Aspect and mpeg-2 TS encoding

[Josef Crow]

My understanding is that the JVC mpeg-2 TS files are slightly different from broadcast mpeg-2 TS files. Question is:

can Aspect handle broadcast mpeg-2 TS files?

and if so, why couldn't we use the new Sony HD POV camera ($15k) and save raw files and then convert them to mpeg-TS (via software) and import them into Aspect for editing?

or am i crazy again...

[David Newman]

Aspect HD will likely convert to CFHD many types of broadcast MPEG2-TS (mostly untested.) However the real-time video pipeline is (currently) only setup to handle 1280x720 at 30 fps. Future upgrades to Aspect HD will support most HD resolutions and frames rates.

However, if you do have 1280x720@30 from another source, do not first convert it to MPEG2, convert directly to CineForm's CFHD for the best quality (a much faster conversion also.) If you source is uncompressed, an image file sequence or Quicktime, simple import into Premiere or VirtualDub (as approiate) and save it out as CFHD. Now you can edit in real-time. If you have 1920x1080 at 60i or 30p, you can easily convert these to 1280x720x30p if needed also.

[Josef Crow]

David

would HDlink convert mpeg-ts stream from a broadcast HD encoder to CFHD codec? It sounds like there's a solution, but i haven't figured out the workflow.

What do you think about using the Sony POV camera? is there any way to record to mpeg-ts directly? Or would i need to record to hard drives and then convert later to CFHD?

and when in the world are we gonna get an HDV camera that has fully manual controls???

thanks

[David Newman]

The last part needs to be directed at JVC. I believe the camera can have a software update to add full manual control, but again the shouting needs to go JVC way.

I don't know why you are insisting to go through MPEG2-TS (or HDLink for that matter.) You can go directly to CFHD from whatever your source material is. Aspect HD doesn't use MPEG (so there is no point in going there), it uses CFHD compressed AVIs, which is a system registered codec so it can be used/created in 99% of PC video tools. I can help, just tell me in what format your source material is in. So you can capture via HD-SDI then edit in real-time within Aspect HD.

[Josef Crow]

So i could capture uncompressed avi with an HD-SDI capture card and a PC on set and then compress to CFHD to edit.

Question is, how fast of a computer would i need to capture uncompressed avi, and how fast is the conversion to CFHD. Any chance of capturing with a laptop? Could the conversion to CFHD be down on the fly?

This is exciting stuff, because you could feasibly have a PC on set, record uncompressed stuff, convert imediately to CFHD and store on a firewire HD and go home and edit. With the sony POV camera, could record and edit HD in 24p like the professionals - at home with my PC.

no?

[David Newman]

Your getting into some interesting possibilities I can't talk about yet. ;) Certainly capturing uncompression first then converting to CFHD works fine. You do need a fast PC (mainly disk speed) to capture uncompressed. For 720p24 you need to sustain a minimum of 45MB/s (fine with a two drive RAID 0.) For 1080p24 you will need at least 100MB/s, that means multi-drive system on PCI-X RAID controller. For HD-SDI you need a PCI-X bus -- so the laptop is out for a while.

[Josef Crow]

David

wondering what you think are the prospects for a product like Baytech's CineRAM - bypassing the need for PCI-X by going into a giga ethernet. As per their website, the device handles all HD formats and could save uncompressed data to a... laptop. (using firewire drives). It all sounds too good to be true and possibly is.

Then there's 1Beyond's massive laptop (which, if i remember right, was used to test Aspect in a charlie white review). What are you thoughts?

hope to hear soon about the solutions you can't talk about.

:)

[David Newman]

Yes 1Beyond laptop is cool and we can edit multiple stream HD quite well when running Aspect HD on it. So Yes, CineRAM would allow you to bridge uncompressed into a laptop. With CineRAM starting at $20k, I think PCI-X solutions don't seem so bad, plus they can capture more than a couple minutes of HD. CineRAM definitely has its place, and it would be cool to try one out, but wouldn't it be so much cooler it compressed to CFHD internally (now ten's of minutes can fit in it's RAM.) All wishful thinking.

[Josef Crow]

"but wouldn't it be so much cooler it compressed to CFHD internally "

Well that's what i'm wondering. At 720p 24p, CineRAM can save 10 minutes of RAM. If this was converted internally to Cineform codec, throw away the uncompressed data and rerecord uncompressed with the CineRAM. (would you need something as fast as the 1Beyond uber-laptop, or could you get away with something less)?

or how about recording to Carlsbad/Cineform directly? Right? I mean, what's so special about recording to DV-codec, or mpeg2 TS? But since encoding seems to cost so much (the JV mpeg TS encoder is, what, $50k?), this doesn't sound like a solution. or is it?

Just thinking out loud.

[David Newman]

Come and see CineForm at NAB, I'm sure will have some interesting tools for you.

[Josef Crow]

i will most definitely be there.

looking forward to meeting you and your company/products.

:)

[Josef Crow]

"but wouldn't it be so much cooler it compressed to CFHD internally..."

Is cineform colaborating with camera manufacturers to make this possible? will my Aspect still be an adequate solution? have you been to alabama lately?

[Heath McKnight]

What does Alabama have to do with anything?

hwm