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Compression

HDV uses heavy compression to fit high definition video onto MiniDV tapes. While most viewers won't notice issues, tape dropouts pose more risk for HDV than DV, potentially causing half a second of lost video. Editing HDV is limited by lack of affordable playback and editing accessories, though support is improving in popular software.

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DEEPAK GROVER
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31 views

Compression

HDV uses heavy compression to fit high definition video onto MiniDV tapes. While most viewers won't notice issues, tape dropouts pose more risk for HDV than DV, potentially causing half a second of lost video. Editing HDV is limited by lack of affordable playback and editing accessories, though support is improving in popular software.

Uploaded by

DEEPAK GROVER
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Compression (7.

0)
The score of a 7.0 for HDV camcorders for compression might shock
people, because we score MiniDV camcorders at 8.0. However, as much
as we love the look of HDV for all its sharpness and crispness, the bottom
line is that there is the same amount of data in a MiniDV signal
as there is in an HDV signal. HDV 1080 interlaced video at 60
fields per second is 25 Megabits per second, as is 60 fields per
second MiniDV video. They both are 25 Megabits per second.
Now, HDV has to be heavily compressed into an MPEG2 signal
to fit on a MiniDV tape. An argument in HDV’s favor is that in
the 10 years between the emergence DV and HDV,
compression quality has increased drastically, meaning you can
do more with less data. That being said, there are some things
that need to be sacrificed with HDV in order to fit it onto a
MiniDV tape. It’s not worth getting into the details (DV is 4:1:1 and HDV is
4:2:0) but HDV is highly compressed when compared to MiniDV. Most
users and even most professionals won’t be able to see the effects of the
heavy compression that is going on with an HDV signal, but, for high-end
users who are looking for the most information possible for broadcast
purposes, HDV could present a problem.

Media (7.5)
In accordance with HDV camcorder standards, the HDR-HC1 records to
MiniDV tapes. There are major benefits here: the tapes are cheap, they’re
readily available, and they are compact. However, we’re scoring HDV
down half a point for media over regular DV because of the importance of
using high grade tapes with HDV. All tape formats suffer from a problem
called dropouts, when a frame isn’t recorded because a scratch or other
defect with the tape. With MiniDV and many other formats, dropouts are
not a huge problem, because one lost frame when you’re working with 30
frames a second will not be noticed by the human eye.

The HDR-HC1 and all HDV formats use something called key frame
compression. This means that every half second the camcorder takes a
key frame, somewhat like a reference frame. The next 14 frames after that
frame are based on how the video changes from that original frame. With
DV, every single one of the 30 frames is a keyframe and holds all the
information. Theoretically, this means that with HDV if you loose a frame
because of a dropout, you’re going to loose a half second of video, it will
just display as black. However, the problem is not a serious as the
theory suggests - not many have reported it or lost critical footage. The
higher grade "made-for-HDV" tapes do reduce dropouts, when one occurs
the camcorder's LCD and VF will freeze (blank out) for half a second but
the FIREWIRE HDV output contains quite a bit of useful frames and often
just 3 or 4 (out of the 15 GOP) are damaged. This is a small glitch
compared to what people first feared would happen on a tape dropout.
Another way around this is to capture the HDV output over FireWire or
component directly to a laptop or external hard disk. DVRack is about to
release their HDV upgrade and other manufactures of "Pyro Firestore"
type portable HDDs that accept DV are being upgraded to work with HDV
feeds.

However, if you use a higher grade tape it will significantly reduce the
number of or possibility of a dropout. Sony has even made a special
MiniDV tape that is specifically designed for HDV shooting. Of course, this
tape doesn’t come cheap, it costs $13 per tape vs. about $6 per tape for
standard MiniDV tapes. But if you are shooting something important it is
really important that you use the high grade tape to minimize the chance of
a dropout.

Editing (6.0)
Editing HDV video is almost there, but support for the format is still limited.
Currently the following Non Linear Editing programs support HDV:

• Adobe Premiere
• Final Cut Pro HD
• Sony Vegas Video
• Ulead MediaStudio
• Avid Express Pro HD and Avid Express Studio HD
• Canopus EDIUS Pro 3

While that list includes almost all the important NLEs, there are still major
problems with editing HDV, though I imagine in two or three years all of
these will be solved. The first is that there really is no way to playback HD
footage except through your HDV camcorder. There is no HD DVD
standard yet (there is a classic consumer electronics format war going on
between the two HD DVD camps, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD). This means that
while you will be able to edit your HDV video, it will take either a computer
or an HDV deck or camcorder to play it back as HD video. Neither of those
are practical solutions for distribution of video. The second problem is that
there is not a huge number of HDV compatible accessories which are
affordable. There is only one HDV deck, the HDR-M10U, made by Sony,
and it costs $3,700. HDV is a lot of high-resolution video data, and a
powerful computer is needed with fast RAM technology and disk storage.
In addition, there are no NLE accessories such as video mixers, titlers,
color correction boxes, etc. which support HDV. Lastly, a good HD monitor
which will be able to give you an accurate representation of the video shot
is very expensive.

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