Best file format to use

[Tim Kolb]

Your question is a bit too general.

.mov =QuickTime as Windows sees it. (Mac doesn’t require the file extension on the end of the file name like “.doc” or “.jpg” as Apple uses a component in the file itself called a resource fork to ‘tag’ a file.) It only defines a file wrapper, and the file (and compression type) inside the wrapper can be anything from a Sorenson file that can stream over a really modest internet connection to an uncompressed HD file that requires a massive hard disk array to even play back.

.mpg = Represents an MPEG file and is actually a compression type (as well as a file wrapper), but again, can also represent a wide variety of image quality and data rate.

(an “mts” file is an MPEG file where the video and audio are combined into one file…stands for “MPEG transport stream”)

.avi =File wrapper on Windows which stands for “Audio/Video Interleaved”, While the various file types available within the .avi designation are not the same as QT, basically the breadth of the variations talked about within QuickTime also apply…

.mp4 =The newest flavor of MPEG…MPEG4 represents a family of compression types all the way from video conferencing codecs fro those teeny cameras that beam squishy low-res pictures between boardrooms over the internet to the pristine and well-respected HDcam SR, which is the absolutely ultimate high quality HD tape format in use today.

So, as you see, your question is tough to answer the way it’s posed. I’ll assume you are referring to HDV vs XDcam EX-1.

You have options to edit in either one of these formats natively in PPro. The data rates are all pretty similar. DV is 25 Mb/s, HDV is also 25 Mb/s, and the EX1 records 25 or 35 Mb/s…all pretty similar.

If you have newer computers (of either flavor), you should be able to handle the HDV or EX1 footage without a problem.

Now…the question really comes down to the CAMERA. Many Sony HDV cameras are very nice, but the Sony EX-1 camcorder may be the best camera, price-for-pound, I’ve ever handled. I have used HDV camcorders and been reasonably happy with their performance based on their cost, but the EX-1 blew me away.

If you edit in HD (XDcam EX or HDV) and don’t down convert to SD until the edit is finished, you’ll be handling roughly the same data rate as DV, but preserving the quality of the images. If you get an opportunity to show an HD version of your film and you’ve edited it in DV…you are, as we say, “hosed.”

My .02

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

[Anantha Perumal]

Hey Tim.

I am an amateur, student rather, short filmmaker. I just shot my short with a SONY Z7(HDV – 1080/50i 1440×1080) and i used tape.

I want to edit it myself and i have Sony Vegas pro 9.0c on my Vista 32 bit system with 2 GB RAM. But i dont have a capturing deck and a studio guy agreed to capture the short for me (m35 – system uses avid/fcp) and convert it into a sony vegas compatible file format.

So which do you think is the file format i should choose (.mov, .avi .mpeg) so that my quality doesn’t deteriorate drastically? Also someone suggested .tga files as SVP accepts .tga. Is that a good idea?

Thanks in advance!