Capturing HD

[JRCX]

The only way I was able to capture HD footage was with "GENERIC OHCI", the GENERIC HDV does not recognize it, so I imported all my HD footage via Generic OHCI -- forgive the question if its foolish, but is the footage now still in hidef? Its my first hidef project and first time using Edius for hidef, and I would like to tell my clients with certainty, that what I am delivering is high definition, not just 16:9 footage in SD format. Thanks!

[Bluetongue]

The fact you could only capture in GenericOHCI indicates the footage is only SD 16:9, it could be your HiDef camera is set to down convert to SD, which camera?
To check right click a clip on the timeline and select properties and then select the Video TAB, the video should be 1440x1080 Upper field first, if not it is only SD
You may need to go into the Camera menu to change the output setting
Regards Barry

[JRCX]

Hey Barry, thank you, that was a tremendous help. You were correct. I am not capturing a new project in "real" hidef -- as for that old project, I guess I have to start from scratch, there is no way to "upconvert" it I guess? Its actually a friend's wedding, and I promised it to them by next week... I guess I will give it to them in standard def, have them review/make changes then by that time I will be able to restart it in hidef and deliver a bluray version... I doubt they can tell the difference between SD & HD but the fact is, I was going to use it as a demo, so the time redoing it might be well spent.

[Rusty]

If you're delivering on DVD no one will know the difference!.

[JRCX]

Hey Rusty, yes, I figured that. The initial review copy will be on regular DVD, however the final bluray copy is what I will give them since they have the player. I guess the question is hard to answer as to if they will be able to tell the difference between HD delivered on bluray, or something shot on HD but edited in SD delivered on bluray. I guess it depends on the quality of the footage, but I wonder if they could tell the difference if it was not side-by-side on 2 hidef TV systems.

[Jerry]

Hey Rusty, yes, I figured that. The initial review copy will be on regular DVD, however the final bluray copy is what I will give them since they have the player. I guess the question is hard to answer as to if they will be able to tell the difference between HD delivered on bluray, or something shot on HD but edited in SD delivered on bluray. I guess it depends on the quality of the footage, but I wonder if they could tell the difference if it was not side-by-side on 2 hidef TV systems.

Let's put it this way, putting SD onto Bluray is a BIG waste of money.
And a REALLY BIG YES to being able to tell the difference between a true
HD to bluray compared to SD to bluray. Even with upconvert by way of a player will still net you an SD on bluray. Your looking at 40 cents compared to 11 dollars for output cost.
As far as quality of footage, it will help if it is pristine. But, look at it this way.
You know what AM radio sounds like, right? So if you put that AM signal on an FM carrier, you still get AM...but a little cleaner. That's my analogy for upconverting dvd's.

There is NO way that the SD signal, because of it's resolution, will look as good as a true 1920x1080 signal.
Since your client has a bluray player, and has bluray content, they will more than likely be able to see the difference.
I doubt that they fit the group that can't tell the difference between VHS and DVD.

[JRCX]

Jerry, your reply makes perfect sense and I appreciate your advice. I am still learning HD after 15 years of editing, and often I can't tell the difference of a lot of content on TV that claims to be HD, but I am going to complete this project in SD and then re-do it in HD so I can demonstrate to the client the differences between SD & HD side by side, so maybe this first lesson was a valuable one and something I can help educate others with.

[JRCX]

Ok... another foolish question perhaps. If I have a 10 min video shot and edited in hidef, if I put it on a regular DVD, its still hidef if played in a hidef player right? OR, is bluray the only media format that can deliver hidef, and standard DVDs cannot deliver the same signal even if the total uncompressed file size is 1-2gb?

[THoff]

There are some HD DVD and Blu-Ray players that will play their respective formats when recorded on red-laser (DVD) media, but there is no universal support for this.

Most Toshiba HD DVD players for instance supported this, and this allowed you to fit about 20 minutes of HD video (at a reduced bitrate) onto a DVD.

You can search the player database on VideoHelp.com to find out which devices will play red-laser media.

If you are concerned about compatibility and quality, your best bet is to author a real Blu-Ray disk.

[JRCX]

Thanx THoff, so if I understand correctly standard DVDs use red laser, but shouldn't sony blu-ray players recognize and play these standard DVDs that were previously burned (hollywood movies, personal movies we transferred to DVD)? I am curious, thank you for your response.

[STORMDAVE]

Blu-ray/HD-DVD (Now defunct) is totally compatible with regular DVD's.

I play DVD movies (Burnt and movie discs) all the time on my PS3, it upconverts nicely as well.