Darrell KSR
10-04-2016, 08:48 AM
Warning: a lot of questions here. Hopefully somebody(ies) have experience with this they can share.
Here we go.
Facts:
1. I have been shooting in 1920x1080 recording, 17 Mbps, MP4. It uses about 8gb per hour of recording. Games are 90 minutes long, so they easily exceed 10gb.
2. The Canon Vixia HF700 records in several different options. The basic one is either AVCHD or MP4, then each of those have options. Since I don't know what AVCHD is, I've been shooting in MP4.
3. These are the recording options available:
a) AVCHD - NTSC: 60P (approx 28Mbps); MXP (approx 24 Mbps); FXP (Approx 17 Mbps) and LP (approx 5 Mbps). NTSC, MXP and FXP are 1920x1080 recording; LP is 1440x1080.
b) MP4 - 35 Mbps; 24 Mbps; 17 Mbps (all three are 1920 x 1080), and 4 Mbps (1280 x 720).
I have two main uses:
1. My daughter's show choir, theatrical performances, and audition tapes. Certainly, the audition tapes need to be the highest possible quality (somebody else will PROBABLY do these, but I want to learn as a backup alternative). The audition tapes will be short, maybe 10 minutes, but will be uploaded to the internet, maybe Youtube. For the other performances, I would like the best quality possible also, with the idea that it will probably be dumped to computer, then streamed to television. For her competition show choir, there is very fast-paced movement, if that makes a difference. I only have about seven more months of these things to do on a regular basis, then she'll be in college, and my opportunities will be sporadic at best, so I'd like to make sure I do this right. For planning purposes: she will be in two school plays, one musical, four show choir competitions, and have at least three separate and distinct audition "tapes" to do. Not that many, so I'd like to do it right, too.
2. My son's soccer matches. I do this for three reasons--first, the coach asked me to do it once. Once. So I started doing it every time. I have them "available" if he needs them. I don't think the quality needs to be that great for his purposes. Second, for our own purposes. That's for our enjoyment, for sharing with family, and for creating highlight videos for his future use. The quality on this should be very good. Third, for parents of other players who have asked me for copies. Their copies need to be reasonable, but if I sacrifice some small amount of quality in exchange for a nice size reduction, ease in making copies or uploading to Youtube, etc., great. Here's one issue: he will play approximately 25 club matches a year, plus another 30 high school matches. So figure 50-ish matches a year, or about 75 hours of video each and every year.
So here are my many questions.
a) What recording format should I be using for my daughter's (usually) indoor performance videos? I'm thinking AVCHD/NTSC: 60P. That uses what I think is an insane amount of space -- 8gb per 35 minutes of video, but I would be able to put 2-1/2 hours on a 32 gb card, which is likely the longest I'd ever have to record. Besides size of file, what are the other downsides to recording in that format? Can it be uploaded to Youtube that way? Can anything play it on a computer, or if burned to a DVD, on a TV? I am very familiar with MP4 and it seems compatible with everything, so that is a concern.
b) What recording format should I be using for my son's outdoor soccer matches? Same thing? I have been using the 17 Mbps setting, which is the lowest setting to still get 1920 x 1080 recording. I can get about 4 hours on a 32 gb card with this setting, but each game is maybe 12gb in size. I think that's a lot of hard drive space to use. OH--maybe the most important part--I am still trying to learn how best to record a soccer match, which covers an incredible distance (about 110 yards), sometimes back and forth in a matter of seconds. I can't zoom in too much, or else you get dizzy and miss a bunch of action, because the action is far too fast for the camera to follow (plus, I'm a Dad, so I watch the game first, then video second, in importance.) I've learned to have a mild zoom when the action is on the other side of the field, then no zoom if it is close, and try hard to stay with those two general settings. But it is fast, if that makes a difference.
Also--let's assume that I need to switch to the 60P setting, which will make the file sizes much larger. How much better will the quality be? It is negligible, or will it be substantial? On the other side--would I notice a big difference in quality loss, if I ratcheted it down below what I'm doing now, to save file space? I'm guessing I'm at the lowest setting I need to be, and may need to ratchet it back up.
c) After we decide on what setting I should be recording in, I now have questions about giving parents and others copies. Right now, all I have done is to take Windows Movie Maker, make a title page telling what the video is, take the audio down to "0," and "make a movie" MP4. I then upload it to Youtube. Takes many hours to do that, but eventually it makes it there.
For an example, see the video at the bottom of this post (a tournament game; only 70 minute long games since they played 4 in two days. I sometimes stop the action if there is a delay for injury, etc., so this 70-minute game had only 67 minutes of recording. Not unusual).
My questions:
1-what is the easiest way to give copies of these videos to people? It appears that they will all be massive files--even at the lower quality I'm using, probably 12gb per game. Is the easiest thing just to do what I'm doing, upload it to Youtube, and give everybody a link?
2-If I HAVE to put it on a DVD, are there DVDs that can hold that size?
3-If DVDs can't hold that size, can I compress the size to put it on a DVD? If so, how/what software?
4-If I compress the size, will there be a substantial loss in video/audio quality?
5-Besides the free alternatives, are there any reasonably priced software options that would make this a piece-of-cake easy process to do, quickly and with little learning curve? If this were a one-time thing, I wouldn't ask the question--but as I said, I am very likely to have the "job" of recording games for high school for the next three years.
Thanks for your help!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0H8Bq0FIww
Here we go.
Facts:
1. I have been shooting in 1920x1080 recording, 17 Mbps, MP4. It uses about 8gb per hour of recording. Games are 90 minutes long, so they easily exceed 10gb.
2. The Canon Vixia HF700 records in several different options. The basic one is either AVCHD or MP4, then each of those have options. Since I don't know what AVCHD is, I've been shooting in MP4.
3. These are the recording options available:
a) AVCHD - NTSC: 60P (approx 28Mbps); MXP (approx 24 Mbps); FXP (Approx 17 Mbps) and LP (approx 5 Mbps). NTSC, MXP and FXP are 1920x1080 recording; LP is 1440x1080.
b) MP4 - 35 Mbps; 24 Mbps; 17 Mbps (all three are 1920 x 1080), and 4 Mbps (1280 x 720).
I have two main uses:
1. My daughter's show choir, theatrical performances, and audition tapes. Certainly, the audition tapes need to be the highest possible quality (somebody else will PROBABLY do these, but I want to learn as a backup alternative). The audition tapes will be short, maybe 10 minutes, but will be uploaded to the internet, maybe Youtube. For the other performances, I would like the best quality possible also, with the idea that it will probably be dumped to computer, then streamed to television. For her competition show choir, there is very fast-paced movement, if that makes a difference. I only have about seven more months of these things to do on a regular basis, then she'll be in college, and my opportunities will be sporadic at best, so I'd like to make sure I do this right. For planning purposes: she will be in two school plays, one musical, four show choir competitions, and have at least three separate and distinct audition "tapes" to do. Not that many, so I'd like to do it right, too.
2. My son's soccer matches. I do this for three reasons--first, the coach asked me to do it once. Once. So I started doing it every time. I have them "available" if he needs them. I don't think the quality needs to be that great for his purposes. Second, for our own purposes. That's for our enjoyment, for sharing with family, and for creating highlight videos for his future use. The quality on this should be very good. Third, for parents of other players who have asked me for copies. Their copies need to be reasonable, but if I sacrifice some small amount of quality in exchange for a nice size reduction, ease in making copies or uploading to Youtube, etc., great. Here's one issue: he will play approximately 25 club matches a year, plus another 30 high school matches. So figure 50-ish matches a year, or about 75 hours of video each and every year.
So here are my many questions.
a) What recording format should I be using for my daughter's (usually) indoor performance videos? I'm thinking AVCHD/NTSC: 60P. That uses what I think is an insane amount of space -- 8gb per 35 minutes of video, but I would be able to put 2-1/2 hours on a 32 gb card, which is likely the longest I'd ever have to record. Besides size of file, what are the other downsides to recording in that format? Can it be uploaded to Youtube that way? Can anything play it on a computer, or if burned to a DVD, on a TV? I am very familiar with MP4 and it seems compatible with everything, so that is a concern.
b) What recording format should I be using for my son's outdoor soccer matches? Same thing? I have been using the 17 Mbps setting, which is the lowest setting to still get 1920 x 1080 recording. I can get about 4 hours on a 32 gb card with this setting, but each game is maybe 12gb in size. I think that's a lot of hard drive space to use. OH--maybe the most important part--I am still trying to learn how best to record a soccer match, which covers an incredible distance (about 110 yards), sometimes back and forth in a matter of seconds. I can't zoom in too much, or else you get dizzy and miss a bunch of action, because the action is far too fast for the camera to follow (plus, I'm a Dad, so I watch the game first, then video second, in importance.) I've learned to have a mild zoom when the action is on the other side of the field, then no zoom if it is close, and try hard to stay with those two general settings. But it is fast, if that makes a difference.
Also--let's assume that I need to switch to the 60P setting, which will make the file sizes much larger. How much better will the quality be? It is negligible, or will it be substantial? On the other side--would I notice a big difference in quality loss, if I ratcheted it down below what I'm doing now, to save file space? I'm guessing I'm at the lowest setting I need to be, and may need to ratchet it back up.
c) After we decide on what setting I should be recording in, I now have questions about giving parents and others copies. Right now, all I have done is to take Windows Movie Maker, make a title page telling what the video is, take the audio down to "0," and "make a movie" MP4. I then upload it to Youtube. Takes many hours to do that, but eventually it makes it there.
For an example, see the video at the bottom of this post (a tournament game; only 70 minute long games since they played 4 in two days. I sometimes stop the action if there is a delay for injury, etc., so this 70-minute game had only 67 minutes of recording. Not unusual).
My questions:
1-what is the easiest way to give copies of these videos to people? It appears that they will all be massive files--even at the lower quality I'm using, probably 12gb per game. Is the easiest thing just to do what I'm doing, upload it to Youtube, and give everybody a link?
2-If I HAVE to put it on a DVD, are there DVDs that can hold that size?
3-If DVDs can't hold that size, can I compress the size to put it on a DVD? If so, how/what software?
4-If I compress the size, will there be a substantial loss in video/audio quality?
5-Besides the free alternatives, are there any reasonably priced software options that would make this a piece-of-cake easy process to do, quickly and with little learning curve? If this were a one-time thing, I wouldn't ask the question--but as I said, I am very likely to have the "job" of recording games for high school for the next three years.
Thanks for your help!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0H8Bq0FIww