Yesterday I
reported on shooting
high-def video with the new Sony HDR-HC1, and the trials and tribulations of
trying to generate computer-display output. When last I wrote, my
PowerBook couldn’t manage to play the 800x450 MPEG-4 encoded QuickTimes unless
they were encoded at “Medium” quality. Well, I’ve also got this
Ultra 20 with a
2.66GHz Opteron and an NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400 (!) so I fired up the
Nexenta α4 package manager and picked up
mplayer. Bug: Mplayer wouldn’t play
the .mov files from the GUI; must report. Anyhow,
that combo eats those QuickTimes for breakfast, I even made a High-quality
435M 1920x1080 version and they all ran without a hitch or a glitch. The fan
fired up, so I guess things were working kind of hard.
But still, something’s not quite right. When the picture’s moving I can see
scan lines and pixelation, but I want that creamy smoothness that iMovie
manages, and that I see in
online movie trailers. So... Dear LazyWeb: Can iMovie be made to morph
high-def DV files into something really good-looking? For encoders, it
offers: Apple encoders including H.263, a bunch of DVCPRO variants,
H.261/263/264, Motion JPEG A and B, and Sorenson Video. Or maybe I need to
junk iMovie and get something else?
[Update: Lots of input! Several people say “De-interlace!” and I have a
pointer from Mike Curtis to his useful-looking
HD for Indies. Stand by for more
when I get a couple hours free.]
