Is MPEG2 the HD standard, or is it just the JVC?

And does this have anything to do with the big summit between SONY, CANON, etc. to decide on a "standard", or was that something else? I suddenly feel lost.

MPEG2 is the standard for consumer HD cameras (the name of the standard is HDV, and the members include Sony, Canon, Sharp and JVC).

MPEG2 is also used in DVD's, and in DirecTV satellite broadcasts, on digital cable systems, and HDTV broadcasts. So yeah, it's pretty much THE standard right now.

Although the JVC HD1/HD10 were announced before there was an HDV standard, the HDV standard includes the JVC, so the current JVC camera is considered HDV-compliant. But the HDV standard includes other shooting modes, including 720p/25, 1440 x 1080/60i and 1440 x 1080/50i.

What about the Pro cams like the big $102K Sony 24P HD used in Hollywood (StarwarsII)?? What format do those adhere to? The same?

Alex,

Consider the HDV format (mpeg2-TS) to be WAY different from what the CineAlta and other high-end HD cameras record. Someone on the board will have more technical know-how with those cameras, suffice to say they don't record to mpeg2-TS.

(Small note, that $103,000 CineAlta doesn't include much of anything. By the time you're done, you may end up with a bill as high as my friend and his company: $300,000 +!)

heath

<<<-- Originally posted by Alex Dunn : What about the Pro cams like the big $102K Sony 24P HD used in Hollywood (StarwarsII)?? What format do those adhere to? The same? -->>>

No, Sony developed their own format, HDCAM.

Thanks for the clarification, Barry!

Isn't the Varicam (Panasonic) similar to the CineAlta technology, only it's 720 instead of 1080?

heath

Not to mention media at $70 apiece and the usually exorbiant cost of time at a post facility capable of handling 1080p in real time.

Is it 1080P? I thought it was I...Man, I'm dumb.

heath

MPEG 2 has many different compression rates, one of the smallest is the HDV standard that JVC and now the consortium have hit.

Satellite uses an MPEG 2, that's also very small.

Sony have a number of products that use different rates of MPEG2.

Hope this helps

Right, the CineAlta puts out 1920 x 1080 pixel images, i.e., 1080p, at 12 bits of dynamic range per pixel per channel. HDCAM is a 180 Mbps format.

The CineAlta is capable of a variety of different frame rates but the standard usually used for American theatrical content is 23.976 frames per second.

<<<-- Originally posted by Heath McKnight :
Isn't the Varicam (Panasonic) similar to the CineAlta technology, only it's 720 instead of 1080?

heath -->>>

The Varicam is a high-definition cinema camera, but very different from the CineAlta.

The CineAlta is 1920 x 1080, except if you record it to tape you apparently get 1440 x 1080. It can shoot at 24P, 25P, 30P, 50i and 60i.

The VariCam is 1280 x 720, at 60P. You can use it to simulate variable frame rates from 4fps up to 60fps, including 24p of course.

The CineAlta is about 100k, the VariCam is more like 65k.

Any word on the 10,000,000 pixel CineAlta Lucas shot STAR WARS 3 on?

heath

He used HDCAM SR, and it's not 10m pixel, it's the same resolution as regular HDCAM (1920 x 1080), but with an option for uncompressed output and 4:4:4 color sampling. The camera is the HDC-950, and you can read about it here:
http://www.sonyusacinealta.com/content/article_55.shtml