HD video playback

<p>Having seen the difference between HD and smaller video formats, I want to shoot only HD. Until I upgrade my XP computer to 64-bit Win 7, a lot of RAM and a faster video card, I am willing to keep my videos on the card, playing them back via HDMI cable on HD TV using as a playback device the Canon S95 or Canon 5DII they were shot with. Aside from the impracticality of tying up an expensive fast card that I dedicate to video, do you see any problem with this temporary approach? If playback of HD video is problematic with a computer that's not up to the job, is simple editing possible, such as cutting from the beginning and end?</p>

<p><em>Do you see any problem with this temporary approach?</em><br>

<em></em>This approach is OK if all you want to do is playback the raw camera video files and<br>

watch what is captured, in its raw state. Eventually that card is going to fill up and<br>

you will have to switch to a different card or move the raw files to the PC so you<br>

can reuse the same card.</p>

<p>However, typically most people want to process that footage and produce something<br>

with it, ie DVD video, Web video, computer video etc. And if the raw files have any<br>

defects that need correcting and/or material that needs removing, then you have to<br>

process the material somehow to make these corrections as well as add any enhancments<br>

like voice narration, sound tracks, text overlays, special effects, and scene transitions.</p>

<p><em>If playback of HD video is problematic with a computer that's not up to the job, is simple editing possible, such as cutting from the beginning and end</em>?<br>

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. You need to check the software CD that came with your<br>

camera, see if it has a simple "no frills" video editor utility designed to handle the raw file<br>

format created by that camera. (A new video camera usually comes with a proprietary video<br>

edit utility that enables you to make simple edits.) Install that software on your PC, make<br>

sure there are no errors when you install it. Be sure to shutdown and reboot the PC after<br>

installation is complete.</p>

<p>Then go out and shoot some sample footage with you camera in video mode, to give you<br>

some raw video test footage to work with. Then come back in and import that raw video<br>

to your PC. You might have to use the video program itself to do the COPY function from<br>

the camera to the PC. Or you might can use a simple card-reader adaptor to manually move<br>

the files to the PC, and then run the video program and see if you can select and load the<br>

files that way.</p>

<p>Now here is where you find out if your particular PC has the performance necessary to work<br>

with HD video files. Spend a while browsing around the video program interface, to see<br>

where all the functions and controls are. Look for a function called REVIEW, as well as the<br>

CLIP function. There are usually FAST FORWARD and FAST REVERSE functions, as well as<br>

GO TO BEGINNING and GO TO END functions.</p>

<p>The basic idea is to use some of t hat sample footage, and play around with the video edit<br>

software that came with the camera, while observing whether your PC is handling the task<br>

OK and still workable, or if it just chokes and gets so bogged down that the video editor is<br>

practically unusable. Again, some PCs can, some cannot.</p>

<p>It'll be pretty obivious after a while if your PC has the muscle to do this type task. If the video editor interface hangs up, stutters badly, glitches, etc, then the HD data is obviously overloading the system components.</p>

<p>Another idea is to carefully check the camera itself, and the camera manual, to learn all the video edit functions that are builtin to the camera. You may find the camera does indeed support its own functions to CLIP an existing segment at a spot you select. Then you just keep the sections you want and throw away (DELETE) the rest. So thats another thing to check.</p>

<p>There are some things you can do to a basic Windows XP system to optimize component performance, resulting in a higher performing system better able to process video. Like...<br>

1) Run DEFRAG about 6 times on all your local hard drives.<br>

2) Install more RAM (up to 3GB for an XP system).<br>

3) Install a dedicated High-Performance graphics card (from a major brand like Radeon).<br>

4) Get a new LCD monitor if your existing monitor is old.<br>

5) Install a second SATA hard-drive, use the 10,000 Rpm Western Digital VelociRaptor. Put your video files on that drive, so all the file I/O's are handled from the high-speed drive. And keep your video projects on that drive until they are completed, then move em offline to a slower USB hard drive.</p>

<p>Things like this may improve the performance of the existing system enough so you can work with HD footage and do simple edits.</p>

<p>Eventually, if you really get into video editing, you will want to purchase some quality video edit software. If you know the raw footage is HD, then be sure you get a video editor that is designed and rated to handle HD, AND be sure the package you get is compactible with, will load, and work with the type files produced by your camera. It is really frustrating to buy some quality software, get it loaded, and then watch it 'error out' and say it cant load your camera files. So take your time, ask around, do some research to be sure.</p>

 

<p>Alan,<br>

Thank you. This is about the best and most complete answer I could have hoped for.<br>

Doug</p>

<p>Doug, just to add a bit to Alan's reply:</p>

<p>"3) Install a dedicated High-Performance graphics card"<br>

- with lots of RAM.</p>

<p>"4) Get a new LCD monitor if your existing monitor is old."<br>

- with at least 1920x1080 native resolution for HD playback. </p>

<p>5) Install a second SATA hard-drive, use the 10,000 Rpm Western Digital VelociRaptor. <br>

- This might be a bit more complicated depending on your SATA host controller - older machines may not have the throughput rate to take advantage of modern drives. <br>

[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA#Revisions">Link</a>]<br>

<a href="https://www.google.ca/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=1%2C920%C3%971%2C080#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=hybrid+drive&oq=hybrid+drive&aq=f&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_l=serp.3..0l4.1322385l1324673l0l1324828l12l9l0l3l3l0l387l1710l0j6j2j1l11l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=a0020e5aa2ff0d18&biw=1440&bih=813">Hybrid drives</a> and <a href="https://www.google.ca/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=1%2C920%C3%971%2C080#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=SSD&oq=SSD&aq=f&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_l=serp.3..0l4.145347l145763l1l146775l3l3l0l0l0l0l146l430l0j3l3l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=a0020e5aa2ff0d18&biw=1440&bih=813">Solid-State Drives</a> are also options if the computer is up to snuff. </p>

<p>I feel your pain. I shot one 5D II HD video and reluctant to do another. Shooting video means not shooting stills. Perhaps I will follow your idea. I do have lots of external hard drive space, so storing them is not the problem. I will try to split this soccer season between video and stills.</p>

<p>I am quite displeased with Canon over this. In using such a limiting format they should have at least provided some software to utilize it or at very very least provided a "RAW" type converter for the .mov files. </p>

<p>I recommend starting with an external drive for now. My nephew maintains the most powerful and current PC that he can and has no problem with Canon HD video. I have tried at least a dozen on line programs as well as a dozen online converters with extremely limiting success with XP/Intel dual core/2 GB Ram and I highly doubt a few minor tweaks and a new graphic card is going to be enough.</p>

<p>You probably just need more RAM in your PC. However, when I had this same problem and went to best buy to get more RAM and a newer video card for my desktop. I found an IBM Lenovo laptop with 6 Gigs ram expandable to 8 with 500 GB hard drive,Windows 7 64-bit, and an ESATA port, for $399. This was about the same as the memory and video card. <br>

In terms of software I upgraded from Sony Vegas to Adobe Premiere Pro 64-bit and Lightroom 4. Because it is a laptop the ESATA (External Sata) port was extremely useful. I got a 3TB 10,000 RPM SATA drive for $130 with the 56GBP/s data bus and it is greate for rendering video. Much much faster than both USB 2 and 3. </p>