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I just picked up one of the Sony high-definition camcorders (HDR-HC1). It records in HDV format. Do you know anything about the format, how it will relate to using TMPGEnc, etc? I am waiting to fill up the first tape before I try anything. I don't even know if WinDV or the like will be able to capture it in.

[RMN]

HDV uses MPEG-2 compression, at 25 Mb/s, with a resolution of 1280x720 or 1440x1080 (it doesn't support "true" HD 1080, which is 1920x1080). It's not a great format for editing, due to the temporal compression, which is why most editing software will convert it to a different format during capture (technically it would be possible to use the native format, but it would require some changes to the way editing software works).

But as long as you have an AVI codec installed that supports your capture format, TMPGEnc (or any other AVI-based software) should open it with no problems.

For DVD, it's a bit of a "waste" to use an HD camera, since DVDs are 720x576 anyway (or 720x480, for NTSC). You're better off with a good 3-CCD SD camera (cameras with 3 CCDs have less noise and more "real" detail, even if they have a lower pixel count per CCD). Specifically, consumer-level HD cameras tend to have a single CCD with very high pixel density, and therefore pretty high noise, especially in low light.

High definition DVDs are a bit of a mess right now, with multiple disc formats and multiple compression formats fighting for attention. But generally, if you're creating HD discs, you'll want to use MPEG-4 or one of its variants, instead of MPEG-2.

In my experience, the best MPEG-4 compressor out there is XviD, but I don't know how well it gets along with HD-DVD / Blu-Ray authoring software (never done it myself - the HD market here in Europe is virtually non-existent).

RMN
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