Another Camera Test

[kevin_standlee]

Today's video test was to be the same shot as yesterday, with the camera turned up to one of its HD settings. As a bonus, we got a Union Pacific local heading east, where it would meet Amtrak at Thisbe, the first siding west of Fernley.

After dinner, I dumped the video out of the card, converted the MXF files, and combined them in MovieMaker. It's probably not obvious, but both audio channels are on this video. Apparently the only way to combine the multiple channels is to add the first track, then save the movie from MovieMaker as the highest-definition file it can handle, then start a new project, import the result of the first export, then drop the second audio track in and save the resultant file. This obviously loses some resolution, and it takes twice as long because you have to save the file twice.

There's some chance that we will not be able to fully wrap our heads around how to use the high-end features of the camera until we shoot the Westercon Business Meeting this year, which will be under "field conditions," so to speak.

ETA: Anyone who wants to take a crack at starting with the raw MXF files the camera produced is welcome to them. Caution: this is nearly 1 GB of raw data. The P2 camera is not particularly economical in storing data!

Comments

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

Considering how many people in the world wish to use stereo soundtracks, this strikes me as unreasonably complicated.

[paradoox.livejournal.com]

Do you have timing for how long this took you?

Can you provide the raw files so that I can try timing it in Adobe Media Encoder?

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Converting the MXF files to versions that MovieMaker could use took about a minute. Once I'd fed the files into MovieMaker it took a minute or so to save the file. Fiddling around with MovieMaker took quite a while, partially because I am unfamiliar with the Win7 version of it. It took <2 minutes to save the file, then about the same time to save it again after adding the second audio track. Bear in mind that the finished product was only 2 minutes long, so this isn't really a good indicator of how long a 45-minute WSFS Business Meeting segment will take. The fiddling with the software takes more time than the file conversions in this case.

I have the test footage we shot of a clock for an hour (we did that to make sure the P2 storage cards really did have the 68 minutes of capacity they claim to have), but it's 14GB and I'm loathe to try and push it through my internet connection. Even the files for just the 2m of video is nearly 1 GB. I'll try uploading it from work when I get to the Bay Area (the connections are much faster at the office) tonight.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I have now had a chance to upload the 1 GB raw data files and have added a link to the file to the main post.

[paradoox.livejournal.com]

Well, Adobe Media Encoder seems a lot faster:

04/2015 12:37:51 AM : Queue Resumed


- Source File: C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\AMTK20150502\CONTENTS\VIDEO\0001JC.MXF
- Output File: C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\AMTK20150502\CONTENTS\VIDEO\0001JC.mp4
- Preset Used: YouTube SD 480p 23.976
- Video: 640x480, 23.976 fps, Progressive
- Audio: AAC, 128 kbps, 48 kHz, Stereo
- Bitrate: VBR, 2 pass, Target 2.00 Mbps, Max 2.00 Mbps
- The source was deinterlaced
- Encoding Time: 00:00:15
05/04/2015 12:38:07 AM : File Successfully Encoded


- Source File: C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\AMTK20150502\CONTENTS\VIDEO\0002D2.MXF
- Output File: C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\AMTK20150502\CONTENTS\VIDEO\0002D2.mp4
- Preset Used: YouTube SD 480p 23.976
- Video: 640x480, 23.976 fps, Progressive
- Audio: AAC, 128 kbps, 48 kHz, Stereo
- Bitrate: VBR, 2 pass, Target 2.00 Mbps, Max 2.00 Mbps
- The source was deinterlaced
- Encoding Time: 00:00:32
05/04/2015 12:38:40 AM : File Successfully Encoded


05/04/2015 12:38:41 AM : Queue Stopped

One problem is that I haven't figured out how to combine the two clips (local and Amtrak) into one.

[garyomaha.livejournal.com]

I feel obliged to comment simply to express appreciation of the subject matter (yesterday and today) -- thanks for the train videos! I agree with the others; the amount of effort to get stereo audio seems to be over the top.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

In our plans for the Business Meeting, what we would like to do is have the camera's microphone as one channel and a feed from the meeting room sound system as another. It's not so much the stereo sound as having a clear version of what the people speaking are saying.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

We figured passing trains would give us motion and sound, and everything is well lit. OTOH, there's been a lot of wind, and the microphone doesn't have a big muff on it, being intended mainly for indoor use.