When is HD needed?

1. KingOfCups
   Member

   

    Hi!

   I have filmed footage in 1080i using a Sony V1. The final edited film will be on a DVD to be used by a school to play on a monitor of some sort. It wont be more than 10 minutes long I guess. The problem is that I do not know what kind of monitor the film will be played back on.

   Because of this I have decided to cover my self by editing the film in HD using Vegas Pro.

   What size/ type of output monitor really demands HD? In other words, when does DV image quality visibly deteriorate? Maybe I am being too cautious doing all in HD?

   I imagine there are articles on this forum on optimising final rendering of film for different mediums such as web/ tv/ larger screens etc?

   Rgds
   Malcolm

   Posted 3 years ago #

2. chrisColorado
   Member

   

   What size/ type of output monitor really demands HD? In other words, when does DV image quality visibly deteriorate?

    That's an interesting question. my 4th short film was shot on my(SD) Flash media camera which is a little bigger than my hand. I then ran it through After Effects(stablization and Color Correction) and Vegas(actual editing). Then burned to DVD. Then I entered it in a local film festival.

   When I showed up that night in front of the big screen, it never occurred to me that my image might not be great. It was, oddly enough! I don't remember any problems in video quality from watching my film on a big screen.  The judges even said I had good image quality. Still didn't win anything(long story), but the image quality was great from a camera no bigger than my hand after going through two software and being burned to DVD. And this was all SD! 

   Maybe I am being too cautious doing all in HD?

   Maybe. LOL!!!

   I imagine there are articles on this forum on optimising final rendering of film for different mediums such as web/ tv/ larger screens etc?

   Not that I know of right this minute, but go ahead and check around. You will find some useful and some interesting stuff.

   Here's some quick tips: for DVD, render to mpeg2, for the web, render to whatever you need, mpeg 2 or wmv or avi or quicktime or whatever. You'll use different formats depending on how compressed you need it. Avi is not all that compressed, but mpeg 2 can get really compressed.

   In answer to your top question, I don't think HD is ever needed! SD is easier, faster and for what I've used it for, as good as HD.

   Posted 3 years ago #

3. Johnboy
   Member

   

   as far as when HD is needed, I guess the simple answer is "when your client wants it"

   go ahead and edit the piece in HD and render out a SD product, you should be very pleased with the results.

   John

   Posted 3 years ago #

4. jerronsmith
   Moderator

   

   >>Here's some quick tips: for DVD, render to mpeg2, for the web, render to whatever you need, mpeg 2 or wmv or avi or quicktime or whatever. You'll use different formats depending on how compressed you need it.<<

   For the web there are really only a handful of different formats that will play in the browser well. Real Media, Windows Media, Quicktime, and Flash video all require there specific plugins to work. You could also embed mpeg video in a browser but since it isn't a streaming format it has to fully download before you can watch it.

   >>Avi is not all that compressed, but mpeg 2 can get really compressed.<<

   This is a very common misconception. AVI is not a type of compression, it is a file format (the same is true for wmv, mov, etc.). You can have an AVI file that is lightly or heavily compressed, it depends. What determines the amount of compression on the media file is the codec (compressor/decompressor) used.

   Jerron Smith
   Editor-Animator-Educator
   blog: http://www.thepixelsmith.blogspot.com

   Posted 3 years ago #

5. hosenose29
   Member

   

    Hey Jerron,

    So I'm even more of a newbie than the person who started this thread (I know, how annoying - sorry...lol
   ), but I'm hoping you (and anyone else that has some good advice) can help me out with some guidance.

    At our institution, we have a multi-media department, with a really competent, ultra-hip A/V guy. We are starting to film more and more video content, in the form of interviews and event coverage (like fundraising walks, etc.) for our web site. We are serving these videos up from our internal web server, not streaming them, wrapped in a thickbox skin. Some of these videos might be re-purposed also for burning onto a DVD for a promotional piece, or given to professional video producers for a longer-form program.

    The A/V guy is insisting that everything should be filmed in HD, which wouldn't matter so much to us, except that he's saying the editing and processing time involved in getting HD footage converted so that it can be used on the web takes a LOT of time, so the turnaround time on these projects is killing us.

    My question to you would be: what file formats / resolutions / bit rates, etc. do you recommend for online video? And is it necessary to shoot things that are only meant for online consumption in HD? Is there a visible difference online? Does it really take a huge amount of effort to convert HD footage into something fit for online consumption?

    Thanks for your input,

   Hosenose29

   Posted 3 years ago #

6. iankinnz
   Member

   

   Broadcasting in HD has only just started in our country and the sales of big screen 1080i flat panel TVs have really taken off. Also now that the HD DVD / Blueray issue has been settled, a lot of movies are being released on Blueray HD, so there is building a great awareness of the quality difference between SD and HD. And while SD video I have taken in the past was way above analogue SD broadcast quality and often equal to the best commercial DVD quality, the HD video I now take is a big step above that again.

   Just as when I watch analogue broadcast TV, and compare it to the HD digital TV we now get, after watching the HD video I can now produce, I wonder why I thought SD digital video was so good.

   Remember that if you shoot in HD it can always be rendered down to a lower definition, but if you start with SD, that is the best you will get.

   I guess at the end of the day, the answer depends upon what you ultimately want to do with the video you have shot.

   Posted 3 years ago #

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