HD Media drives / Workflow for HDTV « Videomaker Community Forums

funkgurus
Member

I hope this is the correct place for this question.

We have a client who would like to run a selection of videos
in his premises on a HDTV. As we will be producing the videos, we would like to
know the best way to handle this before we start.

At the moment we believe that using a HD media drive, such
as Iomega HD Screenplay (or asking them to buy Apple TV) would be the best way
to tackle this. Using compressor to output H.264 or the best quality files we
can, given that file size and download speed will not be an issue here.

We are concerned that the HD quality output from this
approach will not do the videos justice (high end power yachts!). We tried to
test this today using our older Iomega HD screenplay media drive (not the 'pro'
or 'director' models) and whatever we copied to it - H.264 / Mpeg4/.MOV, the
files would not even show up in the media drive directory through our HDTV.

Can anybody tell us if this is right approach for this
client or is there a better method?

Clearly we are not going to get far with our particular HD
media drive but I have heard that this particular HD media drive is not so good
with file formats.

Any help would be gratefully received.

Craig.

Egypt

Posted 1 year ago #
robGRAUERT
Member

Whats wrong with burning a looping Blu-Ray disk and playing in on a Blu-Ray player?

Or he can get a Mac Mini, connect the HDTV to it via DVI and loop the Quicktime files

Rob Grauert, Jr
http://www.robgrauert.com
http://command-r.tumblr.com

Posted 1 year ago #
funkgurus
Member

Hi Rob

Thanks. This is Egypt...he won't run to a Mac Mini and we don't have Blu Ray capabilities as yet..

Maybe that's the way to go..?

Posted 1 year ago #
composite1
Moderator

Funk,

Another option that comes with a Win Vista premium or Win7 pro setup is Windows Media Center. All you would need is an external drive 500GB or larger (reccomend 1TB) to put the films on as Digital display copies. You just run the the base (desktop or laptop) unit through his Home Theater array via DVI or HDMI as applicable. Then it's just a matter of how high or low the compression rate you're willing to live with. Uncompressed AVI's look fantastic, but take up tons of space. Then there's MPEG-2 (DVD and HDV quality) that takes up less space but still looks good and isn't too difficult for mid-range to lower end units to push. Lastly, there's H.264 (that comes in win media video flavor) to get good quality and save space. The apple tv setup is also a good idea if you don't have win media center loaded on a pc.

H.Wolfgang Porter, Composite Media Producer
Dreaded Enterprises Unlimited, Inc.
http://www.dreadedenterprises.com

Posted 1 year ago #
funkgurus
Member

Hey H. Wolfgang

Thanks for taking the time with that reply. You've given me a lot of good information there. I have to admit we're relatively new to this game - from the music production side of things so we're learning all the time.

Is it safe to say that a good HD 1TB Media Drive connected via DVI or HDMI would get us somewhere close to the results of Media Center? it would handle uncompressed AVI's and MPEG-2? Space won't be an issue as he'll only have 5 x 3 minute clips on there at any one time..? That saves him having to rig a PC up in the showroom and we can sell him the Media Drive..

Thanks again.

Craig

Sandbox

Posted 1 year ago #
composite1
Moderator

Yeah, you can hook an external drive to the client's tv as there are units that can function purely as a independent player. Now, as you are a pro trying to sell something if you want to know more you can PM me and for a small fee I can point you directly to units that will best work with what you're trying to do. If not, you can do the research yourself.

Posted 1 year ago #