HD to SD conversion at DVinfo.net

Mikel Arturo · April 28th, 2010, 03:35 AM

If I'm right, you can copy material from A card to B card. ¿Speed? How time takes to copy 16 GB, for example?
Also, you can down-convert from HD to SD, A to B card. ¿Speed? How time takes 1 hour of full HD 50i or 60i to SD? Good quality?

Thanks.

Ron Evans · April 28th, 2010, 07:18 AM

You can only dub from a memory card to the FMU NOT a second memory card. Also the file is just copied NOT converted. Page 63,64 in the manual. The composite A/V output is always SD page 56 in manual. So whatever the recorded material it can be played back from the composite output in SD. Copy times between card and FMU is about USB speed so an hour would take about 5 mins.
I edit everything in HD in Edius PRo 5.5, export a Canopus HQ file then downconvert with TMPGenc to make SD DVD files, author with DVDLab, use Vegas to convert to MPEG2 HD for authoring in DVD Architect for Bluray.
Ron Evans

Mikel Arturo · May 27th, 2010, 03:04 AM

Arg, thanks Ron. I have forgotten that question!!!!

What a shame, you have TWO slots and you can't:

1.- Copy a master for backup or deliver to the customer in the place of recording.
2.- Record with a 32 gigas SD card as master and deliver works in 4-8 gigas SD card if works are short.
3.- Convert from HD to SD resolution por fast editings. One of the best ideas of HDV was SD downconvert vía FireWire. Why not downconvert from HD to another card or vía USB? And, why not convert to DV or DV-CAM... or XD-CAM?

Humm, a good firmware update.

Tom Hardwick · May 27th, 2010, 07:05 AM

I agree Mike, 'And, why not convert to DV or DV-CAM?' What's with this MPG SD and no Firewire socket?

Mikel Arturo · May 27th, 2010, 07:52 AM

Well, I don't know if FireWire is a must. USB 2.0 is more universal and speed is similar than FireWire.

The new EX-1r records DV-CAM. The Z5 records DV-CAM.
Why NX-5 don't records DV-CAM? Or better, why don't downconvert to DV-CAM, DV or HDV?

The worse issue for editing AVCHD is the codec. You need a very fast computer or lot of space on hard disk to conversions to another codec. (or both).

As HDV, why not to record and get good HD masters but EDIT in SD for fast works?
Can you imagine that in 2004 HDV cams don't let you downconvert direct from Firewire? Who porchased this CAM if you have to invest x4 for a computer to edit?

Ron Evans · May 27th, 2010, 12:57 PM

I didn't change my computer, a Q9450, that I was using for HDV. Lots of memory and hard drives are needed for video editing anyway and are cheap. Edius Neo and Edius Pro 5.5 will edit native files so actually the memory and hard drive usage is less than HDV or DV . A powerful computer and memory will cost less than the camera so I really don't see this as an issue. I changed over completely to file based earlier this year after using my FX1 with the SR11 and XR500. It is a lot easier with the NX5U, SR11 and XR500 just the capture time alone of tape for a 3 camera two hour show would have been 6 hours. File transfer time for the same show from the three AVCHD cams is just over 30 mins. You can do a lot of editing in 5 hours and 30 mins!!!! File sizes for tape would be about 75GB for the AVCHD at the high data rate about 48GB. Yes to speed editing on a slower computer will require transcoding. In the case of Edius to HQ file sizes would jump to about 5 times but now the editing work flow would be like DV. I backup to LTO3 data tape the originals and the finished programs.

Ron Evans

April 28th, 2010, 03:35 AM	#1
Mikel Arturo Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Barcelona, Spain Posts: 93	HD to SD conversion If I'm right, you can copy material from A card to B card. ¿Speed? How time takes to copy 16 GB, for example? Also, you can down-convert from HD to SD, A to B card. ¿Speed? How time takes 1 hour of full HD 50i or 60i to SD? Good quality? Thanks.

April 28th, 2010, 07:18 AM	#2
Ron Evans Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,222	You can only dub from a memory card to the FMU NOT a second memory card. Also the file is just copied NOT converted. Page 63,64 in the manual. The composite A/V output is always SD page 56 in manual. So whatever the recorded material it can be played back from the composite output in SD. Copy times between card and FMU is about USB speed so an hour would take about 5 mins. I edit everything in HD in Edius PRo 5.5, export a Canopus HQ file then downconvert with TMPGenc to make SD DVD files, author with DVDLab, use Vegas to convert to MPEG2 HD for authoring in DVD Architect for Bluray. Ron Evans

May 27th, 2010, 03:04 AM	#3
Mikel Arturo Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Barcelona, Spain Posts: 93	Arg, thanks Ron. I have forgotten that question!!!! What a shame, you have TWO slots and you can't: 1.- Copy a master for backup or deliver to the customer in the place of recording. 2.- Record with a 32 gigas SD card as master and deliver works in 4-8 gigas SD card if works are short. 3.- Convert from HD to SD resolution por fast editings. One of the best ideas of HDV was SD downconvert vía FireWire. Why not downconvert from HD to another card or vía USB? And, why not convert to DV or DV-CAM... or XD-CAM? Humm, a good firmware update.

May 27th, 2010, 07:05 AM	#4
Tom Hardwick Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Billericay, England UK Posts: 4,711	I agree Mike, 'And, why not convert to DV or DV-CAM?' What's with this MPG SD and no Firewire socket?

May 27th, 2010, 07:52 AM	#5
Mikel Arturo Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Barcelona, Spain Posts: 93	Well, I don't know if FireWire is a must. USB 2.0 is more universal and speed is similar than FireWire. The new EX-1r records DV-CAM. The Z5 records DV-CAM. Why NX-5 don't records DV-CAM? Or better, why don't downconvert to DV-CAM, DV or HDV? The worse issue for editing AVCHD is the codec. You need a very fast computer or lot of space on hard disk to conversions to another codec. (or both). As HDV, why not to record and get good HD masters but EDIT in SD for fast works? Can you imagine that in 2004 HDV cams don't let you downconvert direct from Firewire? Who porchased this CAM if you have to invest x4 for a computer to edit?

May 27th, 2010, 12:57 PM	#6
Ron Evans Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,222	I didn't change my computer, a Q9450, that I was using for HDV. Lots of memory and hard drives are needed for video editing anyway and are cheap. Edius Neo and Edius Pro 5.5 will edit native files so actually the memory and hard drive usage is less than HDV or DV . A powerful computer and memory will cost less than the camera so I really don't see this as an issue. I changed over completely to file based earlier this year after using my FX1 with the SR11 and XR500. It is a lot easier with the NX5U, SR11 and XR500 just the capture time alone of tape for a 3 camera two hour show would have been 6 hours. File transfer time for the same show from the three AVCHD cams is just over 30 mins. You can do a lot of editing in 5 hours and 30 mins!!!! File sizes for tape would be about 75GB for the AVCHD at the high data rate about 48GB. Yes to speed editing on a slower computer will require transcoding. In the case of Edius to HQ file sizes would jump to about 5 times but now the editing work flow would be like DV. I backup to LTO3 data tape the originals and the finished programs. Ron Evans