Purchase dilema

[tcc]

Hello All,

Newbie here and am having trouble deciding on which camcorder to buy (HV40/HF-S10) upgrading from a Sony Hi8 cam.

I currently have on order the HV40 but the ETA is suspect and I need to have it before I leave on vacation (Saturday). But the store said they can probably get me the HF-S10 faster or in time before I leave, with of course an increase in price.

Now here is the problem. I really like the HF-S10 but have been reading a lot that the format it produces requires a lot of computing power to edit or even transfer the file(s) to the computer.

But I also read that for the HV40 you need to have firewire to transfer the video to the computer.

My current setup is a HP laptop with an AMD dual core cpu @ 1.8GHz, 2GB RAM, 4-pin firewire port.

Which would be better suited for the setup I have or would overall work.

Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated.

[Seo]

Your system I'd say won't work with AVCHD, and it'll barely be enough to edit HDV. Your firewire port works, you'll just need a 4-pin to 4-pin cable. I doubt you'd be able to edit the footage from the HF-S10 anytime soon if you're not planning to upgrade your computer.

[HueyNRolf]

Either way it would behoove you to transcode to an intermediate codec, probably Cineform in your case. This will convert the video into a lower compressed format, hence the computer will manage your work much more easily. Downside is that it will increase your filesize dramatically, so a large HDD is a must.

I suspect that AVCHD will take a lot longer to transcode than HDV, but once it's done it will be the same to work with.

[tcc]

I was afraid of that.

What about with minor editing (titles, screen fades)?

*edit* Huey. Are you saying it is possible then to edit/transfer with my current computer setup? Will the quality be degraded?

[HueyNRolf]

*edit* Huey. Are you saying it is possible then to edit/transfer with my current computer setup? Will the quality be degraded?

No brother, there's shouldn't be any degradation. That's the whole point of a non-distribution codec. Providing your computer can handle the transcode, I think you should be okay.
Sorry, but I'm running FCP and use ProRes... which does the same thing as Cineform, so I don't know about the Windows workflow.

[tcc]

lol...you just lost me there :D Are you referring to both HDV and AVCHD? I assume those programs you use are for Macs?

[HueyNRolf]

Yes, FCP and ProRes are only for Macs. For Windows, I think this one is popular and yes it will do HDV and AVCHD:

http://www.cineform.com/neoscene/

[CycleWriter]

We have this thing called the Search feature that helps members find info that already exists here and these things called "Stickies" that are filled with info on oft-asked questions. We prefer if you use them. Oh, and posting to the proper subforum is appreciated. Thread moved to the subforum that deals with pre-purchase questions.

Editing AVCHD on that laptop will be an exercise in masochism. The recommendations made by Huey and Seo can be further expanded upon by doing some searching and some reading. There's a good Sticky in the PC subforum about computer setups and a search will find several threads about working with intermediate codecs.

[HueyNRolf]

Where were you, CW?