CHAPTER 15

Recording the Story

“Don’t become too emotionally attached to a medium for its own sake—there’s no future in it.”

Leonard Guercio, Producer, Director, and Educator

Digital recording: The digital system regularly samples the waveforms and converts them into numerical (binary) data. This allows many generations of copies to be made without affecting the quality of the image.

Flash memory: Flash cards can store large amounts of digital data without having any moving parts. This makes them durable and able to work in a variety of temperatures, and data can be easily transferred into a nonlinear editor.

HDD: Hard disk drives can be used for recording digital video images and can be built into the camera or attached to the outside of the camera.

HDTV or HD (high-definition television): Usually any video format between 720 lines and 4000 lines (4 K).

Interlaced scanning: The television’s electrons scan the odd-numbered lines first and then go back and scan in the remaining even-numbered lines. The “i” in 1080i stands for interlaced.

Progressive scanning: Also called sequential scanning; uses an electron beam that scans or paints all lines at once. Note that the “p” in the 720p/1080p stands for progressive.

SDTV or SD (standard-definition television): Usually television formats that have 480–576 lines.

 

What is the best video recording format? That can be a complicated question to answer. While there is high level video gear available, such as 4 K, it is not realistic unless you are shooting for the large screen. Some formats may have an incredible quality but the cameras are too large for a one-person investigative reporter. The bottom line is that the best format varies for different people and situations. You have to weigh the costs involved, size of the equipment, portability, size of the crew, amount of data storage needed, and the situation that you will be covering, and then go for the highest-quality format that works with your specific requirements and situation. Sometimes, it is not an easy decision to make.

RECORDING THE VIDEO

Fortunately, there is continual development in the design and format of video and audio recording systems. Some are mainly used for acquisition (shooting original material); others are for postproduction editing and archiving (storage) work. Recordings can be made on flash memory cards, hard drives, discs, and some are still recorded on video tape. In fact, some cameras can record on flash cards, hard disks, and tape—all in one device. Traditionally, videotape was the most popular medium. However, with the advent of low cost, high capacity, and nonmechanical flash memory cards, video tape has waned in popularity.

Standard-Definition Television

Standard-definition television (SD or SDTV) is what was used around the world before HD came onto the scene. However, most of the world is now in the process of moving from SDTV to HDTV. SD generally refers to analog and digital broadcasts that scan the image at 480i (NTSC) or 576i (PAL). The “i” stands for “interlaced”. Although most SD signals are broadcast in a 4:3 aspect ratio, it is also possible to transmit them with a 16:9 aspect ratio as well.

High-Definition Television

The world is rapidly moving to high-definition television (HD or HDTV), which has quite a few more scan lines than SD. The most common HD formats have lines that are 720 or 1080 lines, although there are emerging formats with more lines that are aimed at high-end, high-budget productions. These additional lines, and their scanning strategies, equate to much higher-quality images. For example, a normal consumer cannot see the difference between a 720p and a 1080i image, although a trained eye may be able to. As today’s HD has pretty much hit the limits of what normal eyes can discern, going to a higher level of scan lines is not critical for viewers watching at home.

There are two types of HD scanning systems currently being used:

Interlaced: Interlaced television is scanned in the same way SDTV has traditionally been scanned. Interlaced scanning means that the television’s electron scans the odd-numbered lines first and then goes back and scans in the remaining even-numbered lines. This methodology can be a little more prone to image degredation and can be less stable than progressive scanning. There can be a noticeable flicker on older large screens. However, as the technology has advanced, the flicker has disappeared. Current CRT television utilizes interlaced scanning, as does the HDTV 1080i standard. The “i” stands for interlaced.

Progressive: Also called sequential scanning, progressive scanning uses an electron beam that scans or paints all lines at once. The HDTV 720p and 1080p systems use progressive scanning. Note that the “p” in the 720p/1080p stands for progressive. The progressive method can be perceived as having less flicker and more stability than the interlaced system. The progressive image displays the total picture. It has a smoother, more precise picture with very limited flicker. However, it also uses more bandwidth.

FIGURE 15.1
This photo is a single frame from the digital video 4 K film Crossing the Line by director Peter Jackson. Note the incredible image clarity. The CMOS sensors in the camera are 12-megapixel. (Photo courtesy of RED Digital Cinema)

Although there are a number of different formats within HD (720p, 1080p, 1080i, etc.), it is very difficult for the untrained eye to see the difference between them. There were fairly significant differences when the formats first came out (such as motion blur and flicker), but today, as technology has improved, the majority of the bugs have been fixed. All of the HD formats include a 16:9 aspect ratio. There are also multiple frame rates to choose from that give a “film look,” a “video look,” or something in-between. Here are the current HD formats with some data that can be used for comparison:

 720p: This is a progressive scanning format that has a pixel aspect ratio of 1280 × 720 and 921,600 pixels per frame. The progressive scanning gives it a little bit of a film look.

 1080i: This format utilizes interlaced scanning. It has a pixel aspect ratio of 1920 × 1080 and 1,555,200 pixels per frame. 1080i gives a very high-quality video look.

 1080p: This is the newest progressive scanning format and has a pixel aspect ratio of 1920 × 1080 with 2,073,600 pixels per frame. It was designed to compete with film cameras.

There are also 2000-line (2 K), 3000-line (3 K), and 4000-line (4 K) recording formats available. These high-quality formats are aimed more at theaters and other extremely large-screen productions (Figure 15.1). They are not aimed at viewers watching their televisions in their homes. A comparison of the various recording formats can be found in Figure 15.2.

FIGURE 15.2
This image quality comparison shows the orange rectangle on the top left as SDTV. The yellow (720 lines) and light-blue (1080 lines) areas are the popular HD consumer formats. As the number of scan lines is increased, the image quality increases proportionally.

There are other HD formats under experimentation. One example is being done by Japan’s NHK company, which has created an ultra-high-definition television system that touts 4320 scanning lines with 7680 × 4320 pixels. Although it is very doubtful that this type of system will ever get into home systems, it may make it into theaters (Figure 15.2).

FIGURE 15.3
Videotapes come in many different formats and sizes for professionals and consumers. (Photos courtesy of Panasonic)

FIGURE 15.4
Many companies invested heavily in a tape-based infrastructure. Moving toward tapeless production takes time. (Photo by Jon Greenhoe)

TELEVISION AND VIDEO FORMATS

With the advent of digital recording, the divisions between consumer and professional formats have significantly blurred. Productions shot on the consumer formats began showing up on television networks and film festivals and winning top awards. The following is a summary of today’s most popular format.

Videotape

While some professionals are still using tape, it is quickly disappearing (Figure 15.3). As equipment is being replaced, consumers and professionals are buying tapeless cameras. Videotape maintained its popularity due to its ease of availability, relatively low cost, the sheer capacity of tapes for recording as well as storage, and the infrastructure that was built around it. For example, many companies built, over the years, a tape based infrastructure that will take time to move away from (Figure 15.4). There are still a significant number of companies who archive their productions on videotape.

One of the disadvantages of tape is the sheer number of incompatible videotape formats. Tapes can be recorded and reproduced only on equipment that uses identical standards. Design features vary considerably between video recorders. Tapes come in all different widths, the cassettes have different sizes, some systems are digital and others are analog, and there is an incredibly wide range of image quality between the various formats.

Analog and Digital Tapes

An analog video system directly records the variations of the video and audio signals. Analog recordings have a tendency to deteriorate when dubbing copies. While analog formats have pretty much been discontinued, there are plenty of the tapes still in use. Some of the formats included VHS, VHS-C, and Betacam.

Digital video systems regularly sample the waveforms and converts them into numerical (binary) data. This allows many generations of copies to be made without affecting the quality of the image. Digital systems also allow the data to be recorded on forms of media other than tape, such as hard disks and flash memory. Some of the older digital tape formats include Digital8, and Hi8.

Consumer Digital Tape Formats

Here is a brief summary of some of the most common consumer-based digital videotape formats that are currently produced by manufacturers:

MINIDV

 This was the first digital format available to consumers.

 It uses 1/4-inch tape.

 The MiniDV camcorders are compact. However, this format is quickly giving way to flash memory HD cameras.

 The tapes are inexpensive and readily available.

HDV/MINIDV HD

 The first consumer HD format.

 A digital HD format that is recorded onto MiniDV tapes.

 The only current manufacturers of HDV is Sony and it uses 1080i when recording in HDV. This format is giving way to the newer flash memory HD formats.

 Many professionals insist that HDV is barely HD because of color and grayscale issues.

Professional Digital Tape Formats

Manufacturers are building fewer and fewer of these professional tape formats. However, many are still being used around the world. They are all slowly being phased out to HD formats.

DIGITAL BETACAM

 This format uses 1/2-inch videotape.

 It was created especially for companies that had large analog Betacam archives. Betacam could be played in the DigiBeta deck, although the DigiBeta tape could not be played in the Beta deck. The format gave companies, especially news stations, a way to upgrade without having to change their whole archives.

HDCAM

 This format uses 1/2-inch videotape and is the HD version of DigiBeta.

 This metal tape comes in small and large cassettes. The recording time ranges from 50 to 155 minutes.

 This format has a sampling rate of up to 4:4:4.

DVCPRO25/50

 This format uses 1/2-inch videotape.

 DVCPro25 has a sampling rate of 4:1:1, and DVCPro50 has rate of 4:2:2.

 The DVCPro50 has lower compression than the DVCPro25, giving a high-quality image.

DVCPRO HD

 This HD version of the DVCPro format uses 1/2-inch videotape.

Flash Memory

Flash memory has quickly become the most popular recording medium that can record both SD and HD video. A significant advantage of the flash memory card is that it is very easy to transfer files from the card to a nonlinear editor. The small size of the card allows for very compact camcorders. Cameras using flash memory as their medium generally do not have moving parts and should thus require less maintenance (Figure 15.5).

FIGURE 15.5
There are a number of very small flash memory cards, such as an SD or PRO Duo, that can be used to record video. These cards are currently being used in consumer and semiprofessional cameras.

FIGURE 15.6
The P2 card is a flash memory card used in some professional cameras. The “player” (top) is really a device in which up to five cards can be placed in slots and read by a computer, just like any hard drive or memory stick. (Photos courtesy of Panasonic)

FIGURE 15.7
This P2 player/recorder can be used to record, edit, play back, and play in slow motion anything recorded onto a flash card. Note that there are six slots that are hot-swappable. (Photo courtesy of Panasonic)

One of the advantages of flash memory card cameras is that they can have multiple slots, which are “hot-swappable.” This means that while one is being recorded onto, an already full card can be removed during the recording process and replaced with a blank card. This feature allows uninterrupted recording. There are a wide variety of flash memory cards. Figures 15.6, 15.7, and 15.8 show some of these flash card systems.

Hard Disk Drive/Internal Hard Drive

Hard disk drive (HDD) cameras record directly to a hard drive built into the camera (Figure 15.9). Roughly 4 GB of disk space is required for each hour of video. Some of these compact HDD cameras have as much as 160-GB hard disk storage. Many of the HDD cameras also include an SD slot for video recording to a transportable medium, although this feature is not required to transfer footage. It is extremely easy to transfer the data to a nonlinear system.

External Camera Hard Drives

External camera hard drives can now be attached to most digital cameras, including HD systems. These drives provide extremely long recording times with drives as large as 160 GB. The drives connect directly to nonlinear editing systems, allowing the editor to begin editing the program immediately. Most of these drives attach to the camera via the FireWire port. Audio, timecode, and video and control information are passed directly through the FireWire connector. A 160-GB drive will provide roughly 10 hours of DV recording and 5 to 6 hours of HD recording (Figure 15.10).

Hard Disk Recorders

Standalone hard disk recorders are now used to record video at a very high quality. These real-time recorders/players can be used for SD or HD recording. Frame accuracy is possible. They also usually include smooth fast-motion and slow-motion playback. These recorders are replacing tape decks (Figures 15.11 and 15.12).

Recordable DVD

DVD cameras have been primarily aimed at the consumer market. DVD cameras automatically find a blank section on the disc for recording, so there’s no need to rewind or fast-forward. Most of them also use an index screen, which makes it easy to search for a particular scene. When the shooting has been completed, the disc can be taken out of the camcorder and slipped into a DVD player or recorder for immediate playback—there’s no need to connect any cables. One of the disadvantages is that discs can be susceptible to scratches (Figure 15.13).

XDCAM Disc

The XD line of optical disc–based camera systems utilizes blue-violet laser technology to achieve extremely high data transfer rates. This professional camera system can record up to 4 hours of HD on a dual-layer disc that has a large storage capacity of 50 GB. The discs are rewritable. Sony says that it can handle 1000 write-and-rewrite cycles (Figure 15.14).

Recording Media Care

It is important to care for recording media. Here are some suggestions for prolonging the life of the various types of recording and storage media:

 The optimum storage temperature is around 65 degrees F. Above 100 degrees F and below 14 degrees F can cause problems with some media.

 Avoid rapid temperature/humidity changes (such as moving from a cold exterior to a warm interior) and allow both media and equipment to become climatized before use.

 Before loading a medium, confirm that it isn’t protected against recording (that is, reposition the safety switch). Make sure that you’re not recording over something that should be retained!

 Store media in their protective boxes to avoid damage and dust.

 Make sure that each recorded medium is clearly identified on the label (name, contact information, shot/scene numbers, etc.).

FIGURE 15.8
Some Sony and JVC devices use an S3S memory card. (Photo courtesy of JVC)

Video Recording Suggestions

Here are some suggestions to consider when recording to video media:

 Use the highest data rate possible on digital media other than tape. Although this will not allow you to record as many minutes on the medium, it will give you a higher-quality image.

 Watch the elapsed time on the camera to make sure that you know how much recordable media is left and that you know the state of the battery.

 Review the end of the takes to check whether the recording is satisfactory.

 When the medium is taken out of the camera, make sure that the protection device is implemented so that someone does not accidentally record over your original footage.

 Clearly label all media as well as the media container.

FIGURE 15.9
This high-end consumer-targeted camcorder includes an internal HDD. (Photo courtesy of JVC)

FIGURE 15.10
External drives can be attached to most digital video cameras. (Photo courtesy of Firestore)

FIGURE 15.11
Hard disk recorders are gaining popularity in the professional video field. (Photo courtesy of Doremi)

FIGURE 15.12
A slow-motion operator utilizes an EVS hard drive server recording/playback system during a sports event.

FIGURE 15.13
Left: A full-size recordable DVD. Right: The camera shown records on a much smaller DVD. (Photo courtesy of JVC)

FIGURE 15.14
The XD disc is protected by a case at all times. (Photo courtesy of Sony)

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What is the difference between SD and HD television?

2. What are the advantages of interlaced and progressive scanning?

3. Compare a tape format with a nontape format and explain the advantages and disadvantages.

4. How do you care for recording media?

INTERVIEW WITH A PROFESSIONAL: RYAN HAMMER

How do you decide what video format to use when working on a production? Many people look entirely at cost of camera rentals and media cost. I look at it more from a postproduction perspective…how much is it going to cost to digitize/ingest, are there editing problems with certain video formats, and what issues will we have in the online process?

Do you still use video tape? Definitely. There’s something about having a piece of tape to hold onto that helps me sleep at night. Plus, “tapeless” hasn’t been ironed out (in the post process), so there are still issues that just go away when you use tape instead.

Where do you think editing is headed in the future? With the competition between Avid and Final Cut Pro, prices are dropping. I personally think that people will be owning their own systems. There will be buildings where bays, storage, and decks are kept and maintained by assistant editors. Editors will primarily work from home—either off their own systems, or remotely logging into the edit systems at the facility. Cuts will be streamable to executives for notes, and when they’re supposed to be output, they will be emailed to the assistant editor at the facility. At least, that’s what I’m working on…

FIGURE 15.15
Ryan Hammer, Atlas Digital

Ryan Hammer is a partner in a major postproduction house in Los Angeles.

INTERVIEW WITH A PROFESSIONAL: ROBIN BROOMFIELD

Briefly define your job: I work with new 3D technologies, processes and workflows to develop Sky’s 3D channel. I manage and advise 3D programs in sports, arts, and entertainment.

What do you like about your job? I am have really enjoyed being involved with pioneering a new and very different area (3D) for the future television audience—it is a privilege to be involved with such an exciting project. TV is a fantastic industry to work in – it gives you access to events, places, people that you wouldn’t have in many other careers—not just in sport events but in entertainment too.

What are the types of challenges that you face in your position? Starting and developing a 3D channel has been a huge challenge because it had never been done before. Equipment and systems were new, often under development or in some cases just not there at all.

How do you prepare for a production? A site survey is necessary especially with a 3D production as different equipment, camera positions and production requirements are often employed. Suitable time must be put aside for rigging, testing and rehearsing; this will guarantee that a good 3D production is achieved.

What suggestions or advise do you have for someone interested in a position like yours? To work in television and on big projects needs a dedication and enthusiasm that will drive you through many long hours sometimes in unpleasant weather and surroundings. Television is a life style not just a job’. Working hard to get the best results and giving time to fine detail in planning and production is essential to achieve good results. Look at what you do critically and find ways to improve, be innovative in what you do, and if you think that something is—‘good enough’—then it probably isn’t!

FIGURE 15.16
Robin Broomfield, Operations & Development Manager (Sky 3D)

Robin Broomfield is the Operations and Development Manager for the Sky 3D Channel. Robin was hired to help start and manage the 3D network.