What is the most compressed you can do

[Tom Frisch]

Most people are going to try to shoot the most pristine footage possible with cameras like Red, but for documentary work, often the record time is more important than ultimate image quality.

Can I assume that the most compressed format out of the Scarlet will be REDCODE 28? If not, are there any plans for a super-compressed mode that would look mediocre, but record for a long time? (like HDV quality)?

I apologize if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find any reference to it online.

-Tom
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http://www.tom11.com

 

[Martin Weiss]

HDV would be more like REDCODE .5

By the time the Scarlet gets out, solid state memory will be much more affordable.

 

[Tom Frisch]

I realize that comparing REDCODE anything to HDV is pretty hilarious, but I'd also really like a low bit-rate shooting mode option, and I don't think I'm alone on this. The excuse that "memory prices are falling at such a rate that file size doesn't matter" doesn't fly with me. I bought into that when I got an HVX200 years ago, and the prices have never come down to what people were expecting. So are there any plans for Redcode 5 or 10 or 20? Does the codec scale well in that direction?

I ask this mainly because Jim's response on the 3K s35 poll was "just use more compression if you want smaller file sizes"

-Tom

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http://www.tom11.com

 

[Tom Frisch]

I'm surprised that no one has responded to this. Am I way off base?

 

[Daniel Browning]

Are there any plans for a super-compressed mode that would look mediocre, but record for a long time?

None have been announced; however, it's been mentioned several times and I'm sure RED is aware of the need. It's an issue of programming resources to develop it as well as hardware resources inside the camera to handle the increased work.

 

[Daniel Browning]

None have been announced

Actually, Jim did state a few days ago (I think in one of Peter's threads on Scarletuser) that if you didn't need so much resolution and/or storage, you could just select a lower compression rate. He may have been hinting at something like this.

 

[brainburst]

The excuse that "memory prices are falling at such a rate that file size doesn't matter" doesn't fly with me. I bought into that when I got an HVX200 years ago, and the prices have never come down to what people were expecting.

The difference is not the memory costs it's the form. The Red camera has used a commodity form factor, unlike Sony and Panasonic which use proprietary form factors. Memory prices are coming down to the extent that we will be able to keep them on the shelf like other archival media. Sandisk announced long life media ( 100 years plus!) but only in small sizes, so maybe this will become a realistic option in a few years.