HD changes to SD??

[Patrick Cooper]

Yesterday, I was out shooting wildlife for a short film I'm submitting to a film festival. I was using the Panasonic G6. The settings were AVCHD 1920 x 1080 25p. I was quite happy with the footage I got.

Just now, I was transferring the video files to the pc and I just about fell off my chair when I glanced at the file details under Properties. According to Windows, the frame width is 720 and the frame height is 480. How can this be? How on earth could these be recorded in standard definition? Windows is also informing me that these are AVCHD videos so that's a bit of a contradiction. There are four AVCHD options available on the G6 and they are all 1920 x 1080.

Ive checked earlier videos that Ive shot with the G6 and the same details are revealed – frame width: 720, frame height: 480. They are meant to be full HD. Ive also checked random videos that Ive shot with the GoPro and the details from those are as they should be – frame width: 1920, frame height: 1080. Would anyone have any idea about what's going on with the G6 videos?

Ive also checked the specs on videos shot with my Panasonic G2 and the details there are correct - 1280 x 720.

[David Mullen ASC]

Are you looking at the properties of the original camera files or what got imported into your editing software?

[Patrick Cooper]

David, I am indeed looking at the properties of the original camera files. This is really puzzling to me. I am just about to import them into my editing software - I'll see if that opens up any other information about them.

[Patrick Cooper]

Okay Ive just imported them into Sony Movie Studio. I can check the properties with this software and it indicates that they are 1920 x 1080. Well, I'm happy now. So it seems that Windows is giving me false information about the file details.

 

An interesting thing is that Windows is basically telling me that these files are standard definition (NTSC.) That would suggest that the frame rate would likely be 30fps. But that's not right either. I live in a PAL country so I opted to shoot the files at 25p. So out of curiosity, I checked the frame rate in Properties - Details within Windows but it was blank (no information given about that.)

[Satsuki Murashige]

As long as it looks correct and reads correctly in your editing software then I guess you're good. Sounds like a Windows bug. You could try FLV Player to check properties. You might also want to check that your camera doesn't have an SD recording mode and that you haven't accidentally switched it over.

 

Computers and by extension modern cameras are weird. I had a 5D a few weeks ago set to NTSC 23.98 that my TVLogic insisted was PAL 25fps. It wasn't and the footage was fine. I contemplated throwing the camera out the window for a second or two though.

[Patrick Cooper]

As long as it looks correct and reads correctly in your editing software then I guess you're good. Sounds like a Windows bug. You could try FLV Player to check properties. You might also want to check that your camera doesn't have an SD recording mode and that you haven't accidentally switched it over.

 

Computers and by extension modern cameras are weird. I had a 5D a few weeks ago set to NTSC 23.98 that my TVLogic insisted was PAL 25fps. It wasn't and the footage was fine. I contemplated throwing the camera out the window for a second or two though.

 

Yea must be a Windows bug. Not sure if I can trust everything that Windows tells me now! The G6 does have an SD recording mode but that is 640 x 480, and it's in MP4 format. The video files in question are still stored on the SD card inside the camera. And when I display them on the camera's lcd screen, it's indicated that they are AVCHD. That is odd about the discrepancy between your 5D and the TVLogic. I admit it's moments like that that can make you go huh????.