Canon Vixia HFM41 What format to shoot in?

senseless said:

I just got the new Canon HFM41 and there are several shooting options. I'm using FCE4 and Toast to burn blu-ray discs. What format can I shoot in for best quality? MXP, FXP, XP+, SP and LP are the options.

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i believe those are not formats but image quality. mxp and fxp provide full HD. i would go with fxp as it takes less space and doesn't look noticeably worse.

wywern209 said:

i believe those are not formats but image quality. mxp and fxp provide full HD. i would go with fxp as it takes less space and doesn't look noticeably worse.

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Seconded. With the Vixia HFS20, I usually record FXP (17Mbs, I think). MXP if you want to go whole hog. Depends on your purpose, disk space, etc. For what I'm doing FXP has been totally fine (meetings and talking heads, huzzah!) And really, for my purposes even lower has been OK--not much action to worry about. The lower settings use 1440x1080 if I recall correctly, kinda like HDV.

Sounds like you're headed in the right direction, I'll just throw another vote in for FXP. I did a bunch of experimentation after I got my HF20 last year, and found no reason to ever shoot MXP. Perhaps a larger sensor may change things a bit, but with consumer cameras anything more is just a waste of space.

I disagree with some of the posts, I use a Canon VIXIA HF S20 and always shoot in MXP, if you are looking to do commercial or professional work the goal is to never sacrifice quality... even if you're not serious about filming you want to get the most out of your camera and if the footage turns out to be good you always want it in the highest quality, you can always compress it later !!! I vote MXP all day everyday.

This was shot in MXP:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sn79976p8o

Oops, forgot where the HFM41 was on the food chain. You've got a 1/3" CMOS. MXP would be my choice there. I need a new camera :-(

senseless said:

What about the frame rate? Can Final Cut Express 4 handle 24P or 30P ok?

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FCE doesn't do 24p.

FCE works with 30p, but not 24.

It does get converted, but in our experience it isn't completely pointless. The quality does seem to be better on footage shot on the HFS100 when using the 30p setting, even with FCE, my friend uses it for most all shots. I convert most everything offline externally with Voltaic, and also note increased quality, though Shedworx now fully supports 24p pulldown natively anyway, so I often use 24p settings.

You edited the HV20's PF24 in FCE?

As FCE doesn't know any 24p, you have been editing in 60i. The HV20 had the the 24p wrapped in 60i. That's all FCE can recognize. To get the 24p unwrapped from the 60i, you need Cinema Tools or Compressor, but then FCE wouldn't be able to import the files.
The only Apple consumer editor able to work with 24p (if you don't count FCP X) is iMovie11. iMovie11, though, won't be able to do the pulldown thingie with the HV20.

I can't find anything if the HFM41 uses FP24 or 24p. For use with FCE, I'd stick with 30p.

senseless said:

The camera can record 5.1 surround sound with an optional mike, but I'm not sure how you would edit and burn this to blu-ray. Is this possible?

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With FCP X yes.