[Trevorsplace]

I am considering picking up a DMR-HS2 but have a few questions that I hope you can help me with.


Can the firewire connection be used to transfer video to and from a computer for video editing ??? If so what format does it use DV ???


Does the HS2 have component inputs as well as output ???


Can the recorder be controlled by a Directv receiver that has the capability of sending the remote signal i.e. does it use the same remote codes for record and stop as a panasonic video recorder.


Has anyone used the still picture capability to read from a PC card. If so does it store the pictures in their original resolution or does it down sample them to video resolution. Also how does the still pictures look when shown through 480P component out.


Hope you can help

Trevor.

 

[JustinCheckin]

Can the firewire connection be used to transfer video to and from a computer for video editing ??? If so what format does it use DV ???


ONE WAY IN ONLY FROM CAM TO HS2


Does the HS2 have component inputs as well as output ???


ONLY COMPONENT OUT, NO IN. ALSO 16X9 ARE RECORDED AS 4X3.

 

[Felgar]

Justin, isn't there a setting that controls how 16x9 is recorded? I think "squeeze" will record it as 4:3, but the other value on that option records it anamorphically. I think anyway, but I don't have any 16:9 sources, so I'm not positive.


Not sure about the receiver control...

 

[JustinCheckin]

I haven't noticed any settings for squeezed, I'll check. I just compensate by not changing my source (Samsung T150) to 4x3 setting and playback using zoom/wide on my Sony 10HT. Works out fine.

Unfortunately, the downside is since I have to use XP to get good PQ, I never really bothered taping this way for archive stuff, just timeshifting... and that's rare too these days coz I am out of disc space! If only there is 120GB HD in there...

Also, not having component input recording on the unit just makes XP recordings not worth it anyway.

 

[AngryofMayfair]

The European HS2 has either 'squeeze' or 'letterbox' as options for when *dubbing* but this wont work with high speed dubbing ,which is not an option for DVD-R anyway...

This whole aspect ratio thing is very confusing - there are settings for 'Norm (4:3) TV (DVD Video) - either pan & scan or letterbox plus there are also separate settings for Norm (4:3) TV with DVD-RAM and here you have 'norm 4:3' (default) in addition to the pan & scan and letterbox settings!

But nowhere there is 16:9 anamorphic mentioned...


a 16:9 signal from my HDTV STB or DVD player is recorded and played back in 16:9 anamorphic mode - great for a widescreen set but no good for a standard 4:3 ratio TV - perhaps this is where you have to select 'letterbox' instead of 'squeeze' - but the manual says that selection is for 'dubbing' does this mean for direct recording from the tuner or av inputs or just when copying (dubbing) from one disc to another???


I wish the manual was clearer on this and some other aspects...

 

[Felgar]

Justin, check page 61, near the top of the page. The dubbing aspect says that squeeze: "The picture will appear stretched in the vertical pane." Might that indicate that the picture is truly a 16:9 recording?

 

[artur]

Hi All, anamorphic means squeezed, letterbox means with black bars on top and bottom, pan and scan is way of playback for anamorphic or letterbox to 4:3, where you get full height and camera will pan where action is horizontally.

Artur.

 

[AngryofMayfair]

Quote:

Originally posted by Felgar Justin, check page 61, near the top of the page. The dubbing aspect says that squeeze: "The picture will appear stretched in the vertical pane." Might that indicate that the picture is truly a 16:9 recording?

It's actually a 4:3 recording of a 16:9 program - that's why it's stretched vertically.

If you play it back on a standard 4:3 set it will fill the whole screen and appear to be stretched vertically - people will look tall and skinny.

If you play it back on a 16:9 TV it should be in the correct ratio.

It's the best way to record 16:9 as you are making the most of the available lines to record with - letterboxing will just chop off the top and bottom sections of a 4:3 recording which will reduce the resolution BUT it will then play back OK on a standard 4:3 TV without looking stretched.

 

[Felgar]

You're going to have to walk me through this, because "If you play it back on a standard 4:3 set it will fill the whole screen and appear to be stretched vertically - people will look tall and skinny.

If you play it back on a 16:9 TV it should be in the correct ratio." is an exact description of how anamorphic 16:9 material behaves.


So you must be indicating that the actual encoding still represents a 4:3 ratio of pixels. Suppose we have an image that is 100 pixels high, and 100 wide in a 16:9 digital format... It will be encoded as 100x100.


Now, what does the HS2 do? First then, it must scale up the image to 4:3 res... Basically, the height of everything is multiplied by 1.33333 to scale it up to 4:3. The width doesn't change. Now, the image is encoded at 133 high and 100 wide. Makes sense.... Ok, I'll buy that.


But then if you dub that to DVD, and play it on a different player, how is that player to know that the recording is 16:9? You are saying that it doesn't, and so it would never have the option to letterbox the material for someone with a 4:3 TV? So to clarify then, if you record in the squeezed mode, and give it to someone with a 4:3 tv, they will be stuck watching stretched vertically?

 

[AngryofMayfair]

Quote:

Originally posted by Felgar So to clarify then, if you record in the squeezed mode, and give it to someone with a 4:3 tv, they will be stuck watching stretched vertically? [/b]

Exactly. If you are recording a 16:9 program to be eventually played back on a 4:3 set then you need to record in letterbox mode with the corresponding loss of horizontal resolution.


If you record in 'squeezed' mode then AFAIK there is no way to play it back without it looking stretched vertically on a 4:3 set, unless the 4:3 set has a 16:9 mode that can be selected - some sets have this option as does my Sony PVM2950 broadcast monitor.


This is the exact situation I have - I have some 16:9 'squeezed' (or anamorphic) material from a friend in the uK where widescreen sets are very common. I tried copying this to a DVD-R for another friend to play on his 4:3 set and there is no way that I can find to record it and have it play back on his 4:3 set in the correct ratio - recordings made by the HS2 are always 4:3 mode (even in letterbox mode as it records black bars top & bottom of a 4:3 image)

 

[mrwilson]

You can record 16:9 material but its Always flagged as 4:3. There is one small little line in the manual that says that.


However, the Pioneer DVR-7000 will let you flag recordings, before hand only, as 16:9 or 4:3. It only works on DVD-R and not DVD-RW. For some reason DVD-RW recordings are always flagged as 4:3 regardless of the setting.