JVC GZ-HD7: World''s First 1920x1080 MPEG-2 Camcorder, Part 2

In Part 2 of this series (see part 1), we will look at JVC GZ-HD7 workflows starting with an issue shared by both fixed hard disk and solid-state camcorders. This is the danger of losing material one has shot.

Every day you venture into the field with content you previously shot on disk or cards, you run the danger of media loss if anything happens to your camcorder. Given these risks, if you travel with your HD7, you will need an “in-field” back-up plan. You will also need a workflow that yields archive media because, unlike tape or XDCAM HD discs, there is no inherent media that can be stored on a shelf.

With your HD7 powered by its AC adapter, connect your camcorder to a computer using the bundled USB cable. When you power up the camcorder you will see this message:

Press down the joystick to pick Playback on PC. You''ll soon see one, or two, hard disks mounted on your computer''s desktop. The EVERIO_SD (Memory card) drive may be mounted—as shown below.

The EVERIO_HDD harddrive will always be mounted.

Open a drive''s icon, and you will see four folders.

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Open the SD_VIDEO folder. (This folder is strangely misnamed.)

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Inside you will find one, or more, folders named PRG###.
Open any PRG### folder and you will find one, or more, MOV###.TOD files.

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You can back up to: a computer hard disk, a FireWire hard disk, a DVD disc, or a Blu-ray Disc. Simply drag PRG### folders from the HD7 to the backup media.

The CU-VD40 includes an HDMI port and an IR remote. These two features enable you to play back HD video from your burned DVDs.
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Archive media is chosen for its low cost, high write speed, and assumed longevity. Optical media is the ideal solution. And Blu-ray is the most optimal optical choice because a single $20 disc will hold most of the contents of an HD7''s disk drive. One of the new laptops with an internal Blu-ray burner would be perfect, although expensive, solution.

Two backup and archive solutions do not require a computer. One uses videotape and the other DVDs.

To make a clone to HDV tape, follow the directions under Edit Workflows that describes how to capture GZ-HD7 video using your NLE. However, for backup and archive, the i.LINK cable connects your HD7 to a 1080i HDV camcorder or VTR. The clone is possible even though the HD7''s MPEG-2 data rate is 27Mbps rather than 25Mbps.

JVC markets a red-laser DVD backup and archive solution that requires no computer because the software that controls data transfer is built into the GZ-HD7. You can purchase either the CU-VD20 (street price of about $170) or CU-VD40 (street price of about $360). The CU-VD20 represents a good bargain for the protection it offers.
M2TS files are sent via the USB cable and written as data files by the CU-VD20 or CU-VD40. This explains how an ordinary DVD can record full HD.

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You may be surprised to learn a hard disk-based camcorder has an i.LINK port that can output DV- or HDV-compatible data streams. Using its port, the HD7 can transfer data to a DV/HDV camcorder/VTR, or to an NLE. This may be the best solution for those editing with Apple Final Cut Pro (FCP). FCP captures an HDV stream into a series of movie files.

Before exporting video via the i.LINK port, the clips you need must be entered into a Playlist.

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• After you power-up the camcorder, press the Select Play/Rec button to enter Playback mode.
• You will see a display of icons representing clips on the hard disk. (Switch to “photo mode” to display clips on the memory card.)
• Press the Function button.
• Nudge the joystick up/down to pick Edit Playlist.
• Press the joystick down to select the action.
• Nudge the joystick up/down to pick New List.
• Press the joystick down to select the action.
• Nudge the joystick up/down and pick All Scenes or Import From Date.
• Press the joystick down to select the option.
• You can only clone 1440CBR clips to HDV. Be sure you see a “1440 CBR” icon on clips you want to clone.
• Nudge the joystick up/down to pick the clip you want copied.
• Press the joystick down to pick an entry point in Playlist.
• Press the joystick down again to move the clip into the Playlist.
• Repeat these three steps until all clips to be transferred are in a Playlist
• Nudge the joystick left to exit from creating a Playlist.
• Nudge the joystick up/down and pick Save And Quit.
• Press the joystick down to execute. The list will be auto-named by its date.
• Exit by pressing the Select Play/Rec button.

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• Disconnect the FireWire cable from the HD7.
• With your HD7 powered by its AC adapter, power up the camcorder and press the Menu button.
• Nudge the joystick left.
• Nudge the joystick up/down to pick Output.
• Press the joystick down to select the option.
• Nudge the joystick up/down to pick i.LINK Output (Dub).
• Nudge the joystick right.
• Nudge the joystick up/down to pick 1440 CBR (for HDV) or DV.
• Press the joystick down to select.
• Nudge the joystick left.

After you have selected the FireWire export you want, connect the units with a FireWire cable. (The DV data stream will be recorded as anamorphic [widescreen] 4:3 video.)

• With your HD7 powered by its AC adapter, power up the camcorder and press the Select Play/Rec button.
• You will see a display of icons representing clips on the hard disk. (Switch to Photo Mode to display clips on the memory card.)
• Press the Function button.
• Nudge the joystick up/down to pick Playback Playlist.
• Press the joystick down to select the option.
• You will see a list of one or more Playlists.
• Nudge the joystick up/down to pick the Playlist you want to play.
• Nudge the joystick right. Do not press down.
• A confirmation message will appear:

• Press the joystick down to select Continue.
• A message will appear:

• Press the joystick down to select Start Playback.
• A message will appear:

• Start DV or HDV capture while five seconds of black is output.
• All scenes in a Playlist will be sent via the i.LINK cable. No video will appear on the HD7''s LCD.
• When you see five seconds of black being output, stop capture/recording.

Unless you edit with FCP, you will most likely transfer files from the HD7. Connect your computer to the camcorder using the bundled USB cable. With your HD7 powered by its AC adapter, power up the camcorder, and you will see this message:

Press down the joystick to pick Playback On PC. You will soon see one or two hard disks mounted on your computer''s desktop. The EVERIO_SD (memory card) drive may be mounted—as shown below.

The EVERIO_HDD harddrive will always be mounted.

Open the either drive''s icon, and you will see four folders.

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Open the SD_VIDEO folder.

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Inside you''ll find one, or more, folders named PRG###.
Open any PRG### folder and you''ll find one, or more, MOV###.TOD files. Note, each PRG### folder has movies that are named MOV001.TOD to MOVFFF.TOD. Because there may be multiple movies with the same name, you must keep movie files in separate folders.

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There are four ways MPEG-2 clips can be imported into NLEs. Each method is appropriate for one or more NLEs. Thus, the technique you will need is dependent on the NLE you use. These techniques vary in the amount of storage space required on your computer''s hard disk (unless you are editing from a FireWire drive) and by the time required to accomplish an import.

The first three techniques are time- and space-efficient because they require no processing before an import. These techniques work because several NLEs can directly import files written to HD7. (You do not need to install any of the bundled Windows applications for the workflows described in this document.)

Edius 4.5

Canopus Edius 4.5, marketed by Grass Valley, can directly edit TOD clips. To work with Edius, copy all PRG### folders from the HD7 (or an optical disc) to your computer''s hard disk. You can skip this step if the PRG### folders are already on a FireWire hard disk. Edius supports both 1920x1080 and 1440x1080 video.

Vegas 7.0e
Sony Vegas 7.0e can directly edit TOD clips. To work with Vegas, copy all PRG### folder(s) from the HD7 (or an optical disc) to your computer''s hard disk. You can skip this step if the PRG### folder(s) are already on a FireWire hard disk.

Under the Explorer tab, select Tree View and All Files so the TOD files can be seen. Vegas supports both 1920x1080 and 1440x1080.

iMovie HD
JVC supplies a CD with an installable OS X driver that enables Apple iMovie HD to import TOD files. iMovie HD can import both 1920x1080 and 1440x1080 clips directly from the HD7''s hard disk, an optical disc, your computer''s hard disk, or a FireWire hard disk. (For some reason, TOD clips are slightly light.)

The downside of working with iMovie HD is that clip import requires a great deal of time because TOD files are automatically transcoded to AIC files during import.

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The second import option requires an extension change. Avid Liquid 7 can import TOD files after their file extensions have been changed to M2T. The source files can be on the HD7''s hard disk or SD card. (You do not need to copy the TOD files from the HD7 to your computer''s hard disk.) The source files can also be on your computer''s hard disk, an optical disc, or on a FireWire drive.

• To change MOV### files'' TOD extensions to M2T extensions, use the PFrank application. Download and install it under XP. Open PFrank.
• Browse and select a PRG### folder holding .TOD files. In the screenshot at right, the folder is on the HD7''s hard disk.
• Select “Remove the 3 Character Extensions” in Pre-defined Regex.
• Enter the “TOD” into the #1 Search Pattern (Regex) field.
• Enter the “M2T” into the #1 Replace Pattern (Regex) field.
• Enter SAMPLE.TOD into the Sample Name field. You should see SAMPLE.M2T appear in the Preview field.

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• Click the Scan button.
• The Detailed Information panel at right will appear.
• Click the Rename button to change the extensions on all the TOD files in the folder to M2T. (Click the Undo button to change the extensions on all the M2T files in the folder back to TOD.)
• Click the Close button.
• Repeat this process for each PRG### folder.

You can now import the MOV###.M2T files into Liquid. Be sure to select the LINK option in the Import dialog box.

During the import, Liquid generates an MPEG-2 video file, “Index files,” plus two PCM audio files. Liquid can edit 1920x1080 and 1440x1080 files in realtime.

If the source clips were on the HD7''s hard disk or SD card, you must now rename the files so the file extensions are once again TOD.

• Locate each source folder on the HD7.
• Enter the “M2T” into the #1 Search Pattern (Regex) field.
• Enter the “TOD” into the #1 Replace Pattern (Regex) field.
• Enter SAMPLE.M2T into the Sample Name field. You should see SAMPLE.TOD appear in the Preview field.
• Click the Scan button.
• The Detailed Information panel will appear.
• Click the Rename button to change the extensions on all the M2T files in the folder back to TOD.
• Click the Close button.
• Repeat this process for each PRG### folder.

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To edit TOD files using OS X applications (FCP, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, Avid Xpress Pro 5.7, and Media Composer 2.7) you will first need to convert the TOD files to different format. To better understand how the conversion techniques vary in the amount of storage space and time required, examine the chart at right, which has rows of four colors.

JVC supplies a CD with an installable OS X driver that enables the QuickTime Player, iMovie HD, and FCP to import TOD files. Unfortunately, FCP cannot play or edit TOD files. According to JVC, you should use QuickTime Player Pro to import, one by one, each TOD file and convert it to AIC, HDV, or ProRes 422. Obviously, this is very time-consuming.

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MPEG Streamclip is able to batch convert TOD files and so using it is far more efficient than using the workflow recommended by JVC. (MPEG Streamclip is able to import TOD files without installing the JVC software).

• Download v1.9b3 Beta and install under OS X. Open MPEG Streamclip. Issue List > Batch List. Click the Add Files button.
• Browse to a PRG### folder, and select the MOV###.TOD files. (Do not select the MOV###.MOI file.) Click Open.
• Browse to the disk where you want the converted files to appear. Click the New Folder button, and name the folder. Click Select.
• The dialog box at right should then appear. Click OK.
• Choose the Compression video codec. (You may also need to select the Frame Size.) After selecting the codec, click the To Batch button.

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• If there are other PRG### folders, browse and select the MOV###.TOD files. (Do not select the MOV###.MOI file.)
• Be sure you give each output folder you create a unique name. When MOV files in all PRG### folders have been entered in the batch list, click the Go button to start the conversion.

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The green row displays data that represent the process of obtaining Apple AIC movies for use in FCP. The HD7''s MPEG-2 M2TS (Transport Stream) data is on-the-fly demuxed to video and audio Elementary Streams. The video stream is decoded and then recoded to I-frame MPEG-2. The MP2 audio stream is decoded to 48kHz PCM audio. This process is slow and results in a very large file.

Apple AIC movies can have a frame-size of either 1440x1080 or 1920x1080 pixels. However, only 1440x1080 movies can be edited in FCP using “Unlimited RT.” Therefore, if you shot FullHD, specify a Frame Size of “1440 x 1080 (4:3).”

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The green row displays data that represent the process of obtaining Apple DVCPRO-HD movies for use by Xpress Pro 5.7 and Media Composer 2.7, as well as FCP. (While Avid can import DNxHD, the conversion from MPEG-2 is very inefficient.)

The HD7''s MPEG-2 M2TS (Transport Stream) data is on-the-fly demuxed to video and audio Elementary Streams. The inter-frame video stream is decoded and then compressed to intra-frame DVCPRO-HD. The MP2 audio stream is decoded to 48kHz PCM audio. The Frame Size can be either 1440x1080 (4:3) or 1920x1080 (16:9). The process is slow, and it results in a very large file.

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The yellow row displays data representing the process of obtaining HD MPEG-2 Program Stream files for use in Premiere Pro CS3. This process is very fast, and it results in no loss in quality.

The HD7''s MPEG-2 M2TS (Transport Stream) data is on-the-fly demuxed to video and audio Elementary Streams and then re-muxed into a Program Stream. Obviously, file size is not significantly changed in the process. Because re-muxing cannot rescale the frame-size, you must shoot only 1440CBR video.

You may be wondering—What about timecode? There is no timecode on the video recorded to the HD7''s hard disk and memory card. When captured, each clip starts with a timecode of zero, and, therefore, no batch recapture is possible. However, if you clone HD7 video to HDV tape for a backup and archive, the tape''s timecode supports batch recapture from tape.

If batch recapture is not important to you, and if you edit with neither an Apple nor Avid NLE—JVC''s GZ-HD7 supports a straightforward workflow. Moreover, if you edit with either Vegas 7e or Edius 4.5, the workflow is exactly what you would hope it would be for a hard disk- and memory card-based camcorder.

(See www.mindspring.com/~d-v-c to learn about an available GZ-HD7 Guide.)