VIXIA HV30 Basic Set up ?

[John Callahan]

Hello,

I just bought this new Canon VIXIA HV30 and need a few tips. I will go through the manual soon and figure it all out but tomarrow I'm filming/Photo's a stock car race during the day and then at night.

What Basic settings do you suggest on the Camcorder to get me by for now?
I bought a couple of Panasonic DVC for HD tapes?
My editing program is PE4 or Nero?
Should I buy a firewire it came with a USB only?
I read somewhere to film in HD and convert down for editing?
What about a wide angle lens?
Any suggestion on Links for a HV30 video tips?

Thanks
John

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Hi John, I can help with some of your queries:-

1) What Basic settings do you suggest on the Camcorder to get me by for now?

I don't have this camera so cannot help on this point.

2) I bought a couple of Panasonic DVC for HD tapes?

The main message about tapes is to stick to one brand only. There have been reports that different tape brands use different tape lubricants and that mixing tapes can cuase these lubricants to cause clogging. I don't know if this still holds true but the received wisdom is not to take the risk - stick with one brand. Also use the tapes once only - reuse will increase the chance of frame drop outs.

3) My editing program is PE4 or Nero?

Use PE4 to edit. Use either PE4 or Nero to burn the DVD. I do not have PE4 so I cannot comment on how effective it is vis a vis Nero in the DVD authoring department.

4) Should I buy a firewire it came with a USB only?

Again, I am not familiar with the particular camera. Hopefully someone with the same camera will be able to provide you with info on this point but, generally speaking, firewire is the way to go.

5) I read somewhere to film in HD and convert down for editing?

Until PE supports HD then this is correct. There are other editing software packages that will allow native HD editing if that is what you want to do. Otherwise it is 'downconvert on capture'.

6) What about a wide angle lens?

I purchased a Sony 0.6 wide adaptor for my Sony camera. Very useful piece of kit. Recommended.

7) Any suggestion on Links for a HV30 video tips?

Again, I am not familiar with the particular camera but 'googling' HV30 may give you a start.

HTH

[Rockdoc]

John,

I recently bought an HV20, which is VERY similiar to the HV30, so I am going to pass on a couple of things that I have learned as well.
1) What Basic settings do you suggest on the Camcorder to get me by for now?
There are a couple of previous threads in this forum that it may help you to read through. I'll post some links here. The biggest thing is to put your camera in Cine Mode for recording, which reduces the some of the problems that HD consumer camcorders can create by the nature of being HD. Video can actually be too sharp, for example, and give you a look that doesn't come out great (considering the power of the camera) on your tv. Some of the folks here have been doing a lot of research and testing that I take advantage of for my camera.
http://muvipix.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=505&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=hv20+cine+mode

To cut to the chase on your question, use these settings posted by Jack Falbey:

I've only been playing with my HV20 for a little while, but I can offer some suggestions to get you started...

1) Set the power switch to CAMERA, press the FUNC button to bring upthe options. At the top left, there's an icon that lets you select various shooting profiles. There's one called CINE MODE that gives very nice image results out of the box. It takes care of many of the manually-adjustable settings for you, and looks prettty good too. I recommend shooting in CINE MODE at first.

2) Use the joystick to move down the left column to the MENU icon, then press the joystick in. This gives you options to set most of the camera's features. Move down 1 icon to the REC/IN SETUP, move right and set HD STANDARD to HDV (not HDV PF24). This will record the highest-quality HD video that the camera is capable of.

3) Switch the camera to PLAY. Press the FUNC button and move down to the MENU icon and press the joystick in. Move down 2 icons to PLAY/OUT SETUP2 and set DV OUTPUT to DV LOCKED. This will downconvert the HDV to standard DV right in the camera when capturing in PE4.

You will now be recording beautiful HDV 1440x1080i video and capturing in SD 720x480 NTSC. The advantage here is that HDV downconverted looks way better than recording in regular DV, and the tapes will still have the full HDV video on them if you want to use it in an HD project the future!

2) I bought a couple of Panasonic DVC for HD tapes?
The tip above about sticking to one brand is important, but I also wanted to mention that you DON'T need HD tapes to record HD. There is no difference in the quality when you use regular mini-dv tapes. Since HD tapes are about twice as expensive, well, you can do the math... Here is another thread on tapes:
http://muvipix.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2538&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=hv20+tape+recommendation

3) My editing program is PE4 or Nero?
Definitely use PE4 to edit. Nero can have some flexibility for dvd menus and such that PE4 doesn't provide (there is no one program that is perfect at everything). If you have Nero, and want that flexibility, your can export your finished project to an avi file, then import that to Nero to add menus. If you are looking for the fairly straightforward menu creation, PE4 may do the job for you. There are some tips and tricks in the Products section here on tweaking menus (using your own backgrounds, etc.) that may interest you as well.

4) Should I buy a firewire it came with a USB only?
Yes, you will need a firewire cable to download the video into PE. I don't know why they don't include these things with the camera, but it is a fairly inexpensive purchase (at least compared to the camera! )

5) I read somewhere to film in HD and convert down for editing?
You need a pretty powerful computer for HD editing. The general consensus is that at this point, the hardware available to most has not come to the point of matching the software to make this feasible for most consumer-level editing. With Blu-ray finally being decided on as a format, the burners are starting to come down in price. It may be that this mismatch between hardware and software is disappearing (some folks here already have Blu-ray burners). Anyway, unless you already have a powerful computer and are set up to edit HD video, you can downconvert in the camera to SD and edit from there. Your tapes will still have the HD footage, so you can always move to HD editing when you are set up for it later on...

6) What about a wide angle lens?
Sounds cool. A lot of people like them and I am considering one myself. Whether you NEED one is really more based on what kind of video you are shooting. Check the HV20/HV30 forum link below under the Accessories category for some discussions about brands and uses.

7) Any suggestion on Links for a HV30 video tips?
This forum has been the most helpful site for me (it was suggested to me by someone here) outside of this forum. I have to say that this is a somewhat friendlier forum, but the other has some good info as well. Several of us here have HV20's or HV30's, so we may have info that you can use, but wandering through the forum over there has also given me some good info...
http://www.hv20.com/

Good luck, and feel free to ask anything else that comes to mind....

Jennifer

[jackfalbey]

Hello John, and welcome to Muvipix! I was all set to give you my "HV20/HV30 Quick Launch" tips to get you up and running, but I see that Twosheds and Jennifer already covered all the basics. All I can say is that I second their advice. Read some forum posts, play with the camcorder, ask questions, and you'll be shooting great video in no time!