Navigating New Technologies and Legacy Workflows for Live Productions
It takes time and money to replace acquisition, editing, and delivery equipment to conform to new and ever-changing standards, and often there are elements of our production gear or workflow that get upgraded while others get left behind. Here Shawn Lam provides some tips to combat these issues.
Outputting Uncompressed Signals
All the noise reduction in the world can't compensate for the limitations of the HDV codec. Fortunately, most video cameras also offer alternative output options. I'm not talking about Flash memory or FireWire-based recording as they are all post-compression and are reduced to 4:2:0 sampling but, rather, the raw HDMI or HD-SDI outputs that offer uncompressed video signals, with 4:2:2 sampling.
Recording uncompressed HDMI or HD-SDI video signals, especially in the field, used to be very expensive and only a few truly portable options existed. This all changed in early 2011 with the introduction of a new breed of affordable portable recording devices that allow uncompressed or intraframe recording to Apple's ProRes 422 or 444 format. See my ATOMOS Ninja review on pp. ??-?? of this issue for details on my favorite model. The neat thing about these recorders is that they are as useful for both older HDV video cameras as they are for AVCHD models and others using H.264-based formats like the Sony NEX-FS100, as they can record higher-quality video signals with a nicer codec than can the video camera, which is limited by codec and memory card limitations.
My Sony Z7U outputting an uncompressed signal with HDMI out
The video production industry sure has changed a lot over my first million. When I look back I'll remember it as the period of time where the evolution of technologies and workflows didn't always result in improvements for both existing and new delivery options. Looking forward, I'm excited that I can at least start work on my second million using solutions so that the encoding on my DVDs, Blu-rays, live switches, webcasting, and web videos live up to my million-dollar standards.
Shawn Lam (video at shawnlam.ca) runs Shawn Lam Video, an international award-winning Vancouver video production studio. He specializes in stage event and corporate video production, technical direction, and webcast production.