Intensity: compressed codec capture

Nathan Shane · August 7th, 2007, 08:09 AM

Okay...I'm looking to capture compressed but with at least better quality than HDV. It looks like Cineform supports capturing from the Intensity and I've got an HV20, so would NeoHDV be the right Cineform product for using with my camera and the Intensity?

Reading online, it looks like the JPEG codec that comes with the Intensity is just not quite good enough but does anyone know of other compression codecs that will work with the Intensity?

Can any codec be used by the Intensity, such as whatever codecs have been installed by Sony Vegas 7e or others I could download?

Thomas Smet · August 7th, 2007, 10:50 AM

For the price the jpeg codec is very nice. It is just as good if not better then any DCT based tape format and may actually look better then HDCAM compression itself due to the fact that it uses 4:2:2 color. It isn't perfect of course but it is good.

The way I look at it is that if HDV is a 5 and uncompressed is a 10 then

uncompressed = 10
Cineform = 9.5
jpeg = 8.5
HDV = 5

jpeg is still lightyears ahead of HDV in terms of quality. Cineform only gives you a tiny quality edge over jpeg but you do pay for that advantage. Cineform is a great codec and I love it. I'm just saying that the jpeg isn't garbage either.

Nathan Shane · August 7th, 2007, 11:15 AM

Thanks for your ratings there Thomas, that helps put things in a better perspective. I guess it's just a matter of actually trying the JPEG codec - but of course, that comes at the price of having to buy the Intensity first. But it's not like the Intensity would ever be a useless piece of hardware, for what it costs it's definitely a great value. Looks like I may need to get both the Intensity and Cineform to use together and separately.

Thomas Smet · August 7th, 2007, 01:24 PM

You don't have to buy the card yet. Blackmagic allows people to download the software and drivers to test out the codecs. All you do is install the card drivers and then you can render material to the jpeg codec. I know it may be hard to come up with some raw material to test out but try to take some good clean HDV material and see how well that compresses to the jpeg codec. You could also try to create some raw HD material by either rendering out some computer graphics or animating some still photos to see how well it holds up. Of course those are not the best tests but they can tell you a little bit. Computer graphics tend to be too sharp so you will see artifacts you wouldn't normally see with footage from a video camera. Animated still photos give you real world examples but you don't have the random movements in detail like you would have with real video footage.

One test I like to do is to take 4 different HDV shots and scale them down so all four fit on the screen and then compress that. That still gives you the randomness of real world footage but the higher quality because you reduce the HDV artifacts and lack of detail.

Try some of these methods and maybe even try out the trial version of Cineform at the same time to see if the extra edge is worth the money.

August 7th, 2007, 08:09 AM	#1
Nathan Shane Regular Crew Join Date: May 2007 Location: Addison, Texas Posts: 178	Intensity: compressed codec capture - which ones work? Okay...I'm looking to capture compressed but with at least better quality than HDV. It looks like Cineform supports capturing from the Intensity and I've got an HV20, so would NeoHDV be the right Cineform product for using with my camera and the Intensity? Reading online, it looks like the JPEG codec that comes with the Intensity is just not quite good enough but does anyone know of other compression codecs that will work with the Intensity? Can any codec be used by the Intensity, such as whatever codecs have been installed by Sony Vegas 7e or others I could download?

August 7th, 2007, 10:50 AM	#2
Thomas Smet Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 1,719	For the price the jpeg codec is very nice. It is just as good if not better then any DCT based tape format and may actually look better then HDCAM compression itself due to the fact that it uses 4:2:2 color. It isn't perfect of course but it is good. The way I look at it is that if HDV is a 5 and uncompressed is a 10 then uncompressed = 10 Cineform = 9.5 jpeg = 8.5 HDV = 5 jpeg is still lightyears ahead of HDV in terms of quality. Cineform only gives you a tiny quality edge over jpeg but you do pay for that advantage. Cineform is a great codec and I love it. I'm just saying that the jpeg isn't garbage either.

August 7th, 2007, 11:15 AM	#3
Nathan Shane Regular Crew Join Date: May 2007 Location: Addison, Texas Posts: 178	Thanks for your ratings there Thomas, that helps put things in a better perspective. I guess it's just a matter of actually trying the JPEG codec - but of course, that comes at the price of having to buy the Intensity first. But it's not like the Intensity would ever be a useless piece of hardware, for what it costs it's definitely a great value. Looks like I may need to get both the Intensity and Cineform to use together and separately.

August 7th, 2007, 01:24 PM	#4
Thomas Smet Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 1,719	You don't have to buy the card yet. Blackmagic allows people to download the software and drivers to test out the codecs. All you do is install the card drivers and then you can render material to the jpeg codec. I know it may be hard to come up with some raw material to test out but try to take some good clean HDV material and see how well that compresses to the jpeg codec. You could also try to create some raw HD material by either rendering out some computer graphics or animating some still photos to see how well it holds up. Of course those are not the best tests but they can tell you a little bit. Computer graphics tend to be too sharp so you will see artifacts you wouldn't normally see with footage from a video camera. Animated still photos give you real world examples but you don't have the random movements in detail like you would have with real video footage. One test I like to do is to take 4 different HDV shots and scale them down so all four fit on the screen and then compress that. That still gives you the randomness of real world footage but the higher quality because you reduce the HDV artifacts and lack of detail. Try some of these methods and maybe even try out the trial version of Cineform at the same time to see if the extra edge is worth the money.