Quote:
Originally Posted by Poncho_NM
The JVC Everio GZ-HD7U camera records video in MPEG2 format compliant with SD-VIDEO format.
It shoots video in 1920x1080i. Which is not bad...
What is "SD format"....
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SD is in relation to the resolution. A camcorder that shoots in 720*480 is referred to as SD or standard definition. Common video formats they use are DV or MPEG2. DV is higher quality video but it's not DVD compliant and would need to be converted to MPEG2 for DVD playback. If you are going to make a DVD compliant video it needs to be 720*480 encoded using MPEG2. Note there are some lower resolutions and you can even use MPEG1 for what they refer to as a VCD. There is other specs like maximum bitrate, type of audio etc. Typical bitrate is 6 to 8 Mbps
A HD camcorder like this with a SD card (no relation to SD camcorder) *may* be able to record to the card using SD resolution video(no relation to SD card) because the bitrate is sufficiently low enough it can transfer the data fast enough. My prosumer DV camcorder could record to card but it was some real low resolution, low frame rate, low quality video using MJPEG. Pretty much a useless feature, why bother.
1920*1080 is HD resolution, it would need to be scaled to 720*480 to be DVD compliant. If you want to author this as HD you need to use Blu-ray. MPEG2 is Blu-ray compliant but it is not a very efficient codec and only included in the spec for backward compatibility. It is what it is though, I would imagine the reason they were not using more modern codec was the processing factor. This is one of those camcorders that fits in the transition period, in the same boat as DV camcorders that record to 8mm tape before mini DV came along. If you were to copy these files to DVD disc as data files you probably only get about 15 minutes on it and if you played it back from disc in say a computer minimally that sucker is going to be whirring like a top.
In any event the primary function of the SD cards on these older camcorders is for still images. From my experience they are terrible at still photos and vice versa for old cameras that had video capabilities so pretty much another useless feature. About the only benefit I've seen for it was a spare card for something else. Technology has of course changed and the lines are completely blurred now between camcorder and camera.
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