Is it worth it to upgrade?

[Kovalchuk71]

Hey everyone, I just bought an HV10 preowned for $200...I LOVE it so far but have been reading a little (on here) and was wondering if I am better of selling it and getting an hv20 instead? Is it worth it? Are the upgrades substantial? All I really know is that there is 24p on the HV20 (Which I do not care about/need). Is the video quality any better? I'm going to use this camera for mainly recording hockey games. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Chris

[Bif]

Use it for awhile, if it is in good working condition and stays that way for awhile you got a pretty good bargain. What may cause you to begin looking around is when the age of it begins to catch up. Consumer grade camcorders sometimes last longer than we expect and sometimes don't.

So use it for now and maybe start saving towards whatever you might find yourself looking at in the future.

The only HV20s (HV40 is the latest version) you are likely to find will be used and some may be almost as old as what you have. Tape transport mechanisms get out of whack, circuit boards fail, but as long as it works use it.

[Video Frank]

I use an HV30 to record about 100 hockey games a year and it's great. My customers are always impressed by the video quality, especially now that I'm selling BR's.

Use 60i mode and be sure to use custom WB to either a grey card or the ice. I use a shutter speed of 1/60. Faster shutter speeds yield lines on the footage due to lighting interference.

Watch your levels when editing to avoid blowing out the ice (i.e. white > 255). Have fun & happy shooting.

[Kovalchuk71]

Thanks for the info Frank. That helps a ton! What is your f-stop and zebra at?

[Kovalchuk71]

Couldn't edit my post for some reason, but I have another question. Can I use the F-stop and shutter speed together on the HV10 or do they have to be seperate? They seem to be in different modes on my camera....

[Video Frank]

Thanks for the info Frank. That helps a ton! What is your f-stop and zebra at?

I'm not sure of the f-stop. As I said, I set the camera to Tv mode. This ensures that the camera will hold the shutter speed I select. I use 1/60 shutter speed because empirically it is the fastest I can use without getting banding - which, I assume, is caused by the lighting used at indoor rinks. Tracking the action minimizes the motion blurring of the players at this (low) shutter speed.

I leave the grids on to help keep the camera level and leave 100% zebras on. I occasionally see the zebra stripes on horizontal flourescent lights along the perimeter of the rink, which doesn't concern me, as well as stripes on the ice right after a flood. Again, I don't get too upset about it.

When I examine the footage in Vegas Pro using the histogram I'll see a range of about 16 ~ 200 cRGB. The upper level drops as the game goes on due to lower reflectivity from the scuffed ice surface. I use levels to expand this range closer to 0 ~ 255 cRGB, with the rink lights sometimes blowing out.

I shoot from behind the glass near the goal lines. Keep the camera close to the glass to ensure that the camera doesn't focus on the glass but instead on the players. I sometimes get access to the player's bench which adds to the variety of shoot locations in a highlight video.

Let me know if you need any more info.