Questions about HD DVD, and editing for HD DVDs...

[NewToHV20]

If using the HV20, what software is available for editing and once editing is done, what software is used to burn to DVD and create menus on the DVD as with normal video camcorders?

[veg]

For Editing...
Avid, Final Cut Pro (Mac), Adobe Premiere, Sony Vegas, Pinnacle, Ulead.
For DVD...
DVDLab Pro, Sony Architect and I think the Adobe one is Encore.
Veg.

[terjeber]

To add - depending on your editing experience and your budget, you might want to look into the low-end versions of some of these (and other) packages.

iMovie for Mac, Adobe Premiere Express, Sony Vegas Movie Studio etc. For various reasons I would avoid both Pinnacle and Ulead, but that may just be me. Pinnacle has a long and fine history of instability. Ulead has a long and find history of shafting customers by what I would see as very dubious business practices like selling software they have long since abandoned (like DVD Workshop and Cool 3D - both still for sale, neither maintained by Ulead in years).

[NewToHV20]

From my readings it appears there are two types of HD formats.

When editing and finally burning to a DVD is there a special software for each format or will the software burn both formats?

[NewToHV20]

When burning DVDs, which HD format can be used?

What format is the most widely used?

[terjeber]

None and None. You can't use HD on DVDs if you want to play them in standard DVD players. What are you looking for?

[terjeber]

DVDs don't support HD, but you really shouldn't ask the same question in many different threads. You'll get answers if you are patient.

[NewToHV20]

DVDs don't support HD...

Then what are people using to burn their movies on to show in the HD DVD players?

[NewToHV20]

With this HD camera, I was expecting to be able to create HD movies, but from my other threads about what software and what HD DVD format to use, I am told DVDs don't support HD.

So, unless the information is not correct, or the HD DVD players are using special types of DVDs and I can't create my own movies in HD then why invest $1K into this camera?

(Just looking to understand.)

[NewToHV20]

None and None. You can't use HD on DVDs if you want to play them in standard DVD players. What are you looking for?

This is an HD camera, so I want to create movies in HD to play them on the HD DVD player. It is my understanding there are two types of HD DVD players on the market and was wondering since this is an HD camera what type of HD movies are being created. (I think one is HD and the other BlueRay or something like that.)

[kevinmeyer]

Video studio can create dvd x3, which i believe and am open to correction, creates HD-DVD's onto norm DVD's (obviously writing the HD in the format that HD-DVD players use onto normal DVD's).

Apparently you can store about 20 minutes of HD on a normal DVD using this method.

The catch is your HD-DVD player must be able to support these DVD x3 's.

A bit of searching on DVD X3 (or is it DVD 3X?) should provide you with more information and what HD-DVD player support this format.

But hey at the end of the day you can always write back your edited footage to a DV tape in the camera, so that when blu-ray and hd-dvd writers drop in price you can then go and burn away!

[Mal]

NewToHV20, as you are New To HV20.com, I'd like to let you know that there is NO NEED to post the same or similar questions all over the forum.
We don't have many rules, but that is one of them.

Enjoy, and welcome.


From http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?t=7 :

2) Do NOT double post the same thing
Just because it's tempting to post the same thing in several categories ---> DON'T!!!
It won't get you an answer faster, and it's extremely annoying!

[NewToHV20]

Thanks for the replies.

If I am understanding everything, basically people are doing the following:
1 - Editing the movie then placing it back onto tape via the camera and using the camera as the HD player to view the completed and edited movie.

2 - Burning to a DVD, but using a quality less than HD. If this is the case, how much better is this quality over a typical video camera?

[white_2kgt]

3 - Watching the videos on a High Def TV connected to a PC. At least that's what I'm doing. Also waiting for HD DVD burners to drop in price then burning everything once the day comes.

[terjeber]

Thanks for the replies.

If I am understanding everything, basically people are doing the following:
1 - Editing the movie then placing it back onto tape via the camera and using the camera as the HD player to view the completed and edited movie.

2 - Burning to a DVD, but using a quality less than HD. If this is the case, how much better is this quality over a typical video camera?

The quality of a regular DVD is quite a lot lower than for HD. You'll see the difference easily.

As others have said - you can write about 20 minutes of HD to a regular DVD and watch that in HD-DVD or Blu-Ray players. If you want to go for more than that you need a burner that can create either an HD-DVD or a Blu-Ray.

Currently there are no HD-DVD burners on the market for consumers, so your only option is a Blu-Ray burner for this. A Blu-Ray burner will cost you about $500 give or take.

When you have the Blu-Ray burner you need software to burn it, there isn't a lot out there yet, so you are probably left with dropping H.264 versions of your video onto the disk with no menus etc. This will probably change a little bit in the fall. Maybe Ulead Video Studio supports Blu-Ray, I'd have to check.

Finally you'd need a Blu-Ray player, the Play Station 3 is the easiest choice, and an HD TV.

[NewToHV20]

Just to be sure I understand (thanks for your patience)...

I am currently editing and making normal format DVDs with menus and all just like the movie DVDs you rent. I send these out to family who only have a standard DVD player.

So, with the HD Camera I can do the same but with the HD camera, the quality will be better? If so, how much better? $1000 better? After editing and saving to the computer for burning to the DVD, what format should be used?

[terjeber]

Just to be sure I understand (thanks for your patience)...

I am currently editing and making normal format DVDs with menus and all just like the movie DVDs you rent. I send these out to family who only have a standard DVD player.

The HD camcorder will create movies of far higher quality than is supported in the DVD standard. The full features of this quality can only be enjoyed on an HD TV with an HD-DVD/Blu-Ray player or similar. A regular DVD player on a regular TV will not be able view HD video in full quality.

On the other hand, due to the increased quality of the HD material, when you create regular DVDs with material from an HD source, a process called down-converting, your DVDs will be better than what you get from a regular camcorder.


So, with the HD Camera I can do the same but with the HD camera, the quality will be better? If so, how much better? $1000 better? After editing and saving to the computer for burning to the DVD, what format should be used?

If your audience has an HD TV and an HD-DVD player or a Blu-Ray player, they will be able to enjoy the difference, and the difference will be significant, absolutely $1000 worth of difference. If they do not have HD TVs and a compatible player, then they will not be able to enjoy the difference, but their DVDs will have somewhat better quality.

[Murrelet]

Well said terjeber.

NewToHV20:

We are all waiting for the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray technology to mature and have the price come down to an affordable level for the "common" man (whatever he's supposed to represent). In the meantime I have a sweet little cam that allows me to invest my time learning all about it, filing away my footage towards the day when I'll be able to use it's full capability.

I have been somewhat disappointed with my down-converting so far (keep suspecting it's me and/or my computer that's the problem), but the results are a noticeable improvement over my Hi-8.

I have an HDMI input monitor (22") and the results of direct cam playback are impressive, you know, that wow factor. I was hoping it would be the same when down-converted, it just isn't. But the down-converting does allow me to share my vids with family and friends with what the majority have as entertainment systems (and will probably be that way for some time to come).

Continue to visit and explore this site, you will learn all sorts of information relevant to your needs. It has taken me many hours absorbing what I find useful, but well worth the time invested, as many here are truly enlightening. As well, their footage is entertaining and educational.

Finally, I seem to spend so much more time learning editing/burning with Vegas/Architect compared to the actual taping time. So I have the cam and filming to learn, with the whole editing/burning process and it's now consuming most of my free time.

Welcome to the club!

[lwm99]

As others have said - you can write about 20 minutes of HD to a regular DVD and watch that in HD-DVD or Blu-Ray players. If you want to go for more than that you need a burner that can create either an HD-DVD or a Blu-Ray.
I read about people doing this and play on a Blu-ray player, but not on a HD-DVD player. Could you please provide some steps on how to burn the edited footage onto a regular DVD-R to play on these two types of HD players?

[terjeber]

Could you please provide some steps on how to burn the edited footage onto a regular DVD-R to play on these two types of HD players?

Depends on the player I think. This isn't part of the spec. For the Playstation 3 it basically involves dropping the video files onto a DVD. No menus of course. You'd have to try it out.

[SenorKaffee]

Looks like the HD-DVD spec also supports content delivery on regular DVDs, the "3X DVDs".



The HD DVD format can also be applied to current red laser DVDs which offers a lower-cost option for distributors; this type of disc is called "3x DVD" as it is capable of up to three times the bandwidth of regular DVD-Video.

3x DVDs are physically identical to regular DVDs, which explains why the cost is lower for the physical media. While 3x DVDs provide the same high definition content, the trade off is that playback time is limited. For instance, on an 8.5 GB DVD you could fit about 85 minutes of 1080p video encoded with VC-1 or AVC at an average bitrate of 13 Mbit/s. This makes the format suitable for subjects such as training videos and home movies, but not suitable for typical wide release studio movies.

It is technically possible for consumers to create HD DVD compatible discs using low cost DVD-R or DVD+R media. At least one guide has been written that walks users through authoring these discs.[5]
Quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_DVD#3x_DVD

[jondabach]

Hi Guys,

New to hv20 here. I'm still waiting for my camera to come in the mail but my friend has one and we shot a test scene that turned out just gorgeous, even with available light. We watched it on his large screen macpro but he couldn't figure out how to burn a dvd at all (still new to the hv format).

I'm PC based but my experiences with the burning a dvd that I had with my buddy left me a bit concerned. That, coupled with what I'm reading here, lead me to a few questions.

First off I have a high end PC system with CS3 suite. I'd be editing in both premiere and after effects and using encore to author. I know that you can't get the HD quality on a DVD but here's my point - you can't get HD quality on and DVD, even of a feature film shot on 35mm.

The reason I bought this camera was because I thought the HD negative format, if you will, would yield a much higher image quality than typical dv. Just like the Cine Alta shoots at 1920X1080 - so does the hv20. I know there are some differences in color and, of course, compression - but being on my buddies system and seeing the cut blown up to full screen and it still being crystal clear got me super excited. Now when you watch a movie shot on the Cine Alta, like Sin City, they manage to burn a beautiful DVD of that and they're at the mercy of burning to standard DVDs just like we are...there's no magical burner that let's them burn an HD quality disc on a standard dvd-r at 2 hours that plays on a normal player.

The question is simple, doesn't having the footage shot at 1920X1080 yield a MUCH MUCH MUCH nicer image than dv even after it's compressed?

Thanks!

[Lunchbox]

Guys, I just created a thread for us to share the probability to view HD videos on HDTV.

http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?t=1440

[AvalonMan]

NewToHV20 - I take videos on our family holidays (eg surfing, skiing) and I'm amazed at the number of times my teenage sons watch the DVDs we create. A friend who is a professional photographer uses a HD video camera to create standard DVDs for clients and the quality is excellent. So even though I currently can't make HD-DVD or BluRay disks, I at least
- film in HD on my HV20,
- capture to computer in HD format,
- edit in HD format (Premier)
- then export to DVD format now
- I believe I can export back to HD Tape in the HV20 to watch on my HD LCD (still doing my first project)

In the future I'll have the edited source material to then create High Def disks in which ever format I choose >>> that is why I choose a HD Video camera now and the HV20 won hands down as my choice.

My family will hopefully get the benefit of this strategy in future years.

[Volstag]

I was under the impression that it was nigh impossible to edit HDV in most consumer level editors w/o employing Aspect HD (or products like it). Is this not the case?

-V

[Lunchbox]

Not ture. A dual core CPU computer is enough to handle. You don't need Cineform.