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Alex-F
Alex-F
Participant
August 11, 2018
Question

ADVANCED QUESTION - Choosing Camera Video Setting

  • August 11, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 578 views

Level: Advanced Query

Choosing "the right" camera video setting has a vital impact on image quality and editing/post-production, both today and in the future, as many of us know. - The thread is about this.

* * *

Hello Everyone,

Background: I’m a veteran photographer and retoucher since more than two decades ago. I have currently for a couple years put effort in enhancing my skill set in: Creating video with the camera and Premiere Elements. Now I need some advanced advice, please.

With Mediainfo, I have on a deeper level investigated the characteristics and capabilities of the options my Sony camera offers. Hence I would be fond of some experienced answers on the following questions. Thank you for your cooperation!

* * *

QUESTIONS

The Sony camera is offering two digital container file types. .MTS (AVCHD) and .MP4. Both .MTS and .MP4 contains AVC video (AVC (High(a)L4.2 or L4) (CABAC / 2 Ref Frames). The video result will most often be played on a 40 inches HD-TV (PAL).

i) Everything else being equal/taken out of the equation (like resolution, bitrate, etc) which is the better choice when it comes to: Both filming and editing during post-production? What are the pros and cons in the cases above, please?

ii) Next, all ratios are 16:9. – However(!) two are anamorphic widescreen as I understand it. That is 1440x1080 (16:9). – Question, when using anamorphic widescreen, do you generally loose something in image quality or not? Does anamorphic widescreen distort the image quality or not?

iii) Finally, I'm presently looking at using one of three candidates that my camera is offering. However at this time I don’t fully comprehend the implications (on image quality as well as editing, post-production) to make an informed choice. Thus it would be great to receive an experienced advice which one to go for; (pros and cons) please.

The candidates in this case are (specified with Mediainfo as the support):

- .MTS    AVCHD    50i    BDAV    9170 kb/s    1440x1080 (16:9)    25 FPS    AVC (High(a)L4) (CABAC / 2 Ref Frames)

- .MP4    MP4    25p    MPEG-4    12.1 Mb/s    1440x1080 (16:9)    25 FPS    AVC (High(a)L4) (CABAC / 2 Ref Frames)

- .MP4    MP4    25p    MPEG-4    6042 kb/s    1280x720 (16:9)    25 FPS    AVC (High(a)L4) (CABAC / 2 Ref Frames)

Thank you!

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

S
Steve Grisetti
Legend
August 15, 2018

Ann and I have both given you our recommendations, Alex. In fact, we both made the same recommendation.

S
Steve Grisetti
Legend
August 11, 2018

No need to overthink it. There really is no wrong answer -- and, even if you choose the not-best answer, it's not like you'll be doomed forever.

Although this is likely an older camcorder, as evidenced by the fact that it's using 1440x1080 rather than 1920x1080 HD video. Not a huge issue. The two are virtually indistinguishable. But all current HD camcorders shoot in 1920x1080 square pixels rather than 1440x1080 non-square. So don't sweat that.

AVCHD MTS video is the editing standard. But in terms of clarity and compression, it's not that different from MP4. 25p means that each frame of video is produced completely 25 times per second. 50i means that 50 half-frames (every other line of video data) are used to produce 25 interlaced frames per second. But once this video is run through an editing program like Premiere Elements, there's virtually no difference between the two in the final output.

That said, with this cam I'd shoot MTS 1080 at 25p.

Alex-F
Alex-FAuthor
Participant
August 12, 2018

Hello Steve,
I value your time. Thank you for the answer, I need to and will contemplate how it answers the OP.

I also value that you made the statement which camera preset you preferred.

i) To make it 100% clear for me and to understand the interesting area of video, when you state:  "I'd shoot MTS 1080 at 25p."

Is it the one of the three I wrote above: .MTS AVCHD 50i BDAV 9170 kb/s 1440x1080 (16:9) 25 FPS AVC?

All the best.

S
Steve Grisetti
Legend
August 12, 2018

Use this setting:

- .MTS    AVCHD    50i    BDAV    9170 kb/s

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