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| Comment: A tapeless HD future? |
| As both Panasonic and Sony take up the challenge of launching truly tapeless High Definition camcorders that use the new AVCHD format, we ask "Is this really the end for Mini DV?" |
 The announcement, by Panasonic Europe, that it is to bring two new AVCHD format camcorders (the HDC-DX1 DVD and HDC-SD1 SD cams respectively) to market during March 2007 could be considered to be a forward-thinking and progressive decision based upon accurate market research - or it could turn out to be an expensive gamble. At worst, it could be another MICROMV non-starter as happened to Sony at the beginning of the current millenium. That's unlikely, however, since AVCHD is supported not only by the two founding companies - the Matsushita Electric Ind. Co. (Panasonic) and the Sony Corporation - but also by an increasing list of companies that includes Canon, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sonic Systems, Cyberlink, Intervideo and Nero.
On the face of it, AVCHD surely takes us one step closer to the holy grail that is high quality, high definition, video clips that occupy the smallest space within the storage media being used to acquire the clips. In other words, the video cameras themselves don't need to be so big due to the smallness of the storage medium.
Up until now, we've seen the gradual introduction of products that facilitate the recording and replay of video clips that depend upon a high level of video compression to shoe-horn lots of data onto a small recording medium; this has resulted in tiny handbag or pocket-sized devices like those from Sanyo, Sony and Panasonic, that use a compression system shared by every home DVD disk - MPEG-2.
MPEG is a form of compression that effectively results in the discarding of what's known as "redundant data" in favour of only the data needed to cope with the differences between one frame and the next within each group of pictures. By paying more attention to the bits that change rather than the bits that don't, it's possible to massively reduce the file sizes of clips. In that way, we can cram a couple of hours of video onto a standard disk. That's called compression, and MPEG-2 has been the standard compression format associated with DVD video for several years now.
Meeting the need for High Definition whilst minimising file sizes
Whilst hardware and software manufacturers have now got to grips with the problems associated with recording compressed video sequences as MPEG-2 streams in DVD, HDD and SD card video cameras, in addition to providing solutions to the import and editing of those clips in a Windows or Mac computer (it's much more difficult to edit MPEG-2 video sequences accurately than it is to edit MiniDV footage, for instance), they're now faced with the even bigger problem of finding a way of coping with an even more efficient CoDec (a "Compression and Decompression" method).
AVCHD produces stunningly good video sequences in High Definition due to the use of a CoDec called MPEG-4 AVC H.264. It's especially good at cramming an incredible amount of data into a small space - such as onto the surface of a DVD disk or SD memory card - but at a cost to what's called "processing overhead". Such a high degree of number-crunching requires powerful technology to compress, and then decompress, the data that makes up the picture and sound sequences.
Is this a problem for the end-user?
Not really. After all, the consumer merely picks up the video camera, records sequences as intended and then plays it back. Using the appropriate connections, it's possible to play back video sequences on a High Definition TV set and enjoy what's been recorded in superb technical quality. It's when that same user wishes to tidy up the clips by trimming off the unwanted bits or making more detailed changes to them that the problems start - at least for the time being. The reason for this is that although AVCHD is a highly efficient compression format, it's almost impossible to "edit" the material in a computer in the way we've come to expect with digital tape formats like DV, Digital-8 and even (more recently) HDV (the latter of which records to a DV-sized tape and uses MPEG-2 compression).
What if I'm only interested in playing the clips directly off my camcorder into the HD television using HDMI or component connections as provided?
That's not a problem at all. Your HD TV will display the clips recorded on your AVCHD camcorder directly into the TV and you'll be amazed at the quality - both in terms of the pictures and also the 5.1 Surround Sound, too (depending on how you're listening to the sound, of course). It's also possible that you may wish to buy a High Definition DVD player (either Blu-ray or HD-DVD format) into which to pop the recorded DVD disk, or transfer the clips onto high definition DVD by connecting to the DVD recorder and transferring from the SD or HDD camcorder. This does, of course, depend upon technologies that are only now being introduced - so it's pretty much "theory" rather than "practice" in most cases! But sooner or later you'll want to do more with your clips!
So what do I do if I want to start editing my clips?
The short answer is that there's not much you can do at the moment. The main software makers who specialise in video editing solutions (companies like Adobe, Avid, Sony, Ulead, and so on) will all be introducing either significant updates or new versions of their popular consumer video software titles as we progress through 2007, but at the moment it's a case of sitting tight and waiting.
So - is AVCHD really another giant step towards a tapeless camcorder future?
Even with the proliferation of new digital video recording formats and the increasing interest in high definition TV viewing and playback systems in the home, the announcement of these two new AVCHD models represents a giant leap of faith on the part of Panasonic. Even though the tape-based HDV 1080i format is still trying to find its feet in an increasingly cut-throat market-place, it would appear that manufacturers are now determined to push the digital video world in the direction of a totally tapeless, if not solid-state, future. It's also clear from conversations that we've been having with senior product engineers that there's much more to come. Perhaps the end really is nigh for MiniDV and other consumer digital video tape-based formats, after all.
AVCHD: The beginning, but by no means the end of other formats. Yet.
The big advantage of AVCHD as a format for high definition video recording and reproduction is that it's a very efficient means with which to compress a lot of detailed picture and sound information into a small space (look at the minute size of an SD card as you see what we mean). That's why the MPEG-4 H.264 codec is being widely adopted in not only home video systems but also in the distribution of broadcast-quality high definition television programming. However, we're still too early in the development cycle of the format - as far as consumer video recording and editing products are concerned - to be able to efficiently edit the recordings or even share them with others via DVD. The latter will require the use of either Bluray or HD-DVD high-speed, high-capacity, formats for this purpose, and they're not anywhere near established in the market place yet. So - even if you're considering buying one of the new Panasonic models you will only be able to play your clips to a High Definition TV via the supplied connections and no more. If you want to capture to a computer and edit the clips in any way at all, you'll currently be forced to export as analogue and do it that way. Which, of course, defeats the object entirely.
Useful sources of information:
Author: Colin Barrett, SimplyDV Ltd. Wednesday December 6th, 2006.
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