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Author Topic: Optimizing HD video for a large LCD screen  (Read 4101 times)

spotmeter

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Optimizing HD video for a large LCD screen
« on: July 19, 2011, 09:52:49 pm »

I recently used my Canon XF305 to shoot a large number of landscape videos and now want to prepare them in FCP for a 60" Sharp Aquos LCD.

As I have not done this before, I am wondering whether it is better to make a blu-ray disc of the videos or to play the files from a hard drive.

According to the manual, the best picture quality is through the HDMI port, and the LCD can play a number of video file types.

If I go the hard drive route, I am not sure which type of video file would be best for scenes that have a lot of fine detail.

I am wondering how to optimize my files for this display.  How large can the files be?  I'd like to have the least amount of compression possible.

Does anyone have any experience preparing video files for this LCD? 

Appreciate any guidelines from those who have done this.

Thanks.
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Christopher Sanderson

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Re: Optimizing HD video for a large LCD screen
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2011, 09:29:07 am »

I have no direct experience with the camera or the display, but Canon's native XF format of MPEG-2 4:2:2 is an excellent place to start and stay.

Unless there are hardware related data-rate bottlenecks within your system that require transcoding to a lesser bitrate than the native 50 mbs, I would stay within the XF format since most NLEs support it.

So best playback would be from a fast hard drive or RAID out through an HDMI i/o box from AJA, Matrox or Black Magic.

Sareesh Sudhakaran

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Re: Optimizing HD video for a large LCD screen
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2011, 12:38:54 pm »

I recently used my Canon XF305 to shoot a large number of landscape videos and now want to prepare them in FCP for a 60" Sharp Aquos LCD.

...I am wondering how to optimize my files for this display.  How large can the files be?  I'd like to have the least amount of compression possible.


Your LCD monitor is 1920x1080 at rec709. The images you shot on the  xf305 are the same specs. No amount of transcoding or rendering will give you more detail. In an ideal scenario, you must show the videos as is.

For a one-render situation (assuming no effects have been added), an authored blu-ray disc might be acceptable. A lot of people won't be able to tell the difference. To test, I suggest you go this route (with standard render settings) and only if you are unhappy with the result should you try this:

If you are going to edit on FCP (which transcodes everything during ingestion into its unnecessary mov wrapper), the best you can do is render your timeline to an avi wrapper (which can also be read by modern DVD and Blu-ray players), in the MPEG-2 codec, with the same bit rate as your source footage, in the same frame rate. This file can be copied to a Blu-ray so that it behaves like a data disc instead of an authored blu-ray disc. If the file size is smaller than 8GB, you can even get it onto a DVD as a data disc.

HDMI is not a robust connector, and is prone to many issues. This must be your last option.
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spotmeter

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Re: Optimizing HD video for a large LCD screen
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2011, 12:51:36 pm »

I have no direct experience with the camera or the display, but Canon's native XF format of MPEG-2 4:2:2 is an excellent place to start and stay.

Unless there are hardware related data-rate bottlenecks within your system that require transcoding to a lesser bitrate than the native 50 mbs, I would stay within the XF format since most NLEs support it.

So best playback would be from a fast hard drive or RAID out through an HDMI i/o box from AJA, Matrox or Black Magic.

Thanks, Chris. Appreciate your thoughtful input.
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