Terrific Sample Clips: AVCHD H.264 MPEG-4

[Jerry Jones]

AVCHD sample clips -- in .m2ts H.264 AVCHD format -- are posted to this Japanese page.

You'll need a special player to view those.

But there are also clips in WMV format that also look fabulous.

http://tinyurl.com/wwzug

I'm impressed.

From what I've observed so far, AVCHD seems to handle motion better than HDV.

The H.264 MPEG-4 high definition AVCHD clips from the Sony HDR-UX1 feature a ".m2ts" file extension.

As far as I can tell, there are only three players that will play them.

- InterVideo WinDVD 7:

http://tinyurl.com/6un4b

- Nero ShowTime 3:

http://tinyurl.com/y2sozn

- Elecard:

http://tinyurl.com/vntnm

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

I'm thinking a person with a desktop could buy the $249 BlackMagic Design "Intensity" PCI card with HDMI ports -- here:

http://tinyurl.com/hl79h

Then one could edit UNCOMPRESSED.

The new SONY AVCHD models do feature HDMI connectors.

So it would be possible to use Ulead MediaStudio Pro 8 to edit UNCOMPRESSED, right?

Doc?

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Dr Mordrid]

Depends on the system. I've edited uncompressed SD and image sequences for special effects sequences in MSPro going back to 6.x. I'll try it later tonight with HD in MSPro 8 & let you know

[Hulk]

I don't have the software to play the native clips but the wmv version of the waterfall clip seems to show quite a bit of macroblocking. Does the native clip of that scene hold up any better? Of course that is a torture test for the codec!

- Mark

[ND66]

I like the price:

...In addition “HDR-SR1” of HDD on-board type with October 10th sale, approximately 180,000 Yen...

=1,521.18 USD

Not bad at all.

[Jerry Jones]

The price is actually lower than that on Amazon:

http://tinyurl.com/ybbdxs

Mark, bear in mind that Sony is obviously PROTECTING their HDV lines by artificially lowering the bit rates on these first-generation AVCHD models.

The maximum bit rate on both the HDR-UX1 and the HDR-SR1 is only 12mbps.

The AVCHD specification, however, allows for a bit rate TWICE that high.

What we're seeing here are clips recorded at HALF (or even less than half) the bit rate of HDV.

Something tells me Panasonic wouldn't be coming out (at NAB 2007) with a 2/3" CCD "AVC-Intra" pro-level camcorder unless they knew something important about the capabilities of high bit rate H.264 MPEG-4.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

CNET'S review of the Sony HDR-UX1:

http://tinyurl.com/yda4dn

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Dr Mordrid]

Something tells me Panasonic wouldn't be coming out (at NAB 2007) with a 2/3" CCD "AVC-Intra" pro-level camcorder unless they knew something important about the capabilities of high bit rate H.264 MPEG-4.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

I can tell you right now.

I got my hands on some SDI 1920x1080p HD footage and compressesed it at 100 mbps using MainConcept then did some edits (dissolves, wipes, overlays etc.) to approximate how well the Panasonic codec could look. The output was frameserved back out to M/C for consistancy.

Freaking damned GORGEOUS about fits.

[Jerry Jones]

Yeah, I personally think H.264 will be the new "DV."

Pros are going to adopt it really quickly.

Why?

Economics AND function.

I'll never forget my first experience watching video from the Sony DCR-VX1000 right after I left KTVB to work for the City of Boise.

I was working with a Fire Department captain to create a video using a Fast Video Machine in a private studio owned by a local firm here in Boise.

The guy who owned the studio got a Sony DCR-VX1000 and he went to the zoo and shot some video of the tigers.

What amazed me was the playback from the digital tape.

Having worked in news all those years, I got so accustomed to expecting video playback to look slightly WORSE than the live picture from the camera.

But that wasn't the case with the VX1000; the picture seemed "live."

Now we're getting a new HD format that gives us drastically better encoding efficiency with HUGE disk/disc space savings.

Barry Green is right; this H.264 thing is destined for widespread adoption.

These first few models from Sony are designed to be teasers; they're teasing us with half the bit rate that this format can deliver.

I would bet 24mbps AVCHD looks fantastic.

And, of course, Panasonic's "AVC-Intra" -- I'm told -- will offer 50mbps bit rates.

Some say the bit rates will go even higher -- all the way to 100mbps.

When you consider the "AVC-Intra" supposedly offers TWICE the efficiency of DVCPro HD, it's amazing.

It's going to be really interesting to see how far PANASONIC will go with their forthcoming consumer H.264 camcorders.

Will they starve the bit rate?

Will they limit their camcorder to 12mbps?

Or will they give us more bandwidth?

With Panasonic's consumer AVCHD camcorders, I suspect the limiting factor might be the minimum sustained data transfer rates that one can realize using the new high-speed SD cards.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

But back to my first question regarding UNCOMPRESSED high definition video editing.

I suspect it's just too much for today's computers.

Even with the fastest processors and disk arrays, I suspect it might be asking too much.

By the time the equipment catches up, we'll be wanting 4K.



Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net