HD on the web?
I recently had the chance to buy a Sony HD video camera at a good price. I was going to put HD on the web. Or so I thought. But like most things, it’s more complicated than that.
First of all, HD on the web requires a ton of bandwidth and the file sizes are HUGE. Then you actually have to find decent software that will convert AVCHD format (the format my camera shoots 1080i in) to a suitable format for the web. Which best I can figure out is .flv or .wmv.
The Sony software that came with the camera converts the AVCHD format to mpeg 2. OR to HD Windows Media. But even then the quality is not the same.
The $800 Adobe Premiere Pro software I have doesn’t have any way to import the AVCGD directly. So that’s pretty useless. I have to covert to mpeg2, then import into the software and edit it that way. At that point though it’s already been compressed once. Premiere Pro doesn’t even recognize my camera. You would think $800 software from a leading company wouldn’t suck. But…
Do I need to shell out another $500 for Sony Vegas Pro? Maybe that’ll convert straight from AVCHD. Of course, if you want to ouput that quality to flash, then you’re probably out of luck. I don’t know if Vegas Pro even has that option. It seems like Sony and Adobe aren’t playing nice together.
So what to do? I am shooting video in 720p and the quality is very good. Just getting it compressed to get it on the web is the real challenge. Oh yeah, and 5.1 surround sound is just another issue all together.
Add comment September 30th, 2008