Is there an uncompressed HDV recording format

[Ikeuser]

On the basis that you can not insert quality in the edit is there out there somewhere a means of recording full frame uncompressed HDV on to tape, or are we stuck with all these compromised recording systems?

[PaulD]

Hi
HDV means compressed recording to tape.

Some of the higher-end HDV cameras from Canon, Sony and JVC have analogue component or HD-SDI output sockets on the camera, and this output can be passed into a computer NLE capture card for direct recording of uncompressed (or differently compressed) footage direct to disk.

Camcorders with HDMI output sockets may be able to be used similarly, but I don't know if the output is direct from the camera, or only off the tape.

[steve]

I think that the HDMI output is not compressed when shooting live. Of course its just expanded HDV MPEG2 on playback.
There is a HDMI capture card, but it needs one hell of an array to catch it because the datarate is several hundred megabytes per second!

Steve

[Alan Roberts]

HDV means compressed, and on tape at that. HDV does not exist in any other form.

HDV cameras that have HDSDI output deliver 1.485Gb/s, and that's uncompressed. Cameras with analogue output will not do so well, simply because the dacs and filters aren't as good as the professional ones in professional kit. At last year's Video Forum I saw a couple of capture boxes that would take analogue HD components in and deliver HDSDI, but that can't be as good as getting HDSDI out of the camera, thereby bypassing all the analogue issues.

[StevenBagley]

I think that the HDMI output is not compressed when shooting live. Of course its just expanded HDV MPEG2 on playback.
There is a HDMI capture card, but it needs one hell of an array to catch it because the datarate is several hundred megabytes per second!

Not that powerful a raid array now -- judging by the speed test that came with my Blackmagic Intensity, my (full -- 2Gb free out 250) system disk is good enough for 6 1080i frames per second. So a 5 disk RAID0 array should be fine for 25fps capture.

Of course, in reality you wouldn't need to do that since the images out of the camera are unlikely to have anywhere near that amount of detail in and so light MJPEG compression would probably make no difference to the image.

Steven

[steve]

Steven,

What application do you use to capture with the Blackmagic Intensity? Does it appear as a plug-in in your NLE app. or is capture a stand-alone task to disk, and a separate plug-in allows import into the editor?

Steve

[StevenBagley]

What application do you use to capture with the Blackmagic Intensity? Does it appear as a plug-in in your NLE app. or is capture a stand-alone task to disk, and a separate plug-in allows import into the editor?

I haven't actually used it to capture anything -- I bought it to playout video as HDMI (wanting a card designed by video people rather than computer people). However, it does come with plugins for both PRemiere and Final Cut for capture and playout.

It should just appear as a standard directshow capture device.

Steven