Will a software fix (i.e. codec) ever make the EVO camera as good as this??

[Dreamliner]

"Apple of My Eye" - an iPhone 4 film - UPDATE: Behind the scenes footage included on Vimeo

I was lurking on macrumors and found this video, its pretty good and really shows how dismal the camcorder on the EVO is. My question is not to flame the EVO, but to simply ask, will SOFTWARE such as a codec make this quality possible on our phones?

I was also reading someone had an issue on their new iPhone 4, got it swapped for another iPhone 4, it had the same issue. The apple 'genius' gave him two options, take the new phone, or take the old one...and wait for a software update...

 

[evotitans]

Well for one the video notes even state it was Edited(Probably using iMovie or whatever it is)

So first give the EVO a quality movie editing software like that then compare.

And second the pictures on the right all look pixelated....I have some far better quality pics on my EVO right now.

 

[ragebot]

You may need to get up to speed on how vids are made, and here is a good place to start

cinema5D.com • The forum for dslr filmmakers

Not to dis the iphone4, but the vid you linked to is the result of lots of skill in capturing raw footage with what look to me to be custom made support systems and dollies, not to mention serious editing of that footage. Speaking as someone who has used Premier to edit vid footage from a Canon 1d4 the transitions in the vid are on a pro level. One of my biggest gripes about my Evo is the problems with connecting a full size keyboard; something any video editor would not think of eliminating.

Quite frankly the rule of thumb is you spend 100 minutes editing raw footage for every minute you spend capturing raw footage. Without a full size keyboard and hi rez mouse I would need to double the 100 minute figure. Try to sync a sound track to a vid track without a good mouse and you will see what I mean.

Props to iphone and the guy who made the vid, but don't confuse raw footage with a polished post processed pro level vid.

 

[Dreamliner]

^ I understand your point, but I just don't see any amount of 'processing' making video capture from the EVO looking anywhere near that good.

Is there a example video of high quality captured from the EVO yet?

 

[Brent Pierce]

A codec would help the compression. The EVO video right now has the resolution of 720p, but it compresses the crap out of it. It uses MPEG or H.263, whichever you choose in settings. A more suitable codec would be H.264. This will produce better quality, but will result in bigger file sizes. I guess this is where HTC decided to go with H.263 for smaller file sizes.

An update WOULD fix the video issue. The lens and sensor inside the camera(phone) WILL produce HD 720p video, the poor quality is due to the current codec. We need H.264 on the next update.

 

[MrPassion]

You may need to get up to speed on how vids are made, and here is a good place to start

cinema5D.com • The forum for dslr filmmakers

Not to dis the iphone4, but the vid you linked to is the result of lots of skill in capturing raw footage with what look to me to be custom made support systems and dollies, not to mention serious editing of that footage. Speaking as someone who has used Premier to edit vid footage from a Canon 1d4 the transitions in the vid are on a pro level. One of my biggest gripes about my Evo is the problems with connecting a full size keyboard; something any video editor would not think of eliminating.

Quite frankly the rule of thumb is you spend 100 minutes editing raw footage for every minute you spend capturing raw footage. Without a full size keyboard and hi rez mouse I would need to double the 100 minute figure. Try to sync a sound track to a vid track without a good mouse and you will see what I mean.

Props to iphone and the guy who made the vid, but don't confuse raw footage with a polished post processed pro level vid.

The video tries to imply that it was edited on the Iphone if you don't pay close attention. This brings up what i consider the most rediculous hype for the Iphone which is that you can buy a video editor for it. Just because you can edit on the phone does not mean you should. The pain of editing on that tiny device vs on a real computer is something that makes me cringe.

 

[ragebot]

^ I understand your point, but I just don't see any amount of 'processing' making video capture from the EVO looking anywhere near that good.

Is there a example video of high quality captured from the EVO yet?

I have not seen any edited vids from the EVO yet. I may try and do one later today.

 

[hitekalex]

Will a software fix (i.e. codec) ever make the EVO camera as good as this??

There are certain things that they can do with software, but generally no. iPhone 4 comes with backside-illuminated (BSI) camera sensor with large pixel sizes.. that's what makes a difference in image quality, especially visible in low lighting conditions.

Unfortunately HTC is unduly obsessed with pure hardware specs and megapixel counts, so they can claim paper superiority over iPhone in raw specs... That's one thing you gotta give to Apple - they are not focused on MP count (8MP on cell phones is unnecessary anyway), but on the end result.

 

[Mistawho]

A codec would help the compression. The EVO video right now has the resolution of 720p, but it compresses the crap out of it. It uses MPEG or H.263, whichever you choose in settings. A more suitable codec would be H.264. This will produce better quality, but will result in bigger file sizes. I guess this is where HTC decided to go with H.263 for smaller file sizes.

An update WOULD fix the video issue. The lens and sensor inside the camera(phone) WILL produce HD 720p video, the poor quality is due to the current codec. We need H.264 on the next update.

I agree!!!

 

[mrspeedmaster]

The video tries to imply that it was edited on the Iphone if you don't pay close attention. This brings up what i consider the most rediculous hype for the Iphone which is that you can buy a video editor for it. Just because you can edit on the phone does not mean you should. The pain of editing on that tiny device vs on a real computer is something that makes me cringe.

Don't knock it until you tried it. Editing on the phone is ridiculously easy. It is all touch based, trimming and dropping tracks is all a matter of swipes and pinches. You can't do multiple layers but for quick edits, it is easy.

 

[heavychevy]

I'm so sick of the Iphones only hyping videos. It's like they have to come up with something to make up for the fact that you can't make a phone call. At least hype something more relevant to the actual phone AND THEN the camera. Haven't anything else being hyped.

 

[greenenvy070]

From what I understand about the video, it was all shot with the iPhone 4, and all shots (and transitions) were done with the iMovie app on the iPhone 4.

The only thing that went "outside" the phone was the dialog record (also done on the iPhone) and the soundtrack music.

The filmmaker smartly exported a reference video for the soundtrack, and had his dialog "married" to the music so that all the audio could be condensed into one track. He then dropped his finished audio track under the video (on the iPhone) and had the completed movie (and edited timeline) on his iPhone.

Not completely done on the iPhone, but impressive nonetheless.

You may need to get up to speed on how vids are made, and here is a good place to start

cinema5D.com • The forum for dslr filmmakers

Not to dis the iphone4, but the vid you linked to is the result of lots of skill in capturing raw footage with what look to me to be custom made support systems and dollies, not to mention serious editing of that footage. Speaking as someone who has used Premier to edit vid footage from a Canon 1d4 the transitions in the vid are on a pro level. One of my biggest gripes about my Evo is the problems with connecting a full size keyboard; something any video editor would not think of eliminating.

Quite frankly the rule of thumb is you spend 100 minutes editing raw footage for every minute you spend capturing raw footage. Without a full size keyboard and hi rez mouse I would need to double the 100 minute figure. Try to sync a sound track to a vid track without a good mouse and you will see what I mean.

Props to iphone and the guy who made the vid, but don't confuse raw footage with a polished post processed pro level vid.

 

[Ayman250]

There are certain things that they can do with software, but generally no. iPhone 4 comes with backside-illuminated (BSI) camera sensor with large pixel sizes.. that's what makes a difference in image quality, especially visible in low lighting conditions.

Unfortunately HTC is unduly obsessed with pure hardware specs and megapixel counts, so they can claim paper superiority over iPhone in raw specs... That's one thing you gotta give to Apple - they are not focused on MP count (8MP on cell phones is unnecessary anyway), but on the end result.

EVO comes with backside-illuminated (BSI) as well.
Here

 

[EarlyMon]

A codec would help the compression. The EVO video right now has the resolution of 720p, but it compresses the crap out of it. It uses MPEG or H.263, whichever you choose in settings. A more suitable codec would be H.264. This will produce better quality, but will result in bigger file sizes.

It's incorrect that H.264 produces bigger file sizes for 720p. The higher codec on our phones is MPEG 4 Part 2, H.264 is MPEG 4 Part 10 - it's motion optimized among other things.

ALL digital video is compressed (yes - even mpeg2). H.264 is a far more refined compression scheme - for two files of the same size and bitrate, the H.264 one will be markedly better.

The recent update took us to 8 Mbps from 6, but that's like putting a silk dress on pig. The X and the Epic are competing with the iP4 with insanely high bit rates, but still using MPEG 4 - and are therefore ending up with overly-large files.

Until we have that codec, there simply won't be a comparison to the iP4's video capabilities.

Here's Apple's explanation from 4 years ago, and it's a VERY good one -

http://images.apple.com/quicktime/pdf/H264_Technology_Brief.pdf