Editing mp4 HD1 clips and watching result in 720p on HD ready plasma
 

What are the different options that I can use to watch an edited HD1 movie with the best quality?

1. If I burn a DVD, some definition will be lost, I presume?
2. Can I cut/join/trim MP4 HD1 clips + add sound track, get a HD MP4 file, upload it back into the Sanyo and watch it through the camera?
3. Do you recommend another way to proceed?


Many thanks

If you burn the DVD, you will loose some quality, but it will be better than most video formats. You can utilize the full widescreen if the software you use can handle it.You won't be able to edit outside of the camera and upload edited files back, The HD1 won't recognize them.

Only HD option is to use video output from your PC to the plasma, or plug the camera directly to the plasma. You can edit in-camera using the camera's editing options. The new HD DVD and Blue Ray formats will allow more options in the near future.

I did downscale to DVD and was impressed with the video quality and widescreen footage.

Any idea if you can edit the HD1 footage in FCP? I was thinking about getting one and making an HD-DVD through DVD Studio to try it out.

Even using MPEG Streamclip? I will have a try and report on this.

I did it also and was happy with the results but I wasn't impressed. Maybe a consequence of editing with MovieFactory 4? Which editing software did you use?

Here is my confirmation that after having edited using MPEG streamclip and renamed the file SANY....MP4, the HD1 doesn't recognize the new file.

Any idea how it comes? SO, the only option left to read edited HD1 footage in HD definition is to use a PC...

Erick

If you have Windows XP Media Center, you can stream HD videos to an Xbox 360, wireless if you get the usb wireless device.

There's also a 360 Kiosk disk that might be out there that is bootable and the demo movies can be replaced with your own in WMVHD encoded video.

There might be some media extenders/hd enclosures that output HD using divx.

Probably your best bet is to try to find out what bitrate/codec is needed to be able to play back on the HD1 itself. Transfer some video over. Edit it. The encode it back to what the HD1 recognizes.

Hi Rodney,

Do you really think it might be possible? Can anyone in this forum provide me with advises on how to proceed? I am certainly not an expert in encoding procedures..;<(

Many thanks

This issue - manipulating files on a computer and then not being able to get them back onto the camera - comes up from time to time.

As I've said before, if we could solve this it would be a major breakthrough because would have an ideal video playback system for our HD1 footage.

-Extremely Portable
-High Definition
-Remote Control

I tried the moviefactory software that came with the camera, but wasn't impreesed with the end result. I now use vegas movie studio platinum dvd+. It has a much better result for less than $100 US.

As noted previously, I am using a Mac Mini Intel Dual Core connected to my Sony 60" HDTV. It works beautifully for editing and showing footage from the HD1. I render into Apple Intermediate Codec at 1280 x 720P, and process times are very fast. The files are obviously large, so I use an external hard drive. This is not an inexpensive solution, but then neither is a plasma screen (mine is projection LCD). There are other advantages to having a computer hooked to the TV -- surfing, etc.

You can start with quicktime's MP4 format to try. I don't have a HD1 myself, so I can't do any testing.

If you have Quicktime Pro, you can export the many video formats quicktime reads into other video formats.

My guess is that the Sanyo's use similar MP4 encoding as Apple quicktime. I read somewhere if you record in low res (320x240), the MP4 files can be read directly with an iPod with no re-encoding.

Looking at Bo's samples, the audio uses AAC, 48kkHz sample rate. You're going to have to guess a bitrate.

For video, try MP4 file format, MPEG-4 Basic video format, 1280x720 image size, 29.97 frame rate, 8000 kbps data rate?
For audio, try AAC-LC audio format, 48kHz sample rate, 128 kbps date rate?

Not really sure on the data rate numbers.. just a good place to start.

I don't know if it's likely to be solved. The users who are in the best position to devise a solution are users well-versed in video software and perhaps programming. Such users tend to have computers connected to their TVs or other preferred viewing device (CRT) and are probably happy with their computer playback options. My greatest motivation for devising a solution isn't to watch HD-1 video but rather to transfer movies to my HD-1 as an alternative to a video iPod. (Not DRM'ed movies or TV shows, obviously, as they are locked to iPod playback and, accordingly, very consumer un-friendly.) On the other hand, the HD-1 screen, while better than a video iPod screen, is still pretty small for watching movies so I haven't persued a solution.

Personally, I have my TV connected to three computers--a HTPC, Mac Mini, and MythTV PVR (Linux). They all play my HD-1 videos perfectly so I've never even used the HD-1 component video cable!

I've used the lowly iLife proggy, iMovie-HD and it works so FCP should work too. FCP is only available in FC Studio now, I think. $1300 is too rich for my blood! I can't find it now, but I saw a comparison chart of the Final Cut products. Final Cut Express HD($300) seemed like the one to buy for HD-1 work. The main advantage of FCP is native mode editing of DV, which won't help you with mp4 anyway. Nothing can edit mp4, natively!

Yes, it's 48kHz/16-bit audio. GSpot reports the audio as 160kbps sampling rate. CoreAAC decoder reports the audio as AAC-LC varying around 117-118 kbps (at least that's the rate for every HD1 sample I looked at). Nero reports the rates at 128 to 131, depending on the video. I suspect it's a variable sample rate.

There are so many things than can keep a file that's imported into the HD-1 from playing! The HD-1 does not have to support any particular profile, as it's only designed to play its own material. Many things in the A/V headers could trip it up too. Please report any success here and I'll try to help, but I don't have time to dig into it right now. (I'm too busy taking video of our 6 month old baby daughter :))

-Cal, DivX Forums Moderator

MP4 to AVI using MP4cam2avi or MPEG streamclip
 

Thank you All for your valuable answers.

Just another concern: should I expect some HD quality loss using one of these converters?
I am thinking about using some simple Editing software like PowerDirector or Première Elements which will probably not accept HD1 files sothat I will need some kind of prior-conversion like MP4 to AVI.
On the other hand, I am not really enthusiast to accept some quality loss.

Or, do you recommend that I upgrade to Vegas? It sounds like too complex for my little editing experience as I am only using MovieFactory till now!

Many thanks