MP4 Recording Mode In 2012 Camcorders

post #1 of 10

5/13/12 at 6:28pm

Thread Starter

HoustonGuy
Trader Feedback: 0
VCR Time IS 12:00!
offline

2,574 Posts. Joined 5/2003
Location: Houston
Select All Posts By This User

I noticed the 2012 Prosumer Canons are advertising specifically on the box and the flyers that they have this. Do all the Panasonic Prosumer 2012 models have it as well ? I assume this makes it easier to input to Youtube, email and to edit vs AVCHD.

Reply

post #2 of 10

5/13/12 at 9:51pm

Ungermann
Trader Feedback: 0
Hypercritic
offline

3,358 Posts. Joined 8/2006
Location: San Diego, California
Select All Posts By This User

Define what do you mean by MP4. If you are talking about a container then it can hold video in various encoding formats.

Reply

post #3 of 10

5/14/12 at 7:02am

143 Posts. Joined 4/2012
Select All Posts By This User

You know what a MP3 is in music don't you ? Just a format which makes it more simple to upload to websites and is smaller in file . When you take digital pictures you have RAW , Lg JPEG , Med JPEG and Small JPEG . Smaller it is the more you can take but you loose image quality also . So depending what your shooting as to what format you want to use . AVCHD is the High Definition format which takes the largest files but give the top best quality movie also .

Reply

post #4 of 10

5/14/12 at 11:01am

317 Posts. Joined 9/2007
Location: Planet Earth
Select All Posts By This User

Just because a video uses an MP4 file wrapper doesn't mean it isn't high definition. In fact, the MP4 modes in the Canon models (e.g., the M52) are all high definition. Nor does MP4 necessarily mean a drop in image quality. That's usually the case, because most camcorders that offer it reduce the frame rate (e.g., to 30fps) and/or reduce the bitrate (e.g., to 4 or 9 Mbps). But not every camcorder does that. Samsung's models, for example, have used an MP4 wrapper for years for all of their recording options, including the highest bit rates they offer on a given camcorder.

Reply

post #5 of 10

5/15/12 at 9:15am

143 Posts. Joined 4/2012
Select All Posts By This User

If you take the smallest jpeg and expand it to the same size of a large jpeg or a RAW image and compare them side by side you will see quality drop on the smaller jpeg . If you take a RAW image in the daytime and take another at night with the same settings , the quality will be terrible against the daytime shot . Reguardless of the format or camera , if you video at night and you have poor lighting it will be a poor quality video . All the principles are the same on all formats and images and videos . Now if you take videos in the daytime and have same settings and keep them to their own sizes in perspective of each other then quality is hard to challenge but when you expand the smaller video you will see the quality difference !

Reply

post #6 of 10

5/16/12 at 6:14pm

317 Posts. Joined 9/2007
Location: Planet Earth
Select All Posts By This User

I think I get what you're saying but little of it seems to address what the OP was asking, or relates much to what I said. So, um, whatever...

What would be interesting to know is what compression standard Canon uses. The MP4 suffix on the file actually doesn't tell you, not exactly. It could be MPEG-4 Part 2 or it could be H.264, which is also known as MPEG-4 Part 10/AVC and is the same compression codec that AVCHD uses. (AVCHD is a container format, not a compression codec.)

Example: I have a Samsung camcorder that produces files with the MP4 suffix but the video is encoded using H.264 and the encoding parameters are fairly advanced (there are utilities that will give you this information). It's not a dumb-downed version of H.264 and it looks great. That was one of the points I was trying to make above (apparently unsuccessfully).

Reply

post #7 of 10

5/16/12 at 9:37pm

143 Posts. Joined 4/2012
Select All Posts By This User

Quote:

Originally Posted by GI Joe Sixpack

I think I get what you're saying but little of it seems to address what the OP was asking, or relates much to what I said. So, um, whatever...

What would be interesting to know is what compression standard Canon uses. The MP4 suffix on the file actually doesn't tell you, not exactly. It could be MPEG-4 Part 2 or it could be H.264, which is also known as MPEG-4 Part 10/AVC and is the same compression codec that AVCHD uses. (AVCHD is a container format, not a compression codec.)

Example: I have a Samsung camcorder that produces files with the MP4 suffix but the video is encoded using H.264 and the encoding parameters are fairly advanced (there are utilities that will give you this information). It's not a dumb-downed version of H.264 and it looks great. That was one of the points I was trying to make above (apparently unsuccessfully).

I've not gotten that deep into keeping up with different kinds of compressions or encodings but actually to me they are no biggy . According to the OP he just asked if most all camcorders do MP4 recording and he projected he wasn't quite sure he understood it's purpose and that is why i was using an MP3 for example . Sorry i didn't quite get into the technical terms as you are doing but as i said to me they are no biggy cause i don't worry about what Canon or anyone else uses to compress files with or what coding they use . So i'll just let you explain it the way you want in technical terms . ( perhaps you will be successful altho i doubt i will understand it )

Reply

post #8 of 10

5/17/12 at 2:08pm

317 Posts. Joined 9/2007
Location: Planet Earth
Select All Posts By This User

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronlhodges

Sorry i didn't quite get into the technical terms as you are doing but as i said to me they are no biggy cause i don't worry about what Canon or anyone else uses to compress files with or what coding they use.

You're right. In the end all that matters is: Does it look good? But we technical types do like to obsess about the details.