Mark Ganglfinger,
Don't forget the training DVD!
Studio Daily Store | VASST | Inside the Canon XHA1 and XHG1

Remember : Auto Gain Control To OFF! Page 60 in the manuel " It can ruin some shots leaving it on"

Best to You!

Fortunately, the first thing I learned to to when I started wedding video was to run on manual all the time (usually riding the shutter speed), Nothing on "auto", hopefully the controls are laid out in such a way to make this easy.

Congrats, Mark! Looking forward to seeing some footage from ya.

Michael,
How do u downconvert to SD? My trials have produced very soft footage

I'd also love to know what those settings are Jan!

For $500 I can produce a whopper of a wedding video, but nothing I would want to post on this forum!
My clients are very happy, but when I when I look at my stuff after its been burned to DVD I cringe.

For David
 

David,
Here is my workflow, David. Keep in mind that I shoot in hd, edit in hd, then render to ntcs dvd-widescreen.....I like my footage in widescreen format as the end result(when viewed on widescreen tv(16:9)=full screen widescreen ; when viewed on SD tv(4:3)=wide screen(letterboxed).

Note: My NLE is Vegas 7 and use DVDA4.

1. In Vegas, create a new project. PROJECT PROPERTIES: HDV 1080-60i (1440x1080, 29.970 fps)
2. Place my HD footage (16:9)on the timeline and edit.
3. I render the video using TYPE: MainConcept MPEG2, TEMPLATE: DVD Architect NTSC Widescreen video stream.
4. I render the audio using TYPE: Dolby Ditigal AC-3, TEMPLATE: Stereo DVD. (IMPORTANT: Name the audio file(ac3) with the same name as the MPEG2 video file. Doing it this way will allow DVDA to automatically pull the .ac3 file to the timeline when you pull the mpeg2 file to the timeline)

5. I then open DVDA and drop the file into the timeline and hit "Make DVD."(Grab the mpeg2 file.....then the ac3 should go with it)


Note: When you render your project in the mpeg2 format as above, DVDA does not have to re-render the timeline....It will write it straight to DVD, which means one less rendering step in your project.

I use this workflow upon the suggestion from the vegas forum here a long time ago. It was the first workflow method I tried when I got my xha1 for Christmas and it worked!.....so I have not used any other work flow when going to dvd.(Don't fix it if it's not broken theory)

I hope this helps you, David. Please post whether this works for you.

Regards,
Michael

yeah, Michael this is very clear. In terms of posting on Vimeo, did you just load up an interlaced format? Or did u de-interlace (progressive) scan convert you work?

This will answer all your questions about editing to vimeo:

TUTORIALS: Vimeo HD exporting guides from many editors in the Vimeo Technical Help Forum

This should answer all your questions.

good luck,
Michael (going to watch football now)

Is the 16x9 SD footage of the XH-A1 as good as SD footage from the DVX100B?
 

Hi everyone. My first post here. I have read all the posts I can here about the picture quality of the Canon XHA1 in both HDV and SD. I understand that I'll get better results if I shoot in HDV, edit in HDV and downconvert to SD for delivery at the end. I sure do that with FCP 6 and compressor since I already own a Canon HV30 and it's great.

But for events -weddings, conferences, some small budget commercials for a local tv station I need to get a professional looking camera. A fact of life! I have been using an XL-1, A classic no doubt! but clients take me seriously!
But now, it's time to upgrade and the XHA1 is what I can afford but I'm concernded about the SD quality because some clients just need the footage on SD- not HDV.

I read here that the 4:3 SD footage with the XH A1 is not very good...I can live with that, but could anyone tell me how good the 16:9 SD footage from the XH A1 is compared to footage from a dvx100 (in 4:3 SD)? Not the same ratio I understand, but in terms of clarity, definition, sharpness..etc... (the XL-1 is too soft to compare!).

If the 16:9 SD is good then for those clients who just want the footage in SD,I can give them nice 16:9 footage- but I get concerned when some people here have described the SD footage from the XH A1 as "muddy" and too soft...

thanks for your input...great forums.

E

Erick I can say that the SD footage in 16:9 on the A1 is better than that shot in 4:3; I guess that's because it is native 16:9 and the chips handle it better. You can get an OK image by going into the custom presets to sharpen things up but the downside is that that increases noise. The main thing I adjusted is coring which seemed to be the key to the mushiness people mentioned. But I can't say I was entirely satisfied.

Geoff

Well, I did get the A1.
I planned on posting some side by side footage of the A1 and the XL1s for others who might be in the same situation as myself, but alas, my computer won't even capture HDV footage let alone edit it! (currently saving pennies for a new computer now)

FWIW, it will post a few of my observations anyway.
I don't get the concerns about low light performance. It seemed noticably better than the XL1s. I haven't had a chance to edit the tape yet, so maybe I will see a difference in the computer, but in the camera it looks fine. Maybe it is possible that in HD the grain stands out more? I did notice that 12db was pushing the limit, and whoever thought of putting 36db as an option must have been on something good!
The auto-focus seems to be much better than the XL1s.
The iris ring is AWESOME!
It feels like a toy! I've seen playschool products that felt sturdier than this thing. My Xl1s and my GL1 both feel much more solid than the A1. My XL1s even took a fall from over 6 feet, bouncing off pavement and was shooting a wedding 5 minutes later. I doubt the A1 is going to handle this type of abuse.
Setting both cams to 16:9 SD, they looked pretty compatible for a mult-cam shoot. The overall pictures looked similar except the A1 being sharper.

For the money, I am very pleased and will probably buy another one.

re
 

you can see pictures from JVC GY-200 (SD 16:9) and XH-A1 (SD 16:9), resize to 200pct, side by side.

Thats quite a difference Paul. Fortunately there is over a 2K price difference between the 2 cams and the JVC is way out of my price range, otherwise I would be bummed.

I am curious if anyone can vouch for the claim that the A1 is exactly the same image quality as the XL-H1. Is the difference really only in the features available?

re
 

You are wrong. JVC is there only becouse I use this two camcorders.

This mistake has only Canon Xh-A1, all other camcorders are ok.