I understand the limitations of Firewire, but it does seem rediculous that the camera captures 1920 x 1080 and firewire can not get it off in that format. Is there any way to obtain full resolution (one to one pixel mapping) at 1920 x 1080 off of this camcorder?

It's not a limitation of firewire, it's a limitation of getting hd video onto a dv tape.

You can use something the Intensity card from Blackmagic (a hdmi input/output card) to capture a full raster image, but:

1) you need to connected to the computer while filming

2) you will be dealing with uncompressed video (which takes up a lot of space) or

3) you transcode to another hd codec (but most of these will also compress the horizontal resolution down to 1440 or 1280 and still take quite a bit of space)

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/

totallyODD,

Are sure about #2? I was under the impression you could also capture previously acquired footage at 1920 x 1080 into a PC using the Intensity card (i.e., not just a live feed). The HDMI route bypasses the "downconversion" in either case, doesn't it?

From Blackmagic's website:
"Intensity uses full resolution HDTV which is a massive 1920 x 1080 pixels for every video frame. HDV only uses 1440 pixels wide due to the limitations of the small cassette tapes used, and the FireWire speeds build into the cameras. However new cameras being released such as the Sony HDR-HC3 with built in HDMI video output, allow access the raw uncompressed video from the CCD directly. That provides incredible quality. Or if you're capturing off HDV tape, you can still enjoy editing video in full resolution, so your graphics and effects look sharp, because only uncompressed video eliminates the horizontal scaling that’s required when rendering HDV footage with graphics and effects."

...maybe I'm not understanding this correctly, though...

From what I have read (and I DON'T have the intensity card), you have the option of capturing totally uncompressed OR as motion JPEG... but best check the website to be sure.

Daniel,

You can capture from the tape, but you would just be transcoding from the hdv codec. There are advantages in post for graphics, cc and vfx (and render times), but your footage isn't going to gain that extra resolution, which stepmback was after.

Blackbill,

Yes, blackmagic have an online jpeg format (for windows) that allows full raster capture. But it is still 4 times the hard disk space.

It's not a limitation of firewire, it's a limitation of getting hd video onto a dv tape.

You can use something the Intensity card from Blackmagic (a hdmi input/output card) to capture a full raster image, but:

1) you need to connected to the computer while filming

2) you will be dealing with uncompressed video (which takes up a lot of space) or

3) you transcode to another hd codec (but most of these will also compress the horizontal resolution down to 1440 or 1280 and still take quite a bit of space)

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/


Besure to check on what resolution the camera is outputting via hdmi port.
The hdmi on canon hdv cameras only outputs the HDV resolution not full HD.

The canons with
"HD/SD-SDI Allows uncompressed HD output, ensuring no degradation to image quality due to compression; most useful for direct camera-to-HD broadcast work (from canon site)"


Does any one know about JVC's GZ-HD7 output via hdmi, is it full HD?

Besure to check on what resolution the camera is outputting via hdmi port.
The hdmi on canon hdv cameras only outputs the HDV resolution not full HD.

The canons with
"HD/SD-SDI Allows uncompressed HD output, ensuring no degradation to image quality due to compression; most useful for direct camera-to-HD broadcast work (from canon site)"


Does any one know about JVC's GZ-HD7 output via hdmi, is it full HD?
You mean you're not getting 1920x1080 via HDMI from the HV20?

Ah, I was hearing that hv20 was outputting to hdmi before compression. Changes things completely.

So would the following be correct?

1. The only option to STORE 1920 x 1080 using the HV20 would be to use something like Blackmagic that bypasses storing the video on DVC but insteads stores it directly to a computer using HDMI.

2. The limitation of HD Camcorders not being able to store 1920 x 1080 isnt the camcorder but is the DVC tape, assuming the camcorder (HV20) is capable of receiving a 1920 x 1080 image.

Assuming the above is correct, then how did some of the HV20 raw sample videos mentioned in other theads display as 1920 x 1080. Were these people using something like blackmagic?

So would the following be correct?

1. The only option to STORE 1920 x 1080 using the HV20 would be to use something like Blackmagic that bypasses storing the video on DVC but insteads stores it directly to a computer using HDMI.

2. The limitation of HD Camcorders not being able to store 1920 x 1080 isnt the camcorder but is the DVC tape, assuming the camcorder (HV20) is capable of receiving a 1920 x 1080 image.

Assuming the above is correct, then how did some of the HV20 raw sample videos mentioned in other theads display as 1920 x 1080. Were these people using something like blackmagic?

My guess is that most, if not all, were simply upscaled. I've seen quite a few older HV10 samples in the quicktime (.mov) format in 1920 x 1080. When I encoded a sample clip to quicktime, I had to either upscale or downscale my video because the quicktime format can only handle square pixels (aspect ration of 1). Maybe that is the reason. Here's an explanation about it from the manual of one of the video tools I use: http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/menc-feat-quicktime-7.html#menc-feat-quicktime-7-scale

That is what I thought. I just need to pick up a good editing program.