I'm thinking about upgrading my miniDV to HDV and getting an AppleTV to watch the HD format. How much space does a 60 minute HD iMovie take up when you send it to AppleTV? Is it better to keep the file in the AppleTV hard drive or store it on an external drive connected to the wireless hub (such Time Capsule).
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Space needed for HD iMovies
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There's really two questions in here.
1. HDV is encoded at 25 Mbps, the same as DV (miniDV) footage. It clocks in at about 13 GB/hour. However, when you import HDV into iMovie, it converts it from HDV to AIC so that you can easily edit the video. I think AIC is about 50 GB/hour ... if I'm wrong, someone else will chime in.
2. When you export your HD iMovie projects, you can encode up to 5 Mbps for aTV (per Apple's spec). 5 Mbps equals roughly 2.5GB/hour.
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MiniDV is not 25 Mbps. It's 3.5 Mbps. DVCAM and DVCProHD are 25 Mbps, if I'm not mistaken. Also, MiniDV uses chrominance subsampling of 4:1:1, whereas HDV uses 4:2:0 chrominance subsampling.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I shoot home video in HDV, and use iMovie HD to convert it to an 
TV compatible file (using the TV preset in iMovie).
For a fast action shot like shooting a basketball game (lots of side to side panning), 1.09 hours of HDV footage resulted in a 1.88 GBTV file.
A 34 minute HDV video with very little panning (camera on tripod) resulted in a 950 MbTV file.
Other conversions seemed to follow along these lines.
As to where to the keep the file, if you mean the converted file, I suggest buying a big firewire drive (if you don't have big internal storage space) and putting it plus any otherTV DVD conversions on that drive. By "big", I'm referring to Gb, not Mb.
If you meant where to store the iMovie file, you'll never have enough space for those (buy the most storage you can get). For example, that 1.88 GBTV file referenced above is rendered from a 58.42Gb iMovie file. That 950Mb TV file is rendered from a 22.26Gb iMovie file.
HD footage takes up a lot of space when imported. And since it is shot at a resolution beyond what the currentTV can fully render, you'll likely want to keep it so that you can re-render it when a 1080i/1080p TV platform comes along (maybe someday).
I don't shoot a lot of home video, but I've already got a little of 1 Gb of iMovie imports on disc.
Lastly, regarding which camcorder, that is a very tough question to answer without the old "list the features important to you" type feedback. I'm about to switch from HDV to AVC, though all of the manufacturers seem to be purposely holding back from taking full advantage of AVC (presumably to protect the higher margin sales of their professional equipment).
As is, there is much online documentation and reviews (griping) that current AVC camcorders only yield about the same picture quality as the older HDV format (albeit in smaller file sizes). What many HD enthusiasts seem to want though is to crank up the AVC quality capture to the max (for maximum quality of picture) even if the file size ends up the same or larger than HDV file sizes. I'm certainly in this camp, as I subscribe to the idea that you only have now to capture family memories, and it would be better to sacrifice some cheap hard drive space for greater picture quality rather than saving hard drive space but getting only the same picture quality (as HDV).
Nevertheless, none of the manufacturers seem to want to take a big step in that direction, so stepping up to HD recording "as is" is better than sticking with SD until they finally get forced there. Most of the newest AVC camcorders shown at 2008 CES are just coming available. I'm favoring the Sony HDR-SR 12 or 11 for (most) features that matter to me (though I'm really disappointed that it is set to only record at 16Mbps when the AVC format max is around 24-25).
TV compatible file (using the TV preset in iMovie). For a fast action shot like shooting a basketball game (lots of side to side panning), 1.09 hours of HDV footage resulted in a 1.88 GB
TV file.A 34 minute HDV video with very little panning (camera on tripod) resulted in a 950 Mb
TV file.Other conversions seemed to follow along these lines.
As to where to the keep the file, if you mean the converted file, I suggest buying a big firewire drive (if you don't have big internal storage space) and putting it plus any other
TV DVD conversions on that drive. By "big", I'm referring to Gb, not Mb.If you meant where to store the iMovie file, you'll never have enough space for those (buy the most storage you can get). For example, that 1.88 GB
TV file referenced above is rendered from a 58.42Gb iMovie file. That 950Mb TV file is rendered from a 22.26Gb iMovie file. HD footage takes up a lot of space when imported. And since it is shot at a resolution beyond what the current
TV can fully render, you'll likely want to keep it so that you can re-render it when a 1080i/1080p TV platform comes along (maybe someday). I don't shoot a lot of home video, but I've already got a little of 1 Gb of iMovie imports on disc.
Lastly, regarding which camcorder, that is a very tough question to answer without the old "list the features important to you" type feedback. I'm about to switch from HDV to AVC, though all of the manufacturers seem to be purposely holding back from taking full advantage of AVC (presumably to protect the higher margin sales of their professional equipment).
As is, there is much online documentation and reviews (griping) that current AVC camcorders only yield about the same picture quality as the older HDV format (albeit in smaller file sizes). What many HD enthusiasts seem to want though is to crank up the AVC quality capture to the max (for maximum quality of picture) even if the file size ends up the same or larger than HDV file sizes. I'm certainly in this camp, as I subscribe to the idea that you only have now to capture family memories, and it would be better to sacrifice some cheap hard drive space for greater picture quality rather than saving hard drive space but getting only the same picture quality (as HDV).
Nevertheless, none of the manufacturers seem to want to take a big step in that direction, so stepping up to HD recording "as is" is better than sticking with SD until they finally get forced there. Most of the newest AVC camcorders shown at 2008 CES are just coming available. I'm favoring the Sony HDR-SR 12 or 11 for (most) features that matter to me (though I'm really disappointed that it is set to only record at 16Mbps when the AVC format max is around 24-25).
As to where to the keep the file, if you mean the converted file, I suggest buying a big firewire drive (if you don't have big internal storage space) and putting it plus any other
HSD, thanks! Actually I meant where to keep the iMovie converted to
TV file. So keep it on an external drive (I have a 500gb FW800) or on the TV internal drive? I have 15hrs of SD video I'll want to upload then 3-4 hrs/yr of HD going forward. Probably won't bother with any DVD "movies" and very little iTunes TV. Mostly I want to have a source for home movies, photos, and music.If you meant where to store the iMovie file, you'll never have enough space for those (buy the most storage you can get). For example, that 1.88 GB
WOW. That's BIG! SD iMovie files are about half that. Looks like I won't be keeping those!
I didn't mean to ask that (though another did). Good side question. I'm liking the Canon HDVs (tape). I've read the compression is better (less compressed) and have a lot of extra tapes.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Yes, as I understand it right now, the HDV (tape) video looks just about as good- if not a little better- than the latest AVC video. What current AVC camcorders get you is apparently "about the same picture quality" in "about half the file size".
So, if I was buying right now for picture quality, it appears I would do just about as well to buy an HDV vs. any AVC camcorder.
On the other hand, HDV may be at the end of its run, while AVC may be at just the beginning. Eventually (hopefully) one of the majors is going to crank up the Mbps numbers to make their picture quality really pop. That's when AVC will probably be tangibly better than HDV. Of course, whether you buy AVC or HDV now, to get that upgrade will involve having to sell whatever you buy.
Also, for what it's worth, I've quickly tired of tape now that the option of storing to (faster) hard drives and/or memory cards exists. It is a pretty slow process importing from tape. It might eventually be ideal to dump the raw footage to BlueRay (backups), though pricing is such that it might be just as well to simply buy another 2Tb+ external when needed.
So, if I was buying right now for picture quality, it appears I would do just about as well to buy an HDV vs. any AVC camcorder.
On the other hand, HDV may be at the end of its run, while AVC may be at just the beginning. Eventually (hopefully) one of the majors is going to crank up the Mbps numbers to make their picture quality really pop. That's when AVC will probably be tangibly better than HDV. Of course, whether you buy AVC or HDV now, to get that upgrade will involve having to sell whatever you buy.
Also, for what it's worth, I've quickly tired of tape now that the option of storing to (faster) hard drives and/or memory cards exists. It is a pretty slow process importing from tape. It might eventually be ideal to dump the raw footage to BlueRay (backups), though pricing is such that it might be just as well to simply buy another 2Tb+ external when needed.
"Can anyone recommend a good HD video camera."
The best website I've found for camcorder info is camcorderinfo.com (http://www.camcorderinfo.com/). You might want to do some checking there for ideas. It's a bit of work to wade through all the info and reviews, but there's a lot of good advice available.
The best website I've found for camcorder info is camcorderinfo.com (http://www.camcorderinfo.com/). You might want to do some checking there for ideas. It's a bit of work to wade through all the info and reviews, but there's a lot of good advice available.