Steve Jobs takes a jab at HD camera makers

[James Harring]

Wait, I want my money back... class action -- lets all sue!!!

Ok joking aside, I compare my consumercam SD video to my HDV and it's night and day. While I could agree the compression makes it not as good as the commercial grade HD (e.g. Discovery HD), it also doesn't require a mortgage to get awesome quality. It's in the good-enough category for me.

[Wayne Morellini]

Originally Posted by Serge Victorovich

CineformRAW is 5:1 compressed BayerRAW from sensor.
You want use CineformRAW to convert mpeg2/h264 4:2:0 back to Bayer RAW ?
Result is GiGo (Garbage In - Garbage Out), imo:)

It can be more compression. The figure I quoted would be around 6:1-8:1, I forget what the refined Raw format eventually achieved. Because of the way color and intensity flow in nature, and our eyes perceive them, that makes them predictable, and makes debayering more accurate. So, it is not garbage, you can start with uncompressed/low compressed 4:2:0, 4:2:2 and achieve good compression and restorability. In the end you should be able to achieve an visually lossless image in less space than 4:2:x because of the smaller size of bayer. It wont achieve better than the source material (unless 4:2:0-4:4:4 conversion can be practical to use as source). I mention it so that it can be used as an more universal format.

[Peter Wiley]

I think Job's jab is more likely a marketing ploy than a technical one.

Job's idea of "true HD" is probably whatever format the Apple-branded HD TVs will use if or when introduced, you know, the ones with iTV built-in.

[Kevin Shaw]

Originally Posted by James Harring

While I could agree the compression makes it not as good as the commercial grade HD (e.g. Discovery HD), it also doesn't require a mortgage to get awesome quality.

Also note that several popular Discovery HD shows use at least some HDV footage, and I've heard that the entire third season of "Deadliest Catch" was shot that way.

[Jon Fairhurst]

Steve should keep in mind that the Apple TV is only 720p.

[David Tamés]

iMac, iPod, iPhone, can "iCamera" be far behind? If Apple remains true to their pattern, they will come out with the first consumer video camera with real HD imaging and auto-focus and auto-exposure that works. The technology exists, but video camera makers have yet to implement good auto-focus and good auto-exposure the way Canon and Nikon have in their D-SLR cameras, it's just a processing power (and the cost thereof) issue. It's just a matter of time before someone comes out with a really good point and shoot video camera that produces spectacular images. Will Apple be the vendor to do it? They seem to be on a roll...