Quality benefits of uncompressed?
 

Hi

Does anyone know what the acctual quality gain is if you capture uncompressed rather than HDV. I mean image for image is there much difference to the eye?

Thanks

Trevor

Are you asking about running off of the Camera's YRB outputs? There is some gain to be had by that, in that you are skipping a lossy MPEG2 step, but you're tethered to a expensive deck

After recording to tape simple answer is that; for straight video, there is no gain. You can't get more information than was actually recorded onto the tape.

However, if you are adding graphics or doing any sort of compositing, adding effects, layers, transitions, what have you... You can benefit from the increased quality of an uncompressed codec.

Trevor.
Keep in mind that the HD100 doesn't give you uncompressed signal, even when using Component out. That output gives you a "less compressed" signal, one that is not so crushes as the HDV one. An uncompressed signal would give you 4:4:4 color representation, component out gives you 4:2:2 instead of 4:2:0. That's the main advantage and yes, you can see the difference.
In addition, the better color coding gives you a better starting point for chromakey.

Is that the same for the other cameras in the shootouts or do they provide uncompressed output?

Calling an analog signal 4:anything:anything is not entirely accurate, since those numbers are referring to digital sampling rates. It's all dependent on the digital sampling rate of the deck you use to capture. Also, 4:2:2 can still be considered "uncompressed."

Hi thanks for the replies.

I notice that DV Rack will capture 422 shortly but only through firewire. Anyone know how to convert from component to firewire?

Thanks

Trevor