I am getting broadband in a few weeks and I was looking up your download offer on the journals. In the example with the elephants you foks say that this is 960 x540 quick time.

Is HD video not normally providing higher resolution from minimum 720p to 1080i or even 1080p?

What am I misunderstanding?

Best
Georg

You are quite correct that 960 x 540 does not meet the resolution specifications of High Definition which are normally 1280 × 720 or 1920 × 1080.

The Video Journal is currently available in either High Definition 960 x 540 pixels or in Standard Definition 640 x 360 pixels. All the footage now originates as 1920 x 1080p.

The reason for the apparent contradiction is my effort to strike a balance between download file size and visual quality.

You will find that played on a 1920 X 1080 tv monitor, the HD version of the Video Journal scales up to HD very well and therefore I have no hesitation calling it HD - I believe the comments you will find in previous threads here bear this out. But don't take my word for it; download the free clips on Antarctica or Africa and play them on an HD set to see for yourself.

The frame rate is 29.97 fps and the video is progressive (de-interlaced).

Chris Sanderson

Hi Chris,

first allow me to congratulate you on your video work, shooting and editing for LL! I think I read somehwere not that long ago that you use a G5 dual core 2,66 Ghz, would that be correct? I think it was in a thread about converting LL to iPod etc. I was just astonished about it as I would imagine for video work you would use a really juicy 8 core with RAID-0 etc.

As for HD, I did not mean to question your decision to call it HD Chris, it is just that I am puzzled and curious about the choice of 960x540. Please know, I am new to all that stuff and I wonder about the scalability of the somewhat unusual resolution. I can not test this at the moment, but if I would need to upscale a non 1080p source I would have two options in my setup, have the upscaling done through the blue ray player, this requires a DVD version of LL video, or have it done through my amp, using the build in REON VX HQV chip. Hoewever, this requires HMDI connection if I am not mistaken, and I would not know how to connect my MacbookPro to the amp as it has no HDMI output. Again, I am not questioning your quality work or choices, I am just puzzled by all that stuff at the moment.

What cam are you using for your 1080p content? Is the sound recorded through the camera or seperate? If memory serves there were some more or less severe lip sync issues on some camera to raw clips.

Best
Georg

P.S.
Can Final Cut produce some psychodelic colors enhancing Jeff's shirts? I'd be tempted to use such enhancement every time he takes the mickey. <grin>

Hi Georg

There are a number of threads in this section about playing the videos on an HD TV and also most of the options are addressed on our Download Video FAQ.

A hardware device like an Apple TV or a Sony Playstation that accepts video files and outputs to HD via an HDMI output is the very simplest way. Everything else requires re-encoding which can possibly be complex depending on the device or software used. The reason our HD video is not full 1080i or 720P is simply that the file sizes are too big for download; we are currently at about the limit that most folk can download without hiccup - and we still get plenty of those One customer recently was irate that the videos did not play properly on an eight year old PC...but even that extreme was finally sorted by a different media player - but I digress.

Our video is currently shot on Sony EX1 using the XDCAM 1080p 30 fps settings. Generally, the sound is recorded on board via an outboard mic & the built in XLR connectors.

BTW the lip-synch problem was not on the videos but had everything to do with the playing environment: the high cpu requirements of H264 encoded HD video requires a fairly powerful computer - we produce an SD version now for folk with older computers whose processors cannot keep up to the demands of H264 which results in stuttering and out-of-synch on older machines.

Chris

Hi Chris,

thanks for the explanations!

I had a look at the Sony, GULP, Heck of a cam in deed!

The lip sync stuff occured on my macpro 8 core 3 ghz, 16 gig ram, but not to bother, it was only in one or two clips if memory serves.

Keep up the good work Chris, and think about the psychodelic shirt enhancement. <smile>

Best
Georg

Sounds like the audio & video were coming from different devices or paths?

Hmmm, why would they? They were the donwloaded files played back via quicktime.

Occasionally I have audio set to come through local speakers while the video is output through a monitor - this can result in out-of-synch with different latency on different outputs.

BTW I should have pointed out originally that 960 x 540 is exactly half of the original 1920 x 1080 format so that it is fairly easy-going on the compression algorithm and avoids too many artifacts...

Hi Chris,

just saw an extraordinary report on the relationship of the Irish famine and the city of Toronto concerning the events in 1847, called "Canada or Death". Fascinating piece of history!

I route my audio from macintosh through a RME PCI-e card into a THX specified monitor system with the usual options on soundstage manipulations, nothing as fancy as Thomas's B&W at all. <grin> - As nice as they are, why he did not buy the Nautilus is beyond my comprehension, I bet he was tempted though! - Then again, it is THX and does a fairly good job on what I use it for.

When I figured this lip sync thingy, I used my PC to check this, which is connected to a (ancient but good!) delta R-Bus channel digital recording system into ethernet enabled JBL speakers using AES/EBU connections, the latter being my main mid field monitors for more critical recording judgements, and it was the same. - Music, composition/performing/recording is my hobby! -



Yup. that's what I wondered about!

Would there be any way to shoot a 10 sec clip and post the "RAW" file (as the camera captures it to memory card or disk, before any transcoding by Final Cut or equivalent)? I'd like to compare the files of various cameras and I'm sure others would also. The Sony EX1, Sony HDR SR 11 or 12, the Canon's equivalents and the Canon 5d Mark II DSLR. Would like the clip a 'closeup' head & torso shot of someone in medium lighting. Could members post to LL?