Posted by Mark & Mary Ann Weiss on 07/10/07 08:33

> > I've started a small site with example footage and stills taken from an
HDV
> > camera, the Sony HVR-V1U. Aside from it's terrible audio, the camera
> > produces decent images in sunlit environments, but there are a number of
> > artifacts which are changing in a distracting temporal manner, as the
camera
> > pans across scenes.
> >
> > I put some examples up here:
> >
> > http://www.basspig.com/hvrv1u_HDV_artifacts.htm
> >
> > HDV is really severely compressed and breaks down badly with imager
noise,
> > so in low light situations, the CODEC is overstressed and picture
quality
> > nosedives. This is also true with busy images, like a pan across a
grassy
> > field (the grass shimmers because the imager resolves individual blades
of
>>>>>> >
>
> Where were you last year when rabid HDV supporters were beating their
chests
> and wailing about how wonderful the picture was?
>
> I was just out with a crew with 4 Sony HDV cameras shooting a documentary
at
> a sporting event. I asked them about panned moves and compression
artifacts.
> I took their "no problem" answer at face value.
>
> As with audio, apparently, some people are pickier than others.

Apparently, some people, including Grammy award-winning skydivers, seem to
suffer from selective blindness to certain glaring artifacts.
The thing about HDV is that it depends what the camera is pointed at and how
it is moving, panning or zooming in a shot. I have some footage I shot in
Manhattan on a sunny day that looks pretty darned good. Then I have some
footage I shot on a grassy playing field that looks like garbage. Then
there's the in-between shots that neither look all good or all bad, but have
one or more "minor" visual artifacts that *I* notice, but others seem to
deny the existence of.
In this industry, the so-called "pros" --the guys with the Emmys, Grammys
and other accolades are the ones people believe, but I am finding out little
by little that these people are either blind, deaf, or paid to ignore these
artifacts by the big camera companies, like Sony.

Mark Weiss, P.E.
http://www.basspig.com/hvrv1u_HDV_artifacts.htm

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