RIpping HD Video to PC/Laptop

[Seeto]

Hi guys,

Sorry.. newbie in HD video... got some questions...

Do you need to have a 1080 graphic processor to 'rip' HD videos to your pc/laptop?

Will it matter if our PCs/Laptops are the 'older' SD but are running Dual Core processors?

How much disk space do you need per GB of video recorded?

Thanks!

 

[jaegersing]

Hi Seeto. You don't really need any special graphics card to rip the files, but editing can be a chore depending on what the video format is. HDV is easier to handle than AVCHD, for example, but graphics card makes no diff.

You need 1 GB disk space per GB of video just to do the ripping, but of course you need additional space for temp files when you are editing. A lot depends on what type of editing you do and how much graphics or bitmap images are involved.

What kind of cam are you using, and what is your editing software?

 

[Seeto]

Thanks for the info. Actually, I have not gotten a HD camera yet. But I already have Ulead VideoStudio 11, so will be using that to do my video capture and editing.

I'm just concerned whether I'd be able to capture my HD videos if I use a non-HD display. But I think in terms of hardware, should not be a problem... right?

 

[jaegersing]

Hi seeto. Capturing does not involve graphics card or display, so no issue.

Editing is usually done using a preview window. faster systems can show a bigger and higher quality preview (also depends on editing program) but slower systems can worst case just show a smaller preview window.

Actually the graphics card and preview part is not the problem for editing HD stuff, it is the processing power needed to convert the highly compressed AVCHD files into RGB frames to display on the monitor. You need a powderful system to get smooth playback of AVCHD footage. For the occasional times I have to edit AVCHD, I would normally convert it to a different codec (called an intermediary codec) that is easier for my system to handle and also does not degrade so much when using effects and filters. Sony Vegas comes with Cineform, Edius comes with Canopus HQ, these are both very good intermediary codecs.

Not sure the best approach for VS11 because I am not familiar with it. I would probably download the free Lagarith lossless codec and try to use that as an intermediary codec. The file size will be pretty huge though, much bigger than AVCHD.

If you haven't chosen a camera yet, I recommend you look at the Canon HV30. It is HDV, therefore tape based, but the quality is superb and HDV files are much easier to edit than AVCHD. Only drawback is that you have to capture the footage in realtime rather than ripping files to hard disk, but if you can live with that it is probably still the best solution available at the moment. Oh and try to get a neutral density filter if you buy an HV30, it really helps when shooting outdoors in bright sunshine. (This applies to nearly all small cams by the way, it's not a point against the HV30).

 

[Seeto]

Hi jaegersing

Thanks for the really detailed explanation. As for the camera I'd like to get... I'm looking at getting a Hard Drive HD Camera. It's much easier to transfer to the computer cos it's not in 'real time'. And I can scroll to wherever I want to preview whenever I want. Not sure if the SD memory cameras are good. Just wondering how much HD video I can record with a 4GB card?

 

[jaegersing]

Yes I think you are right. Solid state is the way of the future, but the technology is not quite there yet. Looking promising though. Maybe within a couple of years it will be more viable.

HD cameras means AVCHD. Try out VS11 first and see how it goes (assuming it supports AVCHD - I know nuts about this program). You can get lots of different advice everywhere, but what works for you is what is important.

 

[VKMobile]

Yes I think you are right. Solid state is the way of the future, but the technology is not quite there yet. Looking promising though. Maybe within a couple of years it will be more viable.

HD cameras means AVCHD. Try out VS11 first and see how it goes (assuming it supports AVCHD - I know nuts about this program). You can get lots of different advice everywhere, but what works for you is what is important.

AVCHD = H.264 compression ? what kind of container would the video cam usually stored "raw"-ly at the first place?

 

[jaegersing]

AVCHD = H.264 compression ? what kind of container would the video cam usually stored "raw"-ly at the first place?

Yes AVCHD is a type of h.264. Usually you get a .m2ts file from the camera hard disk. So I think it's an MPEG4 video in an MPEG2 transport stream.

When the Sony SR-1 came out, nothing could handle these files except the supplied software with the cam, but that SW automatically converted everything to SD so it was totally useless if you wanted HD video.

Nowadays there are a few converters around that will allow you to work with these files. Editing AVCHD directly can be done, but it's not recommended. Usually I convert to an intermediary codec if I have to edit AVCHD, but thankfully that's not very often.

 

[VKMobile]

interesting! So if it's tape based like HDV, it's actually in analogue signal right? so does that mean we need to "record" it out to digital first before doing any editing/conversion? What would be the first "recorded" format like?

 

[jaegersing]

Actually, HDV is also a digital format. The video is encoded as MPEG2 and saved to tape. OK strictly speaking the signal recorded on the tape is analogue, but the data embedded in the recorded signal is digital. VHS, Video8 and Hi8 were analogue formats, but Digital8, miniDV and HDV are all digital.

When you capture an HDV tape through firewire, the digital data from the tape is transferred without further processing to the PC hard disk, and there the capture program will save it as an m2t file, which is also an MPEG2 transport stream. This file contains a bit for bit copy of the data that was saved on the tape, which is the whole point of using firewire to capture.

Assuming the video editor can handle m2t files, you will be able to edit them directly (a bit slow but can be done with a good PC) or convert to an intermediate codec like Cineform or Canopus HQ for editing.