Thinking about an upgrade - opinions.

[Chris B]

OK - I know that some of this stuff is covered elsewhere but I'll try and confirm my knowledge rather than ask the same questions again.

We have an old Camcorder that we got when we didn't know if we would take very much video - anyhow it's a Canon MVX330i (PAL equivalent of the Elura 40 I think). SD MiniDV. Not very special - It's low light performance is barely adequate. Anyhow thinking about an upgrade and with the world of HD upon us we're looking at the Canon HV30 (current UK price around £669.99 or $944 ) - largely because it will play our current tape collection and everywhere you look everyone says it's great.

My issue is that most of my target audience is not HD Ready - Some have TVs but nobody has a disc player that'll work with it. (I don't even have an HDTV yet). However I'm sure that not having HD on that tapes will be an issue when (not if) we do go that way. So in the transition phase how does that work?

If I record in HD do I choose interlaced or progressive? If I got for progressive it'll be a better low light performance but will I be able to edit it? - currently I have PE4 (does this work?). I'll be looking to make SD DVDs for the near to mid future - but I'd like the ability to go back and reburn them as HD (possibly blu-ray) If I capture in HD can I burn direct to SD DVD (obviously transcoding). Again does that work as well as if I've recorded interlaced or progressive?

Some real world experiences would be really helpful - especially stuff I haven't thought of- Thanks in advance.

Chris.

[George Tyndall]

Some real world experiences would be really helpful - especially stuff I haven't thought of- Thanks in advance.Chris.

Chris, you may find the following link helpful: viewtopic.php?f=57&t=4450#p38877

[Chris B]

Thanks George - that's very helpful. Any advice on the progressive vs interlaced question? Are there known issues when converting from either to SD DVD?

[Bobby]

Hi Chris. I think a lot of us are in the same boat - not having the capability to generate Blu-Ray or any target audience that can play them.

I always believed that you should archive the best quality you can, even if you can't use that quality right now. In my case I do believe that I will go back sometime in the future and re-do some of my current SD projects - a niece's wedding to be sure.

There is no downside to HD right now. You don't get any less on the tapes and in fact HD camcorders probably produce better SD than the SD camcorders do. The only downside is the camcorder price, and with the HV30 being relatively inexpensive these days (I have one ) I think that is the best way to go.

Good luck and enjoy!

[JohnnyO]

I think Bobby is giving sound advise. The only thing is if you plan on editing the video, you will need to make sure your computer can handle it.
Going with a HD camcoreder for me is not pratical at this point. I have a Pentium 4 HT, 2.8G machine, 3G RAM. My machine does not cut it.
A move to HD for me means a new PC.

Now, I am not sure what it mans if you have a HD camcorder and create SD DVDs. My guess is that you will still need a machine that can handel HD video.

[Bobby]

I think Bobby is giving sound advise. The only thing is if you plan on editing the video, you will need to make sure your computer can handle it.
Going with a HD camcoreder for me is not pratical at this point. I have a Pentium 4 HT, 2.8G machine, 3G RAM. My machine does not cut it.
A move to HD for me means a new PC.

Now, I am not sure what it mans if you have a HD camcorder and create SD DVDs. My guess is that you will still need a machine that can handel HD video.

No, you can set the HV30 to output SD widescreen and connect that via standard Firewire cable. In that mode, it works just like a standard SD camcorder. There is some discussion about whether that is the best or optimum way to do it, but it does work well.

But what is on the tape is always HD so you can change to have that in the future.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

There is a lot of truth in the comments that once you have seen true 1080p you'll wonder why you ever thought SD was good, but then compared to the old VHS quality, anything will be an improvement. The long suffering Mrs Twosheds (alias Sue) was pretty unimpressed when I came home last autumn with with relatively huge 46" LCD 1080p TV to finally see what my BD player could do really do (the 32" 1080i TV being relegated to another room)!

The (shall we say) 'comments' stopped fairly abruptly when she actually saw an HD TV broadcast. Now the only 'comments' relate to the brilliant quality of the pictures (on TV, not in my videos )

As a consequence I am doing a lot more of my work in HD now. I suppose I am what one might call an 'early adopter'(?). Not one of the pioneers (they just get arrows in their chests) but a quick follower. (For those of you that are familiar with this management speak, we are now seeing a lot of 'hot leapfroggers'). The idiocy of my position, and that of other 'early adopters', means that we generally pay a premium price for equipment (BD player, HD TV etc.) when compared to the later 'followers'. However, I digress.....

For HD, my Q6600 equipped PC regularly has all four cores maxed out for quite lengthy periods of time. So the comments about having a powerful PC are borne out. My workflow for HD is not the most efficient I am certain, but it works for me. For my stuff at home everything is HD and goes on BD discs. For stuff that is for other folk it is SD unless they can accept HD (I always ask them). Everything I film is HD with downconvert in camera for SD when required.

[Bobby]

Oh, I agree with Twosheds - you need all the power you can get in this business.

But the ramp up is significant. Even though I put together a powerful PC last year, to go HD I would have to:

1) get a new TV (mine is a 1080i plasma, but actually only 768 vertical pixels, so not even true 1080i

2) a new receiver to handle the 7.1 instead of 5.1 and a couple more speakers

2) a Blu-Ray player for the TV

3) a Blu-Ray writer drive for my PC

and even when I got all that running my audience is still SD and will probably remain so for a long time. So the cost of me jumping on the HD bandwagon now is high and the return minimal. And my wife very much does NOT like seeing herself in HD (when I hooked up the camcorder directly to the TV) as she says there is too much detail!

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

..... And my wife very much does NOT like seeing herself in HD (when I hooked up the camcorder directly to the TV) as she says there is too much detail!

There was a lot of comment about that 'extra clarity' in the UK too, mainly from TV stars, presenters, newsreaders........etc. All of whom would soon be seen in a more 'detailed' way.

[JohnnyO]

No, you can set the HV30 to output SD widescreen and connect that via standard Firewire cable. In that mode, it works just like a standard SD camcorder. There is some discussion about whether that is the best or optimum way to do it, but it does work well.

Bobby, that's good to know. It will come in hdy when I need to get a new camcorder.

[George Tyndall]

..... And my wife very much does NOT like seeing herself in HD (when I hooked up the camcorder directly to the TV) as she says there is too much detail!

There was a lot of comment about that 'extra clarity' in the UK too, mainly from TV stars, presenters, newsreaders........etc. All of whom would soon be seen in a more 'detailed' way.

I saw a tight headshot of Kate Winslet and Meryl Streep cheek-to-cheek on my HDTV recently, both of whom were smiling widely at the Academy Awards. The thick make-up that both were wearing kept their cheeks looking smooth despite the smiles (the teeth looked great, even on Winslet, who is said to be a heavy smoker), but both had deep and numerous wrinkles not to say furrows ("crow's feet"?) around their eyes that were very unflattering indeed.

[Chuck Engels]

I recently highly recommended the HV30 to someone that has no intention of doing HDV work in the near future.
For $600 there is no better consumer level camcorder on the market and well worth every penny, pence, bob, dollar, quid or pound

Record in HDV, capture in SD, and save the tapes for the future when you want to go the HDV route, makes tons of sense