Serious help needed

[maisatomai]

I am a teacher in charge of a Secondary Schoool IT club. Recently, my students shot a video using a 3 CCD camera using DV tape for competition and I uploaded it to the computer using USB port. To my disappointment, the video quality came out to be very poor and I feel that there is no way my school can win (even though the trainer claims otherwise).

The first question is whether tape recording will have a different quality than SD card recording. The 3 CCD camera can accept SD card and tape, and the trainer insisted on using tape even though I think that SD card is easier. As editing is needed, he says there will be a loss of quality when the SD card->Computer->tape. Is it true it will be better to use tape->Computer->tape?

In terms of quality issue, I was thinking using maybe a DSLR to serve as video camera will be better. For example, i have seen 500D or 7D video and it is amazing compared to the 3CCD camera. For the 3CCD camera, when the subject is quite small, I cannot make up the facial detail aka the gender @ 100%. However, @ 100% with a 500d, I was able to make up the facial expression of the subject. However, my trainer tells me that it is useless to use a 500d as the 500d records in CF card and the end product is tape? Is it true? Is there any device which can let us record from CF card to tape? Thanks.

 

[engr]

Hi maisatomai, your trainer is partially rite IMO. Since the end product is on DV tape, even if you shot in HD, you will still be downgrading the source to SD for delivery. You will lose image quality in the process. I'm not sure what CODEC your cam is using but you got to check out the resolution recorded to each media.

An SD tape based camera can't be compared to a DSLR like 500D due to the native resolution of the capture. For SD, you are doing 720x576 (assuming 16:9) while the 500D can do up to 1920x1080. That a whopping difference in the no. of pixels in the same space.

The problem is DSLR footages are not easy to edit and requires a bit more steps to get it right, and u may need a variety of lens to get the scenes you need. Depending on the resources you guys have, he probably has his reasons for not going there.

Only thing I'm puzzled is your comment on the poor image to the extend that the gender cant be told! What we watch every night on Channel 8 is DV and I can tell the gender ha ha. Sounds like there may be some downgrading in the editing process.

I would suggest to connect the camcorder directly to a TV (try the RCA) and see if the original image of the camera is acceptable. Compare it with the edited footage the same way since you are rendering back to tape. If you see a hugh degradation, you know there is some serious quality downgrading during the process.

With all said, I do think content is king to winning. Good luck!

 

[jaegersing]

you need to capture your dv tape using firewire, or else the quality will be reduced. as a guide, the capture filesize should be 2GB per 9 mins of video. if it is less, some setting is wrong and you will see degradation.

 

[DXNMedia]

For SD, you are doing 720x576 (assuming 16:9) while the 500D can do up to 1920x1080. That a whopping difference in the no. of pixels in the same space.

720x576 is a 4:3 aspect.

What we watch every night on Channel 8 is DV and I can tell the gender ha ha. Sounds like there may be some downgrading in the editing process.

Bro, I need to clarify this point.
Yes it is true that some productions have been using a complete DV workflow, but most entertainment / drama broadcast programs that you watch on Ch8 are shot using Digital Betacam or XDCAM cameras, and they are post produced using a pretty low compression setting, thus maintaining the picture quality.

Both PAL DV & Digital Betacam resolution is at 720x576, but you have to understand that DV materials is considered to be a compressed format. It is roughly 5x the compression compared to uncompressed materials like the Digital Betacam.
:thumbsup:

 

[Reportage]

what was the video capture method used?

What post production software used?

There is a lot of work needed if want to get consumer camera color corrected to look like something you see on tv. You might want to outsource outside help on this.

 

[maisatomai]

Thanks. The trainer is totally right in this case. Because I caputred it using USB wire and window movie maker. No wonder the video look so grainy. Thanks Thanks to all who answered.

 

[leekch]

Sufficiently lightings during shoot also important.

 

[Reportage]

Windows Movie Maker....starts to explain quite a bit.

check what is the maximum bitrate used? kinda wasted if DV is downsampled to something like 4mbps.

what i recommend is re-encode using another NLE that allows encoding up to DV bitrate.

 

[sundazz]

720x576 is a 4:3 aspect.




Bro, I need to clarify this point.
Yes it is true that some productions have been using a complete DV workflow, but most entertainment / drama broadcast programs that you watch on Ch8 are shot using Digital Betacam or XDCAM cameras, and they are post produced using a pretty low compression setting, thus maintaining the picture quality.

Both PAL DV & Digital Betacam resolution is at 720x576, but you have to understand that DV materials is considered to be a compressed format. It is roughly 5x the compression compared to uncompressed materials like the Digital Betacam.
:thumbsup:

What we watch every night on Channel 8 is DV and I can tell the gender ha ha. Sounds like there may be some downgrading in the editing process.

Probably Engr "DV" is referring to "SD" .. maybe typo error??

 

[engr]

Probably Engr "DV" is referring to "SD" .. maybe typo error??

Wah thanks bro.. I meant SD.. but DXN made a good point about the large beta cams with the compressed the videos. In any case, even when I was using a small SD camcorder I found the resolution fairly good for a conventional TV.

Best point is made by jagersing on the need to use Firewire. Its been a while since I left the SD workflow that I forgot liao!

 

[sundazz]

Wah thanks bro.. I meant SD.. but DXN made a good point about the large beta cams with the compressed the videos. In any case, even when I was using a small SD camcorder I found the resolution fairly good for a conventional TV.

Best point is made by jagersing on the need to use Firewire. Its been a while since I left the SD workflow that I forgot liao!

No prob.. nice meeting you yesterday.
Just to let TS know.. firewire is for tape base (capture), USB is for tapeless (transfer).

Conventional video is SD (768x576), so SD video plays on SD TV should looks alright. but if to put side by side with HD of cos u will see the big diff..

 

[jaegersing]

Conventional video is SD (768x576), so SD video plays on SD TV should looks alright. but if to put side by side with HD of cos u will see the big diff..

SD resolution has a few options depending on which standard is being used. For PAL DV from a camcorder, the resolution is 720x576.

 

[sundazz]

SD resolution has a few options depending on which standard is being used. For PAL DV from a camcorder, the resolution is 720x576.

oh.. sorry, i am referring to the conventional TV is 768 x 576 aspect ratio. for computer is 720 x 576. square and rectangle pixels..