Hey guys,
After lurking about on the board for about 2 1/2 months, I finally decided to plunk down my hard earned cash on a used HD10U. I was extremely excited to pick it up last week from its former owner and set about having a good time with it over the weekend. Thus, I headed across the river to Manhattan and took some footage. It was hot that day my friends, but well worth the time. I created a video from my experiences using the supplied capture software and MPEG Edit Studio Pro LE only. I must say that the software leaves a lot to be desired and it crashed a bit here and there, but at the very basic level of adding video and audio tracks, cutting and pasting and adding simple transitions, it got the job done. And once you get into the flow of how it works and what it's strengths are, it ain't half bad.

I'm no expert videographer, so don't expect fantastically framed shots. And I didn't even touch manual mode on the cam. It was my first weekend with it and I wanted to have fun, but I also wanted to see how automatic mode handled the varied lighting and zoom situations I'd throw at it. I didn't do any post production work on the video. What you see is what I filmed that day with the cam on auto. I used a polarizing filter, ND filter and in one shot showing a very famous bridge built in 1888, I used a wide angle lens. I'd say that about half of the video was shot with a tripod, the other half was filmed handheld (Lord, please keep my hand steady!) running around lower Manhattan.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank this great board for providing me with lots of information on this awesome cam that allowed me to make an informed purchase. Therefore, I have posted a thank you in the form of a Windows Media file at the location below:
http://68.38.195.157:82/video/OneWeekendInNYC.wmv

I had a friend w/Premiere Pro convert the mpeg transport stream into a .wmv. We tried a few tests and we balanced the compression of the file with its ultimate quality. The transcode specs we used were: 1280x720, 7000kbps compression, 72fps, audio is 128kbps/48khz CBR. It requires Windows Media Player 9 to play, the file is about 74MB and it runs about 2 minutes, so take that into account before downloading. The file is on my web server running at home on a Comcast cable connection, so upload speed won't be the greatest (you'll be lucky if you get about 20-30kbps). I've also taken the precaution of limiting the number of web connections to my web server to three, so you may get blocked until the next person finishes downloading the file.

Enjoy and thanks again. I look forward to learning a lot from you folks who know so much, so feel free to hit me with any constructive criticism. Maybe one day I'll actually create a professional looking video with the cam!!

scott

ps - just let me know if you have any download issues and I'll fix them.

Hey there, the link doesn't work!

OK. I am currently in the process of posting the video to a different site. Will let you know when done.

scott

Sorry about the last site. This one works cause I've tested the download myself:

http://207.148.244.164/video/OneWeekendInNYC.wmv

scott

Scott,

Glad you're liking the camera, welcome aboard!

heath

Scott,

That was a very entertaining clip! Thanks for sharing.

When played back in Windows Media player, the image looks more like a 2.40:1 aspect ratio than the conventional 1.78:1 ratio of the HD10.

The specs on your clip state 1280X720, did you add the bars in the footage yourself for a more filmic look? Just curious.

Troy

Cool!!

Hey, it's really great to see something produced with the HD10u. I like the shot with the drink on the table with the lady, also all the boats and buildings...streets. It's great and the music is great too.

The only small thing I would do next time...use a tripod if possible. I'd say that 50% of the shots could have benefited from a locked tripod with slow pans, tilts, and zooms.

Otherwise, it's great and makes me want to visit NYC again!

Murph

I notice some of the fast pans I do on my XL-1 aren't too good, either...Guess fast moves with just about any video camer can be rough, if not done properly!

heath

Thanks guys,
Yes, I did have shaky cam syndrome for about 1/2 the footage, so maybe one of those belt-attached monopods would help. I'd rather be as mobile as possible for those NYC street shots. :)

The footage of the boats I did with a tripod.

And Troy, we selected a size of 1280x720 in Adobe Media Exporter and that's it. We didn't add bars. Since this is 720p's native resolution, I just figured it was the correct way to go. Looking at the wmv output again, I see what you mean. It does look extra wide. Don't know why that is..

Scott,

JVC's site says it is indeed 1280 x 720, so I'm at a loss here.

heath

Heath,
I'll see what I can find out from Adobe Media Encoder help files.

You'd be interested to know that while I was filming on Liberty Street downtown, I saw a young guy on a skateboard rolling downhill at about 20mph with his XL-1 pointed up at the skyscrapers. A kindred spirit, though I didn't choose to include him in my quick video. Wouldn't that be like holding a mirror up to a mirror? (haw!)

Also, I found it interesting that about 50% of the people I saw that weekend had some sort of camera or recording device.

Well, it IS NYC! The thing that would probably raise my eyebrow is the Xl-1.

heath

Just a small suggestion, but heading out at night and getting some of that unique NYC magic would be cool. If it were me I'd play around with the camera to try and get those really cool light streaks at night...maybe drive in a car through Times Square and speed up the footage in your editor, so we get this mini-trip in super fast speed?

Just a thought! NYC is great for widescreen.

I'm working on a little video to post soon myself!

Murph

I hear you, Murph. Night time is the right time, especially in NYC. And down ol' Broadway would be the prime place to do it. I will experiment with night filming soon. Look forward to seeing your post!

The video looks good, makes me want to post some of my footage :)

One thing, the AR is off, you have correct resolution specified which is 1280x720, but you have none-square pixel, and made the screen extra wide....

Hi Love,
That's interesting. How exactly would non-square pixels affect the original aspect ratio? And how did you confirm that the .wmv file output from Adobe Media Encoder used non-square pixels?

scott

Scott,

Non-square pixels are rectangular and would indeed stretch the picture as is displayd in your footage. It's the same visual effect as watching 4:3 material stretched on a 16:9 display.

Troy

I remember there is a tool will show all the video/audio info of a media file. In your case, the video is 1280x720 (media player said), but the acual display is obviosly 1280x 600 or something, much less than 720, so it must be none-square pixels.


<<<-- Originally posted by Scott Frase : Hi Love,
That's interesting. How exactly would non-square pixels affect the original aspect ratio? And how did you confirm that the .wmv file output from Adobe Media Encoder used non-square pixels?

scott -->>>

Thanks guys. I do notice that a tiny bit of the bottom and top of my original video got chopped off, so perhaps this is another artifact of non-square pixels. I'll look to see if any of the various video packages I have access to will display a more complete summary of the file info and let you know if I find one that shows pixel type.