Canon's new 50Mbps MPEG-2 Full HD (4:2:2) codec

[Michael Horton]

Joe Bogacz of Canon will present the first US public introduction of Canon's new MPEG-2 Full HD (4:2:2) file-based recording codec and workflow to the industry and will also introduce the first US public preview of Canon's upcoming file-based professional video camera at the San Francisco SuperMeet. Oh yeah!

Still tickets left. Be the first on your block to see this.

Ninth Annual San Francisco SuperMeet

[Michael Murie]

Originally Posted by Robert M Wright

I'm a bit disappointed Canon chose to go with MPEG-2 compression in their new cam. [...]

It won't be long until AVC is just as easy to edit (give it a year or two) as MPEG-2 is today, and editing AVC is quite reasonably manageable currently.

But AVCHD only supports 4:2:0, so I'm guessing they had to use something else if they wanted to offer 4:2:2.

[Chris Hurd]

Originally Posted by David Chilson

...if we see you listing any XL mount equipment in the next day or two with "reduced for quick sale" as a heading, it could be suspicious.

Ha. Well, I can say that I've been planning to sell my XH A1
for awhile now, but haven't had a chance to do so yet.

I'm attending the FCP SuperMeet that Michael refers to in his
post above, and would be delighted to meet with any fellow
DVi members while there.

It wouldn't surprise me if the "under glass mock-up" is shown
there, since Canon USA's presentation is based on its codec.

Edit: Oops, I missed this earlier: "...will also introduce
the first US public preview of Canon's upcoming file-based
professional video camera" -- so let's say that I'm looking
forward to seeing it there!

[Michael Horton]

I didnt know you were coming Chris. Thats awesome. Finally found a guy who will buy me free drinks.

[Tania Ratu]

Can you please keep us up to date once you have had the super meet. I wish I could be there but already went to Aitutaki for the holidays so I don't think my wife will let me fly off to the states.

Chris, will you update your article after the supermeet?

Michael, r u planning to have a supermeet down under for the aussies and kiwis? (sorry for the change of subject chris)

Cheers
Ratu

[Alister Chapman]

Originally Posted by Robert M Wright

I'm a bit disappointed Canon chose to go with MPEG-2 compression in their new cam. That choice seems a little short-sighted (to me), when you consider that this cam (and siblings) is likely to constitute Canon's pro camcorder offering for the next half decade.

It won't be long until AVC is just as easy to edit (give it a year or two) as MPEG-2 is today, and editing AVC is quite reasonably manageable currently.

So are Canon supposed to wait another two or three years for computers to get to the point where they can edit 3 or 4 streams of native AVCHD in realtime or release a camera now which should be perfectly capable of producing top rate HD pictures? It's highly debateable as to whether AVCHD is better than Mpeg2 at 40Mb/s plus bitrates anyway. AVCHD is optimised for low bandwidth, sub 15Mb/s use and this is where it excels. Most of those optimisations do nothing other than increase CPU load when it's used at high bit rates.
What happens in 3 years time, sensors will have moved on, codecs will change etc. There is a market that exists now for easy to edit, high quality HD cameras, Canon can't ignore that if they wish to stay in the pro market.

[Chris Hurd]

Originally Posted by Tania Ratu

Chris, will you update your article after the supermeet?

You can count on it!

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman

There is a market that exists now for easy to edit, high quality HD cameras...

I think ultimately that's what they were looking at when they choose this codec... ease of editing with current NLE configs.

[Floris van Eck]

I am a bit disappointed if it has 1/3" sensors (which seems to be the general consensus). I love my Canon XL-H1 but the light sensitivity bothers me. I hope they improved the sensor a great deal like they did with their DSLR lines over the last few years.

It is going to be an interesting year with both Scarlet and this coming out. And I hope Panasonic will also release a camera or two this year.

[Jon Fairhurst]

It makes sense for Canon to release the new codec with a tried and true imaging section. It's not unlike Intel's tick-tock strategy where they alternate upgrades to the chip architecture with upgrades to the size of the process technology.

Once Canon establishes their new data strategy, the next shoe to drop would be sensor and other imaging changes.

[Steve Phillipps]

But presumably they won't use the same chips as in the XL-H1 as they were 1440x1080 rather than full raster - that would be a real negative move.
Steve

[Paulo Teixeira]

If they decide to use Progressive chips than I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets less pixels than 1440x1080 unless Canon came up with some breakthrough technology to keep the heating under control and use 1920x1080 progressive chips. Today’s technology should be easy to do 1280x720 progressive but maybe the chips are something like 960x1080 progressive. Since you don’t hear anything about 720 60p than maybe the chips are 1920x1080 interlaced. I’m really hoping that it’s progressive chips because 720 60p is wonderful to have.

[Chris Hurd]

Sensor blocks in the XH and XL H series camcorders employed H-axis pixel offset, which provided greater-than-full-raster resolution. Nobody ever complained of image softness in those cameras. The number of pixels on the chip is only one part of the total equation that determines recorded resolution.

[Steve Phillipps]

Originally Posted by Paulo Teixeira

If they decide to use Progressive chips than I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets less pixels than 1440x1080 unless Canon came up with some breakthrough technology to keep the heating under control and use 1920x1080 progressive chips. Today’s technology should be easy to do 1280x720 progressive but maybe the chips are something like 960x1080 progressive. Since you don’t hear anything about 720 60p than maybe the chips are 1920x1080 interlaced. I’m really hoping that it’s progressive chips because 720 60p is wonderful to have.

Do you mean because it's CCDs? With CMOS it's easy (look at EX1 and others).
Steve

[Paulo Teixeira]

Yes, CCDs heat up more.

[Steve Phillipps]

Yes, I understand that means that you need a bigger body for larger sensors like 2/3" but does it actually affect how many pixels you can put on the chip?
Steve