Canopus in Action: Videographer-Metaphoric

Videographer

Martin Stevens, Metaphoric Pictures
Martin Stevens, a producer and director at Metaphoric Pictures, decided that the Canopus DV codec, found in ProCoder, as well as in other Canopus products, is the best DV codec compression and decompression technology on the market today. But he had to learn it the hard way — by testing virtually every DV codec available.

“I suffer from being too critical and too analytical,” says Stevens. He doesn't like it when things don't work right. When Stevens didn't like some of the problems associated with using a Steadicam, he invented the Glidecam, which is now used by NASA, National Geographic TV, and the Oprah Winfrey Show and others. And when he didn't like the way a DV codec performed, he tested virtually all the other DV codecs to find the one that worked best.

“We tested every DV codec we could get our hands on, and they all failed miserably in comparison to the Canopus DV codec... I do not say this lightly, because I was absolutely shocked to find that the Canopus codec was the only codec that held up after multiple realworld generation tests.”

How did Stevens end up turning his own studio into a DV testing lab? While digitally editing a promo for his company, Glidecam Industries, using an editing solution from a Canopus competitor, Stevens noticed that after adding a fade and regenerating the video, the image fell apart. “It would get blocks all over it,” says Stevens. “Most people don't notice it, at first, but once you point it out, it's obvious.”

For one test, Stevens and his coworkers used a very simple solid color image. “We used just an orange full screen image, nothing else. Then we applied just a fade to it, and in only one pass or generation it looked terrible.”

After reattempting several times with bad results, Stevens tried a DV codec from another Canopus competitor, but the results of multiple generations with color corrections, etc., were still terrible.

Then he tried the Canopus DV codec.

“[The Canopus DV codec] held up remarkably well even after ten generations... People forget that when DV is compressed, it has to uncompress. It is not a clone of the original.

“When working in digital video, the codec is like a film stock. You can have the best camera, but if your film is not good, then the camera doesn't matter. It's the same with the codec. But it seems like the codec is the last thing that anyone thinks about. They think about the editing package, not the codec that comes with it.”

Stevens has some advice about how to spread the news of his findings.

“If I were Canopus, I'd run a full-page color ad showing the results of footage after ten generations, comparing their DV codec to DV codecs from the rival companies. It would be empirical evidence of the quality they produce.”

Stevens is using Canopus Procoder for all the online and DVD promotional videos for Glidecam Industries.

“Procoder is fabulous for making Web videos.”

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If you’d like to share your“Canopus in Action” story, please contact your local Canopus Sales Office.