HD Camcorder?
I’m planning on getting an HD camcorder and need some help.
Can you mention some good camcorders in the market right now? *about 1000$*
Which format is best, i heard that everytime you open a video from hdd camcorders it loses quality. is that true?
Also, is there a big enough loss when burning to dvd that it would be better just to buy a standard camcorder? Also would it be so much better to get Blu-Ray instead? Are blu-ray writers going to go down in price any time soon?
How can i hook up a dvd player for widescreen movies? How much hd video can you put on one dvd?
How can i hook up my computer to show hd video on my tv, all it has thats close to hd is something called HD15?
If i save an HD movie onto my computer, can i put it back on my camcorder to view it on my tv?
Where can i get my movies burned to bluray, and how much will it cost me? Or can i get them burned to HD DVD and how much do HD DVD players and writers cost?
thanks
2 Responses to “HD Camcorder?”
Leave a Reply
Canon HV20, HV30, Sony HDR-HC7, HC9.
In your price range, HDV compresses least – resulting in best available video quality.
Video compression = discarded data = reduced video quality. Hard drive and flash memory hidef cams that save using AVCHD compress a LOT. The video is still better than standard definition DV, but there will be degradation as compared to HDV.
When burning hidef to a standard def DVD, the resulting playback – while standard def, is the clearest standard def you’ve seen – presuming the HDV capture was good. I suggest putting the DVD player in "progressive" mode and connecting with component cables to an HDTV… if your DVD player has those options.
BluRay writers will start to drop when they make more – but at the moment, they are pricey – I like the external one from LaCie…
A standard definition single layer DVD is supposed to be able to hold 120 minutes of standard definition video. But the menuing takes space… so figure 110 minutes of standard definition video. This is compressed a lot – and the disc can store 4.7 gig. A double layer 8.5 gig DVD can store 240 minutes (theoretically – more like 230 minutes – remember the menuing). 60 minutes of standard def DV will use 13-14 gig of hard drive space…
60 minutes of HDV stored on your computer’s hard drive uses 44 gig of hard drive space…
You won’t fit much hidef video on a standard def disc. Even if you could, the standard def DVD player would not know what to do with it.
If you look at the BluRay blank discs, they start at 25 gig – and get bigger. Even if the burners come down in price, the discs are still really expensive – but they do hold a LOT of data.
A DVD player can play widescreen – if that is how the video was encoded. Standard def can be 4:3 or 16:9… hidef is always 16:9.
If your HDTV has a VGA port (like my Panasonic does), then you can connect the computer with that. If not, you need to add something to the computer – like a component video out card, I guess.
I have never heard of someone being successful exporting video back out to a hard drive, flash memory or DVD based consumer camcorder – then connecting the camcorder to a HDTV for playback… on the other hand I regularly export my finished 1080i projects back out to my Sony HDR-HC1 miniDV tape based high definition camcorder and connect it to my Panasonic HDTV with component and audio cables for playback – and it is AWSOME.
Since HD DVD has been abandoned by the manufacturers, I do not recommend going that route…
That’s a lot of good questions there, so I will attempt to answer them. First of all, yes, HD products will come down in price as they enter the mainstream, I expect by 2012 or so. This includes HD cameras too. So, yes, a Blue-Ray burner and player is a bit out the of question right now, but I would not recommend getting an HD DVD player and burner. For one thing, they are on their way out with Blue Ray winning the format war, and they are also not nearly as good.
Regarding your question on which camera would be best, I recommend an HDV camera. You are correct in saying that HDD is not the best for quality as it compresses quite a bit, along with SD cards and DVD/ Blue Ray cameras. HDV cameras on the other hand, do not compress quite as much; they still do, but it’s not as much. They are also easier to edit, another plus. So, I believe the best camera for you is the Canon HV20. The upgrade HV30 is also very good, but it is alot more expensive for not too many improvements. The Sony HDR-HC9 is also decent, but it costs a bit more.
The reason for my recommendation of the HV20 is that it has excellent definition, and excellent, excellent color saturation. It also has probably the fastest, most accurate autofocus I have seen in a consumer camera. Its around $700 to $800, depending where you buy it.
Moving onto your other questions, if you want to burn your footage to disc to view on your TV, you have several options. The first, as you have stated, is to buy an blueray player, and a blueray burner, which is very expensive. The second option, is to burn your HD movies onto a DVD. The fact is, the only difference between a DVD and a blue tay disc is that the blue rays hold more, allowing for them to hold better resolution data. The only problem is that you cannot get HD quality picture playing it through a DVD player. I don’t really have a solution for this. I guess that if you get a DVD upconverter that would work, as it can play video at higher resolutions. Regarding your question on widescreen, you don’t need any special equipment to play widescreen footage on a DVD player.
Oh, and one more thing, with an HD camera, you’ll need HD editing software. Some consumer programs offer HD editing, but they are never very good. The Sony Vegas series is a decent semi-pro program; it is also very popular. However, the best programs are Avid Media Composer and Apple Final Cut Pro (Macs only). I highly recommend them if they are within your budget. That’s about all I can answer. I apologize that I could not answer more. Well, good luck!