There are a number of camcorders now that take HD video in the HDV format. I recently got one (a Canon), and the HDV video plays back very well on the PhotoBridge. (I think BJ Johns had this working a while ago with a Sony HDV camcorder too.)

I transfer the video from the camcorder to a network drive using DVHSCap, a free utility that is part of the Firewire SDK for MacOS X.

Straight off the camera the file is an HD .ts file that plays perfectly on the PhotoBridge, including audio. It doesn't get much easier than that -- pull the video off the camera, then watch it right away. The picture quality is very good. Since the PB plays it back without any transcoding or other conversion, the picture is as good as when it was taken.

Converting the file to a DVD that can be shared with others is more challenging, I am trying out DVDStyler under Linux for this purpose.

If you are looking for a camera, avoid ones that use the AVC format. It doesn't use MPEG-2 so the PhotoBridge can't play back the files without conversion, which probably takes a long time with big HD video files.

If other people have used HD camcorders with the PhotoBridge, please post here about your experiences.

andy wrote:

If you are looking for a camera, avoid ones that use the AVC format. It doesn't use MPEG-2 so the PhotoBridge can't play back the files without conversion, which probably takes a long time with big HD video files.

Anyone here have an AVCHD camcorder AND a PS3? If so, have you tried direct USB connection to your PS3 and playback your HD video?

Are you using the Canon HV20? I picked one up this summer and it's awesome. I do sometimes have problems capturing to my PC though. I've tried CapDVHS and several other apps, none of which work perfectly for me. Of course, perhaps I'm the problem...

Do you ever get hiccups when playing your files? I get them sometimes; I wonder if it's because the bitrate is so high (MPlay tells me it's ~25 MBPS!).

pg_rider wrote:

Are you using the Canon HV20? I picked one up this summer and it's awesome.

Yes, I am using a Canon HV20 too. I agree, it is a great camera, and has a reasonable price. In addition to the HD video, I like the fact that it takes pictures in a 16:9 aspect ratio. Those fill out an HD display without any stretching or zooming which is great. Pop the mini-SD card into an adapter, then into the PhotoBridge for an instant widescreen slideshow.

pg_rider wrote:

I do sometimes have problems capturing to my PC though. I've tried CapDVHS and several other apps, none of which work perfectly for me.

We use a Macintosh transfer program (DVHSCap) and it seemed to work well the couple of times we've used it so far. There were a few error messages but they didn't seem to cause any gliitches in the .ts file.

pg_rider wrote:

Do you ever get hiccups when playing your files? I get them sometimes; I wonder if it's because the bitrate is so high (MPlay tells me it's ~25 MBPS!).

So far no, but I've only made and played a few videos. Does it always hiccup in the same place or is it different each time? If it's the same place, it would seem to be a problem in the transfer to the PC. If it's in different places, it's probably a networking issue due to the high bitrate, as you suggest.

Here's one final note that I found during my research that might be of interest to people on the forum. The HDV format records video in 1440x1080 resolution, interlaced. This is actually narrower than true HD (1920x1080), but it is done in a way such that when it is stretched back to 1920x1080 (by MPlay, for example) that it looks right.

There are two minor issues with this. First, if you view or edit in a program that doesn't know to stretch, everything looks narrow and tall. Second, if you are very concerned with getting true HD video at full HD 1080i resolution, this camera isn't for you.

But in reality the picture looks astoundingly good and I would be hard pressed to tell the HV20 video from any true 1080i HD video from broadcast TV. I would recommend this camera to PhotoBridge owners without hesitation.

I have a Sony HDV HDR-HC1 camera, a MacMini, an Infrant NAS, and of course a Roku hooked to an HDTV. I've hooked the camera to the MacMini using firewire, and got the DVHSCap program from Apple to create a .m2t file (this seems to be the only kind it can create). The NAS is reachable from both the MacMini and the Roku. I use MPlay to play the .m2t file. This sorta works. The video plays from beginning to end, but is filled with frequent (approx every 2 to 3 seconds) horizontal burps. The audio plays for the first 2 seconds and then goes silent. If I pause and restart, then the audio again plays for the first two seconds, and then the rest of the video continues silently in its horizontally line burpy way.

So I can see my kids in the video. They look good except for the horizontal line every few seconds, but they are mostly silent. Wife thinks it is great. I think this outcome is not all that it could be.

I have used VisualHub to convert portions of the captured video to MPG files. Those results play just fine within QuckTime (on the MacMini) or the Windows Media Player (on a Windows box). So I think the captured m2t file is okay. The conversion results --- the MPG files --- seem to play okay within MPlay, but not the .m2t files.

Network bandwidth issue? I have a hardwired network for all devices involved --- it is NOT wireless. MPlay plays ripped DVDs just superbly. I'll gladly take your hints.


Thanks,
zephyr

zephyr wrote:

I'll gladly take your hints.

Via what protocol does your Roku connect to the Infrant? I have problems similar to what you describe when I try to play very high bitrate transport streams via an SMB share. If I connect via NFS to the exact same shared drive over the same exact network topology, no problem. I (along with many others) concluded long ago that the Roku's SMB client performance is far from ideal. How to enable a share via NFS from the Infrant I don't know, but the support site for it says it can do so.

HTH

dgburns wrote:

Anyone here have an AVCHD camcorder AND a PS3? If so, have you tried direct USB connection to your PS3 and playback your HD video?

Yes, I have a Sony HDR-SR1 and a PS3. When you connect up the camcorder to the PS3 (and select the USB connection on the camcroder) an icon will appear under the PS3 Video option. If you then select the triangle button you can navigate through the file system of the camcorder hard drive and then select the video files and play them.
The video files themselves play nicely on the PS3, they look great.

soiaf wrote:

Yes, I have a Sony HDR-SR1 and a PS3.

Cool, thanks!

Amazing that I can get an answer in a forum for a defunct media streamer in a thread only remotely related, yet Sony web site (and email support for both product lines) can't provide ANY answers! *SIGH*

I opted down for an SD camcorder for now. I really like the SR1, and it's newer cousing the SR5 and SR7, but I just can't justify double the price right now. Maybe once the boy is grown up some more and crawling/walking I'll shoot more video and start wanting higher def.

Glad to help. Its a little strange accessing the video on the HDR-SR1, if you just try accessing directly the AVCHD folder you don't get any files, you've got to pull up the options menu and navigate through there.
Never tried looking on the Sony site, must admit I'm a bit surprised there was no information, you would think its the type of thing they would promote (having the PS3 at the centre of your entertainment needs).

soiaf wrote:

you would think its the type of thing they would promote (having the PS3 at the centre of your entertainment needs).

My gawd, if you were to see the emails I've got back from PS3 support and camcorder support, you'd believe that a) they are two completely unrelated companies and b) Sony doesn't give a flower about REALLY promoting what the PS3 can do.
*SIGH*