Cineform codec VS Hdvsplit .m2t

[Chris Cosic]

Hi folks, long time not been here, but I've returned, with a question which plagues me since I have bought the Canon HV20. Absolutely great machine for my semiprofessionel HD needs.
Alas, I have problem that no one in 3 years could answer me, it seems.

I record in HDV 29,97fps, and capture my footage with HDVsplit, because it is the only program I know that splits and takes the exact shooting-dates of each clips. But the problem now is one that drives me nuts for years. The picture quality is decent when everything is standing still, no cars are moving, and no people are walking, but god help us all, when actual motion comes into play. The picture gets unclear, like when I move the camera, every shape tries to follow my movements, ... everything gets slightly out of focus and kinda blurry (hard to discribe, like you cannot see clear shapes anymore), until I stop moving the camera. Many people would say, that I am exaggerating, but it is really annoying, moreso because I have tried some other programs like...AspectHD in the past that made the best captures of videos ever. I am now trying NeoHD, and I again get the picture quality the HV20 really is capable of, even made me shed a tear, the quality was so much better than Hdvsplit's .m2t files, it was like I've been sucked into the transilvanian mountains again...well, thats what i recorded on that tape for example. To see everything life like ... was astonishing.
The Cinecodec gives the video files absolutely stunning smooth motion, everythings in focus and clear to the eye.

Now the technical stuff:
HDVSplit captures .m2t, 29,97fps, upper (interlaced?), 1440x1080
NeoHD captures: Cinecodec, 29,98fps (dunno why 29,98), progressive, 1440x1080

Below you can see the NeoHD option menue, which I tuned so I get the perfect results (I tried like 6 video captures that went blurry like HDVSplit, for example when checking "Remove Pulldown 3:2:2", or "Deinterlace 1080i and DV") and another screenshot with GSpot analysing the techs of those good quality cineformat videos.

http://www6.pic-upload.de/08.01.11/g4sd6qlngrs4.jpg

http://www6.pic-upload.de/08.01.11/me1wx9a8v3.jpg


Is the Cinecodec the only codec I can encode to...? I hardly believe that. How do I capture footage from my tapes with similar great quality, smooth motions, non blurriness, crisp clear detailed images and not having like 50GB/h videofiles? :)

I am really on my knees here... what is wrong with my luck when it comes to codecs and exporting.

Thanks in advance and a happy new year to all!
Chris

[Felix van Oost]

The problem you were having previously had to do with interlacing, where everything is recorded and displayed in half frames, with each field (half frame) being displayed 1/50 or 1/60th of a second after the other (in simple terms). The thing is that computers, TVs, and any other LCD screens don't work that way. They display progressive images, where the entire frame is displayed at a time. The problem you were seeing was the interlaced files from your HV20 being displayed on your progressive monitor without being deinterlaced first (which WMP should normally do). Whilst this isn't a problem when there is no motion in the frame, the artifacting becomes very apparent with any motion. What CineForm is doing now is converting your interlaced footage into progressive format, so your screen can display it properly.

CineForm is the only codec you can record to using NeoHD (a CineForm product). It's designed to be a visually lossless codec for editing purposes, and as such the data rates are quite high. That's the nature of the format itself - if you want lower data rates you need to look somewhere else. The best you can do is set the quality to 'Low' during conversion, but the data rate will still remain relatively high.

[Chris Cosic]

Thanks for the answer.
So, I thought by playing interlaced footage on my Full HD LCD TV (that is what I am using as a pc monitor), it would be displayed more ok...but the problem in the end is that I have recorded so many tapes into .m2t (interlaced), and cannot convert/encode them into a decent looking encode.
I am using PremiereCS5 and want this 29,97, 1440x1080, interlaced .m2t material to be encoded to, let's say .h264 format....that is indeed progressive, to make it smooth playing on my LCD.
But no matter how I convert my interlaced material, it just stays blurry...
This is my problem...so I am stuck capturing all my old tapes anew with neoHD...or is there a proven way of encoding hdv (interlaced) material with PremiereCS5?
I need to cut and edit my footage before I encode it, so an export with premiere cs5 is the only way, but (if anyone could explain step by step) which project settings, which sequence settings, and after editing, which export settings should, nah, MUST I use to have a similar looking result as capturing it with neoHD? :)
That would really lift a heavy burden of my shoulder...cause I am quite familiar with format, codecs and premiere, but this little problem makes me look like a fool...

[Felix van Oost]

Well the nature of interlaced footage and the process of deinterlacing for playback on progressive monitors will mean that you do lose some quality and footage will always be slightly blurrier than true progressive footage.

All I ever did with my interlaced footage was create a 1080i50 AVCHD project (I use Premiere Pro CS4), edit everything as normal (it should deinterlace the material automatically during playback in the preview window), then export a 1080p25 H.264 file.

[Chris Cosic]

But why do I get 117000 kbps videobitrate with cineform, and 384 kbps with HDVSplit?

Another question would be how to encode video in h264 but leaving audio uncompressed (cause audio sounds mediocre in aac/ac3, stereo, 32bit, 320kbps).

The higher the video bitrate (e.g. 70mbps) in my h264-encode the slower the video...is this normal?