Kodak Zi8: Progressive or interlaced?

[vid83]

Does the Kodak Zi8 record progressive or interlaced?

I asked the Kodak customer service chat and they said it records interlaced. Then I said that in the specifications, it shows 1080p and shouldn't it say 1080i if it records interlace since "i" stands for "interlaced" and "p" for "progressive".
They replied with "kodak is working on updating the site".

This camera was released in 2009. This is 2011. Why would they be updating the site now when a newer version of this camera was just released. It didn't make sense.

http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_US/pd/Zi8_Pocket_Video_Camera/productID.156585800

[manono]

It could be using interlaced encoding of progressive video, i.e., both fields taken from the same point in time. Have you had a look at any of the frames to see if they're progressive or interlaced? If you don't see interlacing, it's not interlaced video.

If you don't know how, or want a more informed opinion, upload 5 seconds or so, a sequence with movement, for us to have a look. And if you haven't bought it yet, are there any samples available of its output? And as you're hoping, maybe someone here owns one (I don't).

[yoda313]

I have that model camera. It is a 1080p camera. I don't have a saved clip to do a gspot screen shot of at the moment.

It does 1080p, 720p60fps, 720p30fps and wvga (not sure on the exact resolution of that mode).

I'll post a screen shot of the 1080p gspot file in a minute.

[img]kodakzi.jpg[/img]

Here is the screen shot. I don't know why it doesn't show progressive versus interlaced. Would mediainfo give that info?

Edit - mediainfo doesn't show progressive info. Would mpchc show progressive?

edit 2 - here is a sample clip at 1080p - forgive the graininess - shot in low light:

125_0248.MOV

[jagabo]

GSpot doesn't show much information about AVC video because it doesn't know how to parse the video. MediaInfo is a lot better in that respect. It shows the video is progressively encoded. And upon examination of individual frames, they are indeed progressive.

[yoda313]

GSpot doesn't show much information about AVC video because it doesn't know how to parse the video. MediaInfo is a lot better in that respect. It shows the video is progressively encoded. And upon examination of individual frames, they are indeed progressive.

Thanks for the confirmation. Sorry I didn't have a better clip available for uploading. I did it on the spot at night and since its a flash cam meant for youtube essentially low light seems to be its nemesis. Otherwise its a good camera and does what its intended for.

Edit - however I don't upload to youtube but have saved my clips and intend to make avchds for my ps3 and eventually dvds - someday.....

[jagabo]

You can pretty much tell how good a camera's low light performance is by the size of the objective lens. There's a reason why astronomers use big telescopes.

[yoda313]

@jagabo - actually its pretty decent at night. I used it to record a holiday light display and it was respectable. It wasn't perfect but definitely acceptable. For the price of the camera I am pleased with the results but I know it has limitations.

[edDV]

...
This camera was released in 2009. This is 2011. Why would they be updating the site now when a newer version of this camera was just released. It didn't make sense.

http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_US/pd/Zi8_Pocket_Video_Camera/productID.156585800

Specs say

Capture modes

• 1080p (1920 × 1080, 30 fps)
• 720p/60 fps (1280 × 720, 60 fps)
• 720p (1280 × 720, 30 fps)
• WVGA (848 × 480, 30 fps)

I'd use the 720p/60 fps mode for normal shooting.

1080p/30 fps only for fixed tripod mounted landscapes (no pan/zoom).

[vhelp]

those specs are similar to my bloggie mhs-cm5. i use the 720x60p and 720x30p on mine. anyway. depending on the brand and model, the key to good footage quality is to test each resolution, specifically motion scenes because many of these pin cams have this phenomina of "wavyness" motion--for lack of a better term for this. although i'm not certain of the exact cause, it is my assumption that it is due to the given brand/model's built-in "motion compensation" or "steady-shot" pre-processing feature. On my unit, its called steadyshot. i keep it off and don't seem to have that wavyness i mentioned, so far, though i don't really take much footage.

i would suggest using the 720x60p, that seems the be these cams sweet spot for smooth fluid video and quality. you still always want to include some kind of tripod, situate it so that there is little need for intervention by you. find a sweet spot to place it at and let it do the work for you.

-vhelp 5476

[jagabo]

many of these pin cams have this phenomina of "wavyness" motion

Are you talking about rolling shutter distortion?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_shutter
http://dvxuser.com/jason/CMOS-CCD/
http://vimeo.com/6894404

[vid83]

Thanks for the sample clip and the replies.

Got an off topic question. I don't have the camera yet. I stumbled onto a YouTube video for the Zi8 and the guy had a link to download his video shot with the Zi8 at 60fps (because YouTube fps is only 30). I imported the video to Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 and the audio and video were out of sync. Is this due to the video being 60fps and not 30fps? I had to "time stretch" the audio by 3 seconds so that the audio matched the video.

[edDV]

Thanks for the sample clip and the replies.

Got an off topic question. I don't have the camera yet. I stumbled onto a YouTube video for the Zi8 and the guy had a link to download his video shot with the Zi8 at 60fps (because YouTube fps is only 30). I imported the video to Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 and the audio and video were out of sync. Is this due to the video being 60fps and not 30fps? I had to "time stretch" the audio by 3 seconds so that the audio matched the video.

Out of sync audio is a classic issue with digital camera video. They ignore industry specs.