Canon GH40 MP4 35mbps VS AVCHD 28mbps

[Gr8Believer]

Of the 2 recording modes, MP4 at 35 mbps or AVCHD at 28 mbps, which has the higher? I was under the impession AVCHD would be as it is uncompressed whereas the MP4 option has gone thru compression already.

[Danny]

Hi, Gr8Believer!

Thanks for posting.  There appears to be a word missing from your question and we don't want the community to fill in the blank with a potentially wrong word.  Could you please clarify your question?

If this is a time-sensitive matter, search our knowledge base or contact our US-based technical support team at http://canon.us/SupportCF

Thanks and have a great day!

[IamintheUK]

AVCHD and MP4 are both versions of h264, a compression codec. The AVCHD standard only allows a maximum bitrate of 28Mbps. MP4 is a container format where the bitrate can be higher. The G40 has an advantage in that the superior CABAC encoding algorithm is used for both AVCHD and MP4, not something every camcorder does. This means that with the higher bitrate of MP4 the image is discernably better. I shoot all my video 1080 50p 35Mbps and file size difference compared to AVCHD is negligable.

[Gr8Believer]

Thank you.

Do you have the same camera? 

I just got the camera after upgrading from HFS20 and the options are very different.

Can you advise me what filming mode you would set the camera on to film a school concert?

Regards

[IamintheUK]

If your camera is an HF G40, then yes we have the same camera. I would suggest that as you are new to this camera you have it set to auto. As to recording format, for this job I would use AVCHD at 28Mbps. If you have the time experiment with the different setting and read through the manual.

[Gr8Believer]

This is a great camera indeed. 

The manual doesn't explain why one would use AVCHD instead of MP4 recording format that's why I posted here on the forum. 

[IamintheUK]

This information came from the specs of the next camera in the chain which is basically the same but with added pro features such as XLR audio inputs and SDI output. In the description it says to get the highest quality use MP4.

Yes, this is a great camera producing stunning pictures. I also like the customisable buttons so it can be set up just the way I like to work.

[Gr8Believer]

Another thing is the camera doesn't auto switch off. Does yours?

[IamintheUK]

No it does not auto switch off. Not a feature of this camera. Remember, this is considered to be a pro-sumer camera.

[Nintendo]

well, actually AVCHD vs MP4, you should know more about their differences not only the Megabits per second, how about try these links:https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3619073
[Mod Note: Links removed per Forum Guidelines]