JVC GR-PD1+HD Connect+Vegas5+DVD Architect questions

[Troy Haines]

Hi everyone,

I'm from Australia and I've been reading the forum archives for the past week and have learnt a lot, so thanks to those who participate. The knowledge to learn is immense but enjoying the experience.

I'm a bit overloaded with data So I just want to ask a few questions the start of many I guess.

I have acquired the following setup after much research: JVC GR-PD1 +HD Connect+Vegas5+DVD Architect. What I'll be doing mostly as here in Australia is filming friends and family, short films and comedy skits (hobby purposes) at 625/25P and 625/50P capturing that with HD connect and editing with Vegas 5 and outputing to AVI, WMV9 and DVD using DVD architect.

1.I'll want to output to DVD, WMV9 and AVI. Do I have all the necessary software to achieve my three outputs??

2. Does anyone have any suggestions as far as my software setup is concern or am I ready and loaded?

3. Is there any other formats worth using considering I don't have any HD equipment other than the PC and camera??

4. Everywhere I go all I here is about th GR-HD1, so is the only different between the 2 camera versions; HD1 is NTSC and max resolution of 720p/25p and the PD1 PAL and max resolution 625p/25p ???

5. With the PAL version of this camera whats the best mode to record on when editing and transfering the footage to DVD?? Same question for WMV9 and AVI? Should I just use max resolution 625/25p for all ??

6. I brought the camera second hand and didn't get the manual with it. Does anyone have the PAL version of the manual I could copy from them?? I have the HD1 manual PDF from the JVC website but cannot find the PAL version of the manual anywhere on the web !! Would it be enough having the HD1 manual??

Thanks in advanced for everyone's help. I'll be helping others ten fold when I learn all this stuff !!


Any feedback on the subject would be grand.

[Graham Hickling]

1.I'll want to output to DVD, WMV9 and AVI. Do I have all the necessary software to achieve my three outputs??

Yes

2. Does anyone have any suggestions as far as my software setup is concern or am I ready and loaded?

Should be fine. Not everyone likes the workflow of Vegas, but then lots of other people swear by it.

3. Is there any other formats worth using considering I don't have any HD equipment other than the PC and camera??

PAL and NTSC dont exist per se in the high-definition world. You are looking at 720p or 1080i resolutions, but Vegas can up-res to either. Up-resing is way easier that 50-60 framerate conversion. If you want to produce DVDs to send to friends in NTSC-land, doom9.net has a recent thread featuring "dgpulldown" that does a great 25p to 29.97i conversion using mpeg flags - you should be able to google the link.

4. Everywhere I go all I here is about th GR-HD1, so is the only different between the 2 camera versions; HD1 is NTSC and max resolution of 720p/25p and the PD1 PAL and max resolution 625p/25p ???

HD1 is 720p/29.97p. The HD1 manual should be plenty to get you underway.

5. With the PAL version of this camera whats the best mode to record on when editing and transfering the footage to DVD?? Same question for WMV9 and AVI? Should I just use max resolution 625/25p for all ??

25p gives a nice 'film-like' cadence. For action, especially for a DVD being viewed on an interlaced TB, you may prefer 50i - try both and you can decide for yourself.

[Graham Jones]

Troy, shouldn't that equation (JVC GR-PD1 +HD Connect+Vegas5+DVD Architect) function okay without HD Connect, considering that Vegas 5 recongises m2t and the Hi-Res M2t stream isn't HD?

I would be interested to know.

[Wolfgang Schmid]

Take care. Connect HD does not support the HiRes mode from the PD1. So, for the PD1 the additional investment in the Cineform product will not add any value.

Captureing directly in Vegas 6c works fine for some of us- and for other people it does not work at all. Maybe we have different versions of the firmware or other components.

What I do is to capture my HiRes PD1 material with the JVC capturing tool, as delivered with the PD1. That works fine so far, and offers an automatic scene detection, too.

Then I convert it in Vegas to 720 25 p Intermediates, using Gearshift. Frankly spoken, I tend to convert the material to 720 25p in the Canopus HQ codec, since I have that on my PC installed, too. But it will work for the Cineform Intermediate, too.

[Ken Hodson]

So at the moment he has no way of capturing Hi-res 625p/25p?

If he shoots 50i he would be using the DV codec and lose all of the advantages of the cam.
Could he use the 625p/50p mode and have HDconnect recognise it? Is there a way to have it automatically conform to 25p when he drops it into the Vegas timeline?

[Graham Jones]

http://jvcgr-pd1.blogspot.com/

[Ken Hodson]

Nice blog. Great resource for PD1 users. Too bad JVC couldn't give a damn.
Check my "Wide angle" post in regards to Peter Jacksons cam half way down the blog.

[Wolfgang Schmid]

Originally Posted by Ken Hodson

So at the moment he has no way of capturing Hi-res 625p/25p?

If he shoots 50i he would be using the DV codec and lose all of the advantages of the cam.
Could he use the 625p/50p mode and have HDconnect recognise it? Is there a way to have it automatically conform to 25p when he drops it into the Vegas timeline?

The HiRes material transfered during capturing via firewire is seen as 720x576 pixels in most applications. So, it seems to be true that you are down to SD solution.

However, there have been rumors, that the resolution could be higher in reality, and that the material patched in a specific way only (you find that also in the blog). The material is encoded with 18.3 kbps after capturing too, what would fit nice with 720 25p.

I have seen that you cannot play back 720 25p material to the camcorder via firewire, you can play back 720x576 SD material only. Given that experience, I think that the material is stored with 720x576 on mini-DV-tape. But given the higher resolution of the HiRes mode, it can be blown up to 720 25 p in a very good quality too.

[Ken Hodson]

"However, there have been rumors, that the resolution could be higher in reality, and that the material patched in a specific way only (you find that also in the blog)."

I can't seem to find what you are refering. Could you give a location or quote just that info? Thanks.

[Wolfgang Schmid]

Sure, here you go:

7. The camera captures video at a resolution of 1280 x 659 pixels, with 25 progressivelyscanned frames per second. The output/capture picture size starts with 1024x576 pixels inm2t file (MPEG-TS). That size can be easy up convert to the smaller HD scan line count withthe higher resolution progressive scan of 1280x720 pixels in 10 bit uncompressed file withvery little, if any, quality loss.

Source:
http://jvcgr-pd1.blogspot.com/2005/0...jin-jukic.html

[Ken Hodson]

Ah Sanjin. I am not really sure how he got those numbers. I asked him befor and he said that it was the reported resolution in his media player. I questioned Ken Freed about this and he stated that everything captured to tape is 720x576. Always. There is the possibility that through component out, which bypasses the mpeg compression that it would capture true widescreen SD which is 1024x576(PAL)480(NTSC). I have asked this question here befor in regards to analog capture but I never got a responce.

[Ken Hodson]

(double post) whoops.

[Wolfgang Schmid]

A friend of mine told me, that he had seen a higher resolution in other tools too - but I have not seen that by myself, neither in Vegas nor in Edius. And given the outcome, that rendering back the material to mpeg in Vegas, the file transfer via firewire only works when you render to 720x576.

Yes, I would like to know if you could use a SDI card (decklink) to capture via composite in higher resolution. Even if I think that that is of limited value too, as long as you have SD resolution on your tape.

So, a potential firmware update would be great, since there was also the rumor that you the PD1, HD1 and HD10 are the same camcorder, maybe with a different firmware only. However, I never found somebody who could confirm that really.

Source: http://jvcgr-pd1.blogspot.com/2005/0...me-inside.html

[Ken Hodson]

The HD1/10 are the same except for the firmware, but things like the XLR's might keep a basic firmware flash from working. As far as the PD1 I believe I read somewhere about it being 50Hz will prevent it from working with a 60Hz firmware. It appears there just isn't enough intrest anymore from the people who were pushing the boundaries.
Rant on.
My one standing wish as far as a hack/firmware update would be a 1/60th shutter lock. It is so stupid they gave a 1/125th shutter lock with the "Sports" preset. I see what they were trying to do by not allowing full manual they let the cam optimize itself to compensate for poor low light performance. But if you are going to let it have a idependant lock at 1/125th which reduces light a fair bit, why couldn't they let us have 1/60th will locking exposure!!
Rant off.