Andrew attend the HPCCC Fall Festival today.  (HPCCC is the outstanding preschool he attends that is part of our church.  He got to have some fun with animals (Despite the 36 degree temperature)

QuickTime (Macs and PCs)

• TV Quality
• DVD Quality
• HD Quality

Windows Media (PCs)

• TV Quality
• HD Quality

For the last few months my mission has been to find a way to encode Windows Media Video files without having to purchase any new software.  I found a way and detail it here

Since purchasing my Canon PowerShot SX1 I’ve been reading stuff online about how people are touting the superior video capability of cameras like the Canon 5d Mark II or the forthcoming Canon 7D over AVCHD cameras in part because cameras like the Canon’s use 42 Mbps h.264 compression as opposed to the 17 or 24 Mbps compression used in AVCHD cameras.

Now, to be clear.  There is no question that under the same conditions that Canon 5d Mark II, the Canon 7D, and even the Canon PowerShot SX1 take superior video to the AVCHD-based HF10 (which is the model that I’m comparing it to).  I’m just not sure it has as much to do with Compression as it does with optics and sensors, and here’s why.

h.264 is the codec, but it has different levels and profiles that control how things are encoded.  There are many different profiles and levels for h.264 that control complexity, bitrates, etc.  For most people’s purposes, three profiles are of interest:  Baseline, Main, and High profile.  One concrete example of the difference is the Main profile uses B-frames in encoding, while Baseline does not.

So the h.264 coming off of the PowerShot SX1 is Baseline profile, Level 5, while the video coming off of the HF10 is High Profile, Level 4.0.   Needless to say, it takes a lot more power to playback the more complicated High Profile footage (even though it’s a lower bitrate) than it does to playback the higher bitrate Baseline profile footage.

My guess is that its significantly cheaper to put in hardware that will encode in real time into baseline profile than it does to put in hardware that will encode in high profile and since on a digital camera Canon is envisioning different use (short clips as opposed to long sequences) it figured higher bitrate lower profile would be preferable (and I think they were right).  But in the end I think it has more to do with optics and sensors than compression.

Meredith and Andrew’s September

It an was an exciting September @ the Wallace’s as Andrew started preschool and Meredith kept growing and growing and doing more and more.  Here are a few highlights.

(Check out the Video Formats page if you’re unsure which format is best for you)

QuickTime (Macs and PCs)

• TV Quality
• DVD-Quality
• High Definition

Windows Media (PCs)

• TV Quality
• High Definition

After my trusty Kodak Z812 IS died I decided to purchase a Canon PowerShot SX1 IS in large part because of its ability to shoot 1080p30 video.  Today I decided to compare my Canon HF10 to my new PowerShot SX1 IS shooting video – here are the results.  Click on the image to view @ full size.

In general the SX1 looks significantly better than the HF10, providing much richer color and slightly better detail.  The biggest difference I noticed was in the wide-angle shots of the trees in the background – the HF10 just didn’t handle those well at all while the SX1 did better.

(These are stills taken from ProRes422 transcodes and compressed into JPEG) so there’s some distortion but you’ll get the basic idea.)

Zoomed In (Both cameras at max zoom)

PowerShot SX1

HF10

Zoomed Out

PowerShot SX1 IS

HF10

Pan Shot (In the middle of a left to right Pan)

PowerShot SX1

HF10

Technical Details

HF10: FXP Mode (17 Mbps), PF30 Mode – Auto white balance, no image filters

SX1: Video Mode, Auto white balance, no image filters

Transcoded both files from AVCHD (HF10) and Quick

Andrew and Meredith’s Summer Movies

Andrew and Meredith have had a busy summer and a lot of was caught on video!

(Be sure to check out my About Video Formats page if you’re unsure which format is best for you)

Andrew and Meredith Summer – Part 2 - This video highlights the second part of Andrew and Meredith’s summer including our vacation.

High Definition (QuickTime)

DVD Quality (QuickTime)

Standard Definition/iPod (QuickTime)

Standard Definition (Windows Media)

Meredith’s First Movie (Co-starring Andrew) – This is the first movie where you get to see Meredith interacting.  Andrew still co-stars mind you

High Definition (QuickTime)

DVD Quality (QuickTime)

Standard Definition/iPod (QuickTime)

Standard Definition (Windows Media)

Andrew Dancing – At the Strong Museum of Play Andrew really liked the loud music that he could dance to.

High Definition (QuickTime)

DVD Quality (QuickTime)

Standard Definition/iPod (QuickTime)

Standard Definition (Windows Media)

On Friday July 24th the friends and family of Bob and Marilyn Lenz gathered at Crescent Beach Restraunt for a surprise anniversary party.  I captured a few highlights of the party on video.  If you’re confused as to which version is best for you go here first

Watch it online

Downloadable Videos

• Standard Definition Version (The safest bet for most people)
• iPhone (Mobile Edition)

High-Definition Formats

• 480p
• 720p
• 1080p

Downloadable Disk Images (You can download these files and burn them to disc and play them back in your DVD or Blu-ray player)

• DVD
• AVCHD
• Blu-ray

Andrew and Meredith have been quite busy in 2009!  Meredith is exploring the world, sleeping lots, eating lots, and then sleeping some more.  She was also baptized!  Andrew is going going going going going all the time!  You can see the highlights below!

Andrew and Meredith Summer 2009 (HD)

Andrew and Meredith Summer 2009 (DVD Quality)

Andrew and Meredith Summer 2009 (Standard)

So I seldom blog – if ever other than to post photos and videos of our kids. But tonight I discovered the WordPress app for iPhone, which I am writing on as as speak.

So over the last few weeks I’ve gotten our house ready for DTV…..

Ok, we were already ready for DTV because we had cable and now have satellite.  But in any event, I still got ready for DTV.   In part because DirecTV (who in general I am really happy with) doesn’t carry a couple local sub-channels and they don’t carry PBS and My Pittsburgh TV in High-definition.  

First, some history.  When we first moved in, before we got cable, and I tried getting tradition over-the-air broadcasts and had little or no luck.  I was able to get CBS (2.1) and if I was really lucky Fox (53.1 and 53.2). This is in part because we’re in a rough spot for over-the-air broadcasts.  I’m in a townhouse and not on the end facing the right direction.  I’ve also got a ton of high buildings, trees, and hills in the way as well.  

But with some work I can report that I receive all the major Pittburgh channels with only minor challenges on one network who by their own admission does not transmit well where I am .  But in the process I’ve learned a lot about Digital TV in general.  

But first…. why this silly transition anyway?  Isn’t this just the government bowing to telecommunications companies who wanted to force us to buy new TVs and converter boxes and the like?  Actually no, this transition has caused numerous headaches for broadcasting companies and believe me they are far better at lobbying Washington than the people who make TVs and converter boxes.  

The advantages to digital are numerous actually.  The first is that under analog, each channel had to be on a separate frequency.  Under digital this is no longer the case as multiple channels can be put on the same frequency.  This is why under digital you’ll see channels like 13.1, 13.2, 13.3.  This allows traditional broadcast stations to take advantage of multiple channels – something that is normally exclusively the territory of cable stations like ESPN (who has ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, etc.).  

The second advantage is in picture and audio quality.  The new digital standard allows for stations to transmit much higher quality transmissions than they can under analog – and this isn’t exclusively the territory of HD telecasts.  With analog your signal quality can vary between 0% (basically no signal) and 100% and everywhere in between.  Now, very very seldom would an analog telecast reach 100% – there was always some fuzz in the telecast.  Plus, you often had to rotate your antenna to get a slightly better signal, etc.  

With digital there are two options: (1) No signal at all (2) A perfect signal.  Under the digital format you’re getting data – so you either got it or you didn’t.  What this means is that if you can find a good alignment for your antenna that gets most of your stations you can just leave it.  

Ok, that being said – here’s some of my advice.

1. Your antenna is king – and get your antenna outside.  In working on DTV I owned five different antennas but ended up using a RCA exterior antenna.  I’m not at all convinced its the best antenna at the price point, but it does an acceptable job for me.  
2. If you are lucky enough to be able to use an indoor antenna, you may want to try a multi-directional antenna. These are flat and attractive looking and help you avoid the need to aim and re-aim your antenna.
3. Don’t skimp on your antenna – if there’s one area not to skimp cost-wise its your antenna.  The quality of the signal is entirely dependent on how good the signal is coming from your antenna.  
4. I don’t recommend buying antennas online actually, since you can’t return them if they don’t work.  After I found the antenna I ended up using I bought another, more expensive and in theory better antenna, but it was actually worse than the cheaper one.  While reviews on places like Amazon.com are helpful I prefer to be able to purchase, try, and return.  
5. Powered antennas, that include built-in amplifiers are especially helpful if you’re in a difficult area.  
6. Even though I had a decent antenna, I still was getting very little.  So I looked for a signal amplifier.  These are both great and awful – because if your signal is bad to start with amplifying it won’t help in the least.  But, if you’ve got a weak signal that is good an amplifier can give you a new lease on life.  I highly recommend this one (Motorola Signal Booster)  This was a complete game-changer for me – before I was struggling to get much more than two channels.  As soon as I added it in I was in great shape, even getting WTAE most of the time (which is 24 miles away and notoriously difficult to get).  There are other signal boosters on Amazon.com including a multi-port version of the one that I am raving about.  (see the whole list here) 
7. The key to using a signal booster is to put it as close to your antenna as possible.  Don’t use other splitters first – that will only allow the signal to degrade more and more.  
8. Cables matter, but not neccessarily more expensive.  I bought one really expensive 25 foot Radioshack Gold-Edition cable for my DTV set-up and that was the cable that runs from my antenna outside into my house.  I chose it because it had weather protection built-in etc.  Other than that I went with generic RG6 cable.  (Note, not RG59.  For whatever reason when I used the RG59 cable that came with my antenna I had terrible results.  Monoprice.com has outstanding prices on RG6 cable and I highly recommend them.  
9. Find out where your channels are coming from.  Antennaweb.org is helpful for this.  Put in your address and it’ll show you a map that will help you aim your antenna.  In my case I am lucky because all of my channels are coming from the south so I set my antenna facing south.

That’s a little of what I’ve learned!