Shooting for Streaming, Part 2 

By Jan Ozer

In our last episode, we faced a paradox. Producing a streaming file of less-than-SD resolution using format-native presets in Adobe Premiere Pro showed much better results for HDV source files than for DV...

Shooting for Streaming, Part 1 

By Jan Ozer

This month’s offering is a drama showing just how far a man will go to prove that he's right (or perhaps, not wrong). What’s in it for you besides the guilty pleasure of reading a desperate nail-biter? It’s called stealth learning...

Test Drive: Panasonic AG-HMC70, Part 2 

By Jan Ozer

Back again with the $2,100 (street) shoulder-mount Panasonic AG-HMC70. In the previous installment, I evaluated features and usability. Here, I’ll look at quality and summarize the comparison of the HMC70 with the $1,900 Sony HVR-HD1000U HDV camcorder, the HMC70’s closest competitor...

Test Drive: Panasonic AG-HMC70, Part 1 

By Jan Ozer

The basic value proposition for the Panasonic AG-HMC70 is this: You get shoulder-mount stability, up to 32GB of SD card storage for AVCHD video, and good but relatively inaccessible exposure and related controls for less than $2,100 street...

Encoding Best Practices, Part 2 

By Jan Ozer

In the previous installment, you read about which streaming codecs major broadcasters and corporate producers were using. Now you’ll see the results of some quality comparisons that I presented at Streaming Media East in New York last month...

Encoding Best Practices, Part 1 

By Jan Ozer

This month I take a break from our HD production chores to look at streaming-related issues. In this first installment, I’ll share the results of a survey I recently completed that details the best practices of high-profile broadcast and corporate streaming producers, examining options such as codec choice, video resolution, audio and video data rates, and frame rate...

Software Field Monitors, Part 2 

By Jan Ozer

As I discussed last issue, one of the coolest product categories in the HDV@Work space is software programs that provide video scopes, a large preview monitor, direct-to-disc recording capabilities (DDR), and other features. In this issue, we'll take a closer look at two products in that category. Adobe OnLocation CS3 is the grandfather of software field monitors...

Software Field Monitors, Part 1 

By Jan Ozer

One of the coolest product categories in the HDV@Work space is software programs that provide video scopes, a large preview monitor, direct-to-disc recording capabilities (DDR), and other features. In this issue, I'll introduce you to the category of products and illustrate and explain some of their benefits...

Know Your Formats, Part 2 

By Jan Ozer

This month, we’re tackling high-definition video formats. In the first segment, I discussed what aspect ratio is and why you care about it. In this issue, I’ll discuss the remaining items of the features table...

Know Your Formats, Part 1 

By Jan Ozer

Many digital shooters started with DV video, which hammered the nail in the analog-video coffin and democratized video production by dropping the price of capturing very good video from $25,000 (Betacam SP camera and deck)...

Have You Hugged Your Metadata Today? Part 2 

By Jan Ozer

In the last segment, I extolled the virtues of Panasonic’s P2 cards and the Material eXchange Format (MXF) used thereon. In this segment I review Adobe’s P2 and MXF workflow. Just to change things up, I’ll write this segment as a FAQ, rather than a narrative, which will identify the questions I feel are key to any implementation of P2/MXF support...

Have You Hugged Your Metadata Today? Part 1 

By Jan Ozer

It’s going to be an exciting NAB Show for Panasonic. Not only will P2 cards be available at 32GB capacity (with 64GB on the horizon), the company will show AVC-Intra technology with full-raster 1920x1080 capture at 100Mbps--a great upgrade from the native 1280x1080 resolution used in DVCPRO HD 1080. Adobe also has a new bauble for the DVX crowd, specifically native MXF (Media eXchange Format)...

Test Drive: External Drive Connections, Part 2 

By Jan Ozer

This month’s segment is about external drives for DV and HDV editing. In the last segment, I identified the characteristics of the technologies you should be considering, and in this segment, I’ll discuss the results of my testing...

Test Drive: External Drive Connections, Part 1 

By Jan Ozer

While most Core 2 Duo-based notebooks have enough horsepower for serious video editing, few have the disk space for even moderately long projects. If you’re editing on the road, this means getting an external hard drive that’s fast enough to keep up with your editing, but won’t weigh you down. Fortunately, there’s lots of good things happening in this market in terms of speed, size, and costs...

Test Drive: Sony HVR-HD1000U, Part 2 

Back again with the new $1,900 shoulder-mount Sony HVR-HD1000U. In this segment, I analyze image quality and low-light performance...

Test Drive: Sony HVR-HD1000U, Part 1 

By Jan Ozer

I recently had a look at Sony’s new $1,900 HVR-HD1000U single-chip, shoulder-mount camcorder, which I reviewed for Digital Content Producer in the January 2008 issue. That review mostly focused on technical specs and usability. In the first of this two-part series, I’ll lay out some brief background information and describe the operation and quality of the camcorder’s Smooth Slow Motion feature...

Integrating DV Source Footage into HDV Projects, Part 2 

By Jan Ozer

This month, I take on the daunting task of scaling DV footage to HDV for inclusion in high definition projects. In our last installment, I described what you need to know to produce high-quality results; in this edition, I share the results obtained with Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro...

Integrating DV Source Footage into HDV Projects, Part 1 

By Jan Ozer

Sooner or later, if you're an HDV shooter, you'll need to use DV source footage in one of your high-def productions. It could be a multicamera shoot with mixed DV/HDV equipment, or inserting SD B-roll into your HDV project. But sooner or later, it'll happen, and then you'll be facing two basic questions...

Test Drive: HP Compaq 8710p, Part 2 

By Jan Ozer

In our last segment, I reviewed the features and usability of HP's Compaq 8710p notebook computer. In this segment, I’ll review performance...

Test Drive: HP Compaq 8710p, Part 1 

By Jan Ozer

My love affair with portable computers began in about 1983, when I taught myself Lotus 1-2-3 on a luggable Compaq, right there on my kitchen table one Friday night (and early Saturday morning). Other milestones include the my first Toshiba clamshell, which I used to demo fax boards on press tours back in the early 1990s...

Format Wars: HDV Output, Part 2 

By Jan Ozer

This article describes the hardware and software options for authoring and producing Blu-ray Discs to recordable media. In our last installment, I discussed these options for HD DVD videos, and compared Blu-ray to HD DVD from the perspective of the HDV producer...

Format Wars: HDV Output, Part 1 

By Jan Ozer

I’ve been shooting in HDV for about two years, and it used to break my heart to scale my gorgeous 1920x1080i footage down to 720x480 to produce an SD DVD. Then, in late 2006, the first high-definition recordable DVD options became available. I’ve been producing in high definition ever since...

Test Drive: MacBook Pro vs. Mac Pro, Part 2 

By Jan Ozer

Just to get you up to speed, let’s review. This article attempts to contrast and compare the video editing experience on an Apple MacBook Pro notebook computer and dual-processor, dual-core Mac Pro desktop. In the last installment, I detailed each computer’s specs, discussed the difference in screen size and disk capacity and the like...

Test Drive: MacBook Pro vs. Mac Pro, Part 1 

By Jan Ozer

Although I’m more technology geek than journalist, I love a good scoop just as much as they do at The Washington Post or The New York Times. Sometimes, however, you pick a subject, do your research, and dog does, in fact, bite man and Goliath beats David in an early first-round knockout...

Matrox RT.X2 in the Real World: Part 2 

By Jan Ozer

The strongest first impression of the Matrox RT.X2 is the realtime HD preview to flat panel LCD monitor via the RT.X2’s DVI output. ...