. Your plasma TV will have to convert the 1080i to 1080p anyway.

Regarding 'Full HD', there's much (deliberate) confusion between "Full HD" and "True HD". In some circles (mine!), Full HD refers to anything having a frame size of 1920x1080 - this means 1080i and 1080p. True HD is 1080p. So, Sony's labeling is correct. Unfortunately, more misleading advertising abounds with the latest crop of Canon camcorders. They make it seem that they are 1080p but record 1080i. They tout a "True HD CMOS Image Sensor", not True HD recording to tape. It can do 1080/25P but that must be horribly jerky.

Anyway - no doubt I'll get flamed for some of the above since it is a murky area.

[sepman1]

Thanks for the response. Yes by publishing I do mean home viewing (publishing is the menu selection on Windows MM).

So to get this correct:

You are saying I can output to 1080p eventhough the original/native data is 1080i? No artifact or errors are generated? Does this matter if my TV is 1080i or p?

and for completion, can I can output to 720p eventhough the original/native data is 1080i? No artifact or errors are generated? Does this matter if my TV is 1080i or p?

Thanks up front - I have seen this question asked before a few times but no great answers were given.

[minidv2dvd]

if the source is 1080i keep it that way for the output. nothing to be gained by re-encoding to 1080p.

johnny - which canons are you referring to? they seem to have put a burr under your saddle.

[sepman1]

Windows MM does not give an option for 1080i as an output, only the following:

Windows Media HD 720 (5.9 Mbps)
Windows Media HD for XBOX 360 (6.9 Mbps)
Windows Media HD 1080P (7.8Mbps)

So which of these would you then suggest?

[edDV]

Help me understand here.

Vista Home Premium?

Camcorder model? Shot 1080i mode?

TV model and connection from PC? Display card model?

Or are you using a play device other than the computer?

Any WMV output requires deinterlace and conversion.

[sepman1]

Windows Vista Ultimate

Camcorder model was in the subject header - Sony HDR-HC3 - shot in 1080i mode 16:9

Not sure why TV model matters as I want to know as a general rule but here it is - Pioneer-5060 1080i connected to PC via Media center and Xbox 360

[JohnnyMalaria]

(I tried posting this reply earlier today but our local DSLAM popped a cork. Hooray for Notepad.)

sepman1 - as you say, 1080i isn't an option with WM so 1080p is the next best choice. My HDV footage from a similar HDR-HC1 looks great when converted to WMV and viewed on my PC's display (a CRT, by the way - much, much nicer colors etc). The only way to watch it in its native interlaced format is on an HD CRT TV. Yes, you'll suffer some loss of information viewing on a plasma/LCD display but that will happen whether you leave the deinterlacing to your display or during conversion to a new file format.

minidv2dvd - the HV20 et al. What they have is a sensor used in their higher range of HDV camcorders strapped into a consumer shell. It merely operates in progressive mode instead of interlaced at 25p/50i (PAL). It isn't 50p. The concept of a progressive CMOS sensor on a consumer HDV camcorder isn't exactly new. My HC1s take progressive still images with a CMOS sensor. Recording 25 full frames a second is, to me, a backwards step. The whole point of interlacing is overcome the inherent flickering associated with low frame rates.

[minidv2dvd]

johnny - ahh yes you're in pal land, for ntsc users the 30i doesn't have much if any flickering. 24p in a cam i find useless, i suppose 25p is not much different. 30p for ntsc users i thought might at least be helpful for moderate action. 60p would be nicer.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Actually I'm in NTSC-ville - as per my location info ....just having flashbacks (no pun intended) as per my red coat.