Can You See Difference Among Video Formats?

[Travel Freak]

I purchaed a Panasonic HDC-TM90 camcorder yesterday that records in 1920x1080/60i, 1920x1080/24p, 1440x1080/60i, & 1920x1080/60p. My first such camcorder. I am excited I am leaving on a trip to Turkey in 10 days. Which format would you use? I have 2011 Pro, standard DVD player,& I plan to purchase a large flat screen TV in near future. Need expert advise. I trust you guys! This is a once in a lifetime trip! Will I see a difference? Thank you!

[sknis]

I purchaed a Panasonic HDC-TM90 camcorder yesterday that records in 1920x1080/60i, 1920x1080/24p, 1440x1080/60i, & 1920x1080/60p. My first such camcorder. I am excited I am leaving on a trip to Turkey in 10 days. Which format would you use? I have 2011 Pro, standard DVD player,& I plan to purchase a large flat screen TV in near future. Need expert advise. I trust you guys! This is a once in a lifetime trip! Will I see a difference? Thank you!

 

Sounds like a great trip. Record at the higherst level you can (above). With what you have, you will only be able to make and play back a standardard DVD - 720 by 480 for now. They will look good.

 

Take along a bunch of extra SD cards but don't forget to actually look at what your are seeing without the camcorder in the way ! Remember to narrate or get a small digital voice recorder to help you remember.

 

Get yourself an extra hard drive to save those original video files to when you buy a blu-ray player and perhaps also a blu-ray burner.

 

Consider buying a blu-ray player that will play AVCHD discs. Those are high definition videos on a standard disc that must be played back on a blu-ray player. Read about AVCHD discs. You can get around 40 minutes of HD video on a disc.

 

BTY, the program will take a 60p and convert it to a 24p. 24p give you a movie type feel. The 60 and 24 refer to frames per second of video. 60 fps takes up more space on your recording device. The "i" and "p" are interlaced and progressive. Interlaced draws 1/2 of the lines on a display and then comes back and draws the rest of the lines. Progressive draws from top to bottom.

[Jim_Hardin]

It would be prudent to shoot some test samples at the highest settings and make a DVD now!

 

I found with my Canon, the highest setting is not 100% compatible with Roxio so I dropped down and record everything at the next setting

 

That way my files are 100% compatible instead of finding 2 or 3 in 10 that are unusable

[Travel Freak]

I deed, I feel overwhelmed reading the nearly 200 pages in the camcorder manual, the nearly 150 pages in the HD Writer AE 3.0 software manual, plus trying to get the house in order, pack, and so many other things. Tell me if I am wrong. All I write next is a guess on my part. The Pansonic HDC-TM90 has the highest record setting of 1080/60p but I must have HDMI, Blue Ray, HDMI components, and HDMI TV. I don't have any of these items as of now but perhaps down the road I will. The camcorder has settings called AVCHD - HA, HG, HX, and HE which, again I guess, don't need HDMI, etc. eqipment. If I set the video to AVCHD - HG that should give me a longer play time on a DVD. I guess, HA must be a higher bit rate requiring more space on a DVD thus a shorter play time. If I use AVCHD - HG perhaps I will get 2 hours on a DVD. This is all making me so nervous I am thinking about not taking the new camcorder but take my old DV tape camcorder!

[bimicher]

I deed, I feel overwhelmed reading the nearly 200 pages in the camcorder manual, the nearly 150 pages in the HD Writer AE 3.0 software manual, plus trying to get the house in order, pack, and so many other things. Tell me if I am wrong. All I write next is a guess on my part. The Pansonic HDC-TM90 has the highest record setting of 1080/60p but I must have HDMI, Blue Ray, HDMI components, and HDMI TV. I don't have any of these items as of now but perhaps down the road I will. The camcorder has settings called AVCHD - HA, HG, HX, and HE which, again I guess, don't need HDMI, etc. eqipment. If I set the video to AVCHD - HG that should give me a longer play time on a DVD. I guess, HA must be a higher bit rate requiring more space on a DVD thus a shorter play time. If I use AVCHD - HG perhaps I will get 2 hours on a DVD. This is all making me so nervous I am thinking about not taking the new camcorder but take my old DV tape camcorder!

 

Using a AVCHD setting will give you video which you can't play on any equipment you now have. You would have to convert it to lower quality to put on a DVD that will play on you non-HiDef equipment.

A standard 4.7GB DVD can only hold 40 minutes of AVCHD video but you need a BlueRay player to play it.

[sknis]

Plan for the future !

 

Capture with highest quality and save it. Create a Video Wave project and encode the video for what you have now -720 by 480 (lines of resolution). Save the originals for a couple of years from now when you have the right equipment.

 

BTW, 1 hour of best 720 by 480 video on a single layer disc. Any more will create junk quality. You could get almost 2 hours on a double layer disc IF your optical drive will burn it. Chances are that your DVD player will play it .

 

Also remember to use top quality DVD media brands. Verbatim and Toiyo Yuden- JVC (on-line only) have been considered the best.

[Travel Freak]

I don't mean to beat this almost dead horse with another question. You guys have been most helpful. 1080/60p might be problematic and I don't know the play time using 32gb,SD,Class 10 cards. Perhaps it is best to not use 1080/60p but to use AVCHD HA or HG. I read that the cards described results in HA are 17Mbps, 1980x1080, with playtime of 8 hours and in HG are 6Mbps, 1440x1080, with playtime of 24 hours. Can this be correct?? PLaytime seems high. Am I getting more confused?! Just tell me which you would use, please. I can't make an intelligent decison. Play time at your recommended setting is what I need. Oh, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this forum and you help!

[sknis]

I don't mean to beat this almost dead horse with another question. You guys have been most helpful. 1080/60p might be problematic and I don't know the play time using 32gb,SD,Class 10 cards. Perhaps it is best to not use 1080/60p but to use AVCHD HA or HG. I read that the cards described results in HA are 17Mbps, 1980x1080, with playtime of 8 hours and in HG are 6Mbps, 1440x1080, with playtime of 24 hours. Can this be correct?? PLaytime seems high. Am I getting more confused?! Just tell me which you would use, please. I can't make an intelligent decison. Play time at your recommended setting is what I need. Oh, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this forum and you help!

 

Are you really record 8 hours of continuous video a day? I know you won't record 24 hours a day ! You would spend you entire vacation looking through a view finder - not a good idea! ? What is the highest memory card that the camcorder will accept. My opinion only, I would buy 2 or 3 16 or 32 g cards and alternate them daily. Actually I would get 16g class 6 cards and use them. My opinion only !

 

I'd save my money for extra batteries. Normal ones only last about one hour; your may get up to 1 1/2 hours depending on how you use the camcorder. Here is one(not a recommendation) but as an example to show price.

 

Are you going to do images with that camcorder or just video. If you are going to capture images also, then you need the better card but I use class 6 on my digital camcorders and never have had a frame drop. If you were recording and panning close up during a car race you may lose a few frames. The chances of that are slight. Look at prices; if you can find 32g class 10 cards at a reasonable price compared to a couple of 16g class 6 cards, get them.

 

All the about are my opinions only. Others will have other opinions and when you come back, you'll have a third. Do you know anyone aroound you who took a HD camcorder on vacation; ask what they think.

 

Remember to talk about what you are seeing !

[bimicher]

I don't mean to beat this almost dead horse with another question. You guys have been most helpful. 1080/60p might be problematic and I don't know the play time using 32gb,SD,Class 10 cards. Perhaps it is best to not use 1080/60p but to use AVCHD HA or HG. I read that the cards described results in HA are 17Mbps, 1980x1080, with playtime of 8 hours and in HG are 6Mbps, 1440x1080, with playtime of 24 hours. Can this be correct?? PLaytime seems high. Am I getting more confused?! Just tell me which you would use, please. I can't make an intelligent decison. Play time at your recommended setting is what I need. Oh, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this forum and you help!

 

Have you looked at page 147 of the manual for the camcorder? It should give you all the information you need to make a decision

[Travel Freak]

I think I have it and it is because of your advise. Thank you!

 

BATTERIES: Alternate between two VW-VBK 180 batteries keeping each charged overnight giving me approx. 1 hr. each recording time. I hope that's not too short! I have never taken 2 hours of video in a day! I hope these batteries will give 2 hours each! I hate to buy another expensive battery!

BUILT-IN MEMORY for PHOTOS: Use 16 GB built-in memory for 5M photos to give me an astounding 6,000 photos! I will never take that many!

SD CARDS for VIDEOS: Alternate among three 32GB SD,HC,Class 10 cards. Recording HA or HG (not sure which, maybe both on separate cards) giving me in (HA)4 hours per card or (HG) 5 hours, 20 mins. per card. I have never taken more than 10 hours on an extended trip. This June I returned from a three week trip to Russia and I took 9 hours of video. I usually take three shots for one scene and choose later which to keep when I edit.

 

If you think I'm wrong please let me know.

 

Thank you again and I'll let the group know how things turn out. Sağ Olun!!! Thank you in Turkish.

[gi7omy]

Be careful if you are just 'topping up' a partially discharged NiMh or NiCad battery - these have a 'memory' defect that will cause them to show empty

 

The best way (with new batteries) is to overnight charge and let it discharge fully a couple of times - that way they will hold a full charge

 

Lithium Polymer (if those are fitted) don't have that problem