Help! - Babe in the woods

[Brian Mahoney]

Hi all, I am a newbie with HD cameras but have had lots of experience with Standard definition.
I am wanting to update to a HD camera but I have information that tells me that I need alot more information before I can make the final decision.

I am now using Powerdirector6 and this is an excellent programme for what I use it for however some suggestions are that it cant handle HD very well and it is somewhat amature-ish compared to other Video editing Programmes. Perhaps somebody with experience with PD6 could recommend and alternative programme.

Will I see a REAL difference in the quality of the picture on my SD TV after producing a home DVD.?
Do I need a HD DVD burner?

What else do I need to know?....is there recommended reading which may help

Any input would be greatly appreciated. :hv20-smilie50:

Thanks
Brian

[Rikki]

Hi mate,

I use PowerDirector 5 with my HV20 in SD mode.

I capture out as DV coz my PC is crap and wont handle HD yet, do my edits and cuts in VirtualDub, pull them into PowerDirector and do the fades then output back as a DV file.

Yes, I am using a great HD cam as a SD cam at the moment but its unreal the quality you get from it. And since all Im doing is web and DVD stuff its great.

The HV20 kills dead any SD camcorder I've seen from my Panachronic GS300 to the old Canon XM2 (GL2 I think in the states).

You will see a huge diff in quality on your SD TV and have the benefit of the reocrdings being future proofed on tape as HDV.

[24Peter]

Will I see a REAL difference in the quality of the picture on my SD TV after producing a home DVD.?
Do I need a HD DVD burner?



Can't comment on the PD software, but I don't think you'll see a "huge" difference in the quality of the picture on your SD TV after producing a home DVD burned from HDV material. I would think the difference would be minimal. But b/c of your TV - not b/c of the disc. (The difference between a DV>SD DVD and a HDV>SD DVD might be more noticeable on an HD TV.)

HD/Blu Ray burners are still a little hard to find and/or prohibitively expensive. But you also won't notice a difference on your SD TV between an HD DVD and an SD DVD player.

So in both cases, you may want to upgrade your TV before you do anything else. (With an HDMI input on an HDTV, your HV20 footage will be outstanding.)

[John Watson]

Out of interest - how are people watching their HD movies on their HD TV's? Blu-ray, printing back to tape and plugging the camera in the TV? I only found out yesterday that DVD's aren't capable of displaying HD resolutions.

[Lunchbox]

I watched it using a Media PC attached to HDTV. Check out this thread

http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?t=901

There are also some Divx HD profile capable DVD players you can buy to connect to your HDTV. It only supports 720p divx video store in regular DVD disc.

[John Watson]

Nice setup, Taky! :hv20-smilie77:

[Brian Mahoney]

Thanks for the input guys.

I think I will delay my purchase of a HD Camera until I am in a better position to really appreciate it. I think technology is such that HD and associated equipment is far too expensive. Another year might (I hope) see many changes.

Again, thanks for the input

[Lunchbox]

Not really. You can still enjoy HD video with your computer monitor. I know I am. :)

[Simon Hughes]

I'm sure I read on one of the forums that you CAN burn HD to a regular DVD and view it on an HD-DVD player (I have the Toshiba one). It just doesn't give you the data rate you would get from a "real" HD-DVD. I'm just getting started (frantically learning FCP) so I can't really comment on this yet.

[Erik Bien]

Hi, Simon.

You're correct, Pinnacle has the capability to burn about 20 minutes of HD-DVD footage to a plain old "red laser" DVD-R: bluegrass posted elsewhere (http://www.hv20.com/showpost.php?p=10168&postcount=7) here he's done it successfully. I don't think this trick works with Blu-Ray, however.