Hi Jorgen,

Regarding what format to output your videos, the best is to output your videos to the same format that they were shot in. In other words if your camera shoots in MP4 H.264 then produce them in the same format.

Regarding as to what format PD8 produces/outputs videos, it can produce/output videos in many different formats. I don't have a list at hand but I am sure the Cyberlink Website will list them.
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Hi,

I have just been doing some experiments and had occasion to choose AVCHD for output. It produces output which is the same as Blu-Ray, that is to say it produces a disc image which has a high-level folder called BDMV a sub-folder called STREAM and then the actual sub-parts of the movie as xxxxxx.m2ts

I assume that your camera will produce clips in the same packaging (this is guesswork) or at least clips which are m2ts

Can you ask the shop to run a quick scan of the shop and take the SD card home and play around. With MediaInfo you should be able to dissect what is on the media.

I would suggest you leave the media player alone till you have had a chance to play around with the camera and PD a bit. Formats are not the whole story. As I said above, the output appears identical to BD, but APPARENTLY not all BD players will play AVCHD, but that may just be due to the actual physical DVD disc vs the actual physical BD disc.

Hope this helps. i7 980x; W7 Pro; 12GB; Nvidia GTX 285; 2x300G Velociraptors in Raid 0; 2x1.5TB Barracuda in Raid 1; 2TB WD Studio Ed.II (eSATA); NEC SpectraView Reference 2690 + MultiSync EA232

Both video players will likely work just fine, but based on what you listed I would choose player #2. My HD camera produces AVCHD mts files (same as m2ts) and player #2 specifically lists that file type. Player #1 lists AVCHD and thus should also play mts.

The camera your looking at should work for both. If possible I would try to demo both of them to see for yourself. I know the media player from Western Digital has been recommend before on this forum. If your satisfied with the picture quality of each I would pick the one with the lower cost. Q9300 2.5 GHz
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Thanks to you all for your informative answers. I just received the new camcorder today, and it looks good! By the time I had it charged, it was getting too dark for any real shooting, but today I will play with it. Took some indoor, artificial light shots that look promising - at least on the LCD.

I ordered a HDMI cable, but it has not arrived yet. But looking through the camera and TV manuals, it appears that I can run 1080i/60 through the provided component input cable and the TV will display in that format - I didn't know that and thought you could only get HD through the HDMI connector. Will I get the same display quality this way?

And - yes - I will be cautious about the media player choice. I know that the Western Digital players are preferred by many, but I have not found one with integral HDD, please advise if I am wrong on that. I will shoot some footage and run it through PD8 to see what the output options are. J. O.

As far as the WD is concerned, you would add an external HDD. Which actually has a lot going for it. My Video recorder bought about 4 or 5 years ago sports an 80GB hard drive!!!! Hey, the height of video technology thanks to Mr Pioneer - but not by today's standards. Separating the HDD and the player is good news, I think.

Actually, the latest WDBAAP0000NBK00 or 'WD TV Live' model allows two USB sources, both can be HHD or whatever has the capacity to hold your stuff. Two models are out there on sale, so make sure you get the latest. I am pretty sure that WD must have been involved in the design of the PS3, or perhaps the other way round?

Component video is theoretically between HDMI and composite video, but you might not be able to discern much difference between good, better and best.
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From what I've read HDMI is the best, but depending on your TV screen size you may not notice much difference. I purchase my HDMI cables using an online retailer and can get them for a fraction of the cost a big box retailer charges. Q9300 2.5 GHz
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Denbigh - I agree that a separate HDD and media player is the logical way to go - but my problem is that I already have too many components and cables from TV, disk player, and a rather large stereo system. A combined player and HDD would ease my situation - not to mention my wife!

James - You are right about the cables. I ordered a gold plated mini-HDMI cable on the internet for $1.00, the shipping was $2.98! Many stores want $20.00 for such a cable - crazy! J. O.

Jorgen,

Ton answer your file extension question, PD8 outputs in pretty much anything you can imagine. The main ones being AVI, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, H264.AVC, WMV, RM. Moreover, all these files formats have sub-menus for different qualities (video and audio compression) and program options. Example, WMV has 40 sub-options for different bit rates depending on the quality/output file size you desire, and depending if you want to output for Windows media 8 or Windows media 9...

It also outputs directly to youtube and facebook and formats the videos properly for the websites. It also outputs to DVD(mini, std or dual layer), blu-ray, AVCHD, video CD via direct to disc, or by creting a files for later burning...

As far as your camera playing to TV, the best output you can get via component is 1080i. If you want to take full advantage of 1080p, you need hdmi cables, either STD or mini, depending on what your camera requires.

I personally run my HDD HD camera right through my PS3 via usb to my 1080p HDTV and it looks stunning and I get full quality!

I have used PD8 for a little over a month now (my first video editing software) and despite some initial growing pains, and 10 DVD-coasters, I really love how easy it is to use and how simple/quick it is to create simple internet-ready files to send via email to the family...

Hope this answers your questions.

JF

Hi JF!

Thanks for all that good info. I have used PD8 for some time, but only editing SD and burning to DVD, so HD is new to me, and I was unsure of what to look for in a suitable media player. I did not know that PD8 can produce that many file formats, so maybe the choice of player is not so critical.

I have been taking some test shots indoors and out with the new camera using 1080i/60 at 17Mb/s, feeding the video directly to the TV via HDMI, and I am very pleased with the results so far.

I agree that PD8 does a great job, but I would not exactly call it simple to use - at least I went through a good deal of trial-and-error. J. O.

MPG-4 may have standards issues because they vary so much, but stay with AVCHD and you should be fine. Most other formats would be Ok, too, but you would loose quality.

PD is normally easy to get started, but there are a lot of advanced features that take longer to learn. I think that is what makes it great. __________________________________
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