HD Camcorder

[martyn29]

I am looking in the future to move into HD, does anyone have a HD camcorder, is the quality really alot better than normal? and does anyone know of any good models.

 

[jrhilton]

I am looking in the future to move into HD, does anyone have a HD camcorder, is the quality really alot better than normal? and does anyone know of any good models.

How much do you have to spend is really the question?

The best performance/value model aimed at consumers is the Canon HV30, quiality wise they are great, price about £600-£700 (talking from experience). The average HD camera airmed at the consumer gives you HD but the actual quality isn't much different from upscaling standard definition well, as the cameras tend to have small sensors and rubbish lenses. Thats what makes the Canon HV30 different, it has a very good lens and large CMOS sensor.

To go to the next level, e.g. semi pro, you are talking about spending 2-3k more for a good camera. Reality is on a tripod the picture qiality will be fairly similar unless you are destined for Blu-ray, as the Canon HV range of HDV cameras have got a very good reputation! I have also used XDCAMs and HDCAM cameras and are of course better, but for the average person XDCAM and HDCAM are totally unnecessiray and will mean you have to sell your car to get the camera too, and thats before you get a computer able to edit the footage thsoe cameras produce.

The issue with HD is storage and playback. HDV is the same as DV - 14GB an hour uncompressed, XDCAM is about 15gb an hour, HDCAM (if you have the money) is up to 198GB an hour.

Playback is hard too, yes you can play on your computer, but blu-ray disks are still not cheap and most tv players are designed to not play disks burnt on a computer....

That is why HDV is good for the consumer, you can store your HD on mini-dv tapes that last forever, and just keep a DVD of your tape and if you want the HD, just cet the tape out again.

If you are interested, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxoF5mxPvTk and check out the HD version, that was done with a Canon HV30 as it was small and easy to carry around and I wasn't too bothered if it fell while shooting. The origional footage looks much better (YouTube added lots of stutter and grain).

The advantage of HD camers like the HV30 is you get HD plus downscaling to SD onto a DVD looks great, and it will shoot interlanced or progressive scan at 1080 (actually 1440x1080).

Like all situations, its all down to the user, a skilled user can make a mini-dv camera look good. With HD you have to think about exposure, filters, white balance, and shake a lot more!

Forget the cameras that shoot to SD cards at present, all the consumer ones have rubbish lenses and the codecs they use are still being polished. HDV, XDCAM and HDCAM are already mature.

Let me know if you have any questions or want any advice.

 

[martyn29]

Thanks! What about the Canon HG20? Any thoughts on this a friend of mine has the HG10 and he recomended the upgraded one the HG20

 

[Teaboy1]

Hi there, I pondered this question last year and decided to finish with cameras containing motors and moving parts altogether. HDD are OK and certainly better than any tape format but you still have the disc to care for. Certainly its now wiser to opt for HiDef and so I went for SD format memory and bought the Canon HFS-100 [see my thread elsewhere]. The machine was not cheap but its great and worth it in ease of handling.
Yes you have to worry about white balance, exposure and filters but again the results are worth it.
Decide what you want to do with the end product before committing. HiDef is great for use on a computer but they dont always produce CD /DVD that can play back on a TV back at home. Plus you have to think about editing software, you raw footage is never perfect and you will have to edit sooner or later.
I now get good results with my HFS-100 but its not for beginners.
HTH.
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Ohh...and by the way...HiDef uses masses of memory, so get a big 'un !!