I am thinking of retiring my old 8MM camcorder and buying something more modern. I have no experience with editing etc but I would like the hamb drags video to be of decent quality. I see the hi-res stuff out there. Is this beneficial only to those with high def players and tv's? Any input is appreciated.
My $.02 - I had high-end stuff and kept getting caught up in the high-end video and stopped buying it after the 3CCD Hi-8 camera... in the end I decided I was done messing with converting video and using horrificly slow capture and edit process that I quit taking video. When the wife was bugging me a couple years ago to take some of the kids I went out and bought a cheap ($249 on sale /rebate) mini DV camera that was rated as the best sub $500 camera and have been super happy with it - way easier to transfer movies to the PC or burn DVD's, video quality is probably close to the old Hi-8 unit (low light isn't as good, etc.) but heck it's so simple and fast to transfer through firewire and I realized - for what I need it's all the camera I really need... I don't care if the kids birthdays and christmas or the videos of my races are on High-Def - it really doesn't make the moment any less memorable or the video more viewable.... If I was a pro... well then I'd opt for the best thing going since it's paying the bills and gotta keep the customers happy and have something to brag about...
Buzzard is right... It may not be critical right now, but when everything is Hi-Def in a year or two it will look like sh*t becuase the master tapes are standard. Get Hi-Def.... ALTHOUGH.. Keep in mind it takes more resources to edit on a PC. I do Hi-Def and needed to upgrade my computer to handle it... You would also need to burn two versions... std & hd... But man would it be sharp! Hyfire
So could you not make all of them hi def ? I don't want to have to start burning 2 different formats.
The big thing I would go after is 3CCD, that's going to be the first big upgrade from cheaper cameras. Hi-Def would be nice but not required.
You would need 2 formats... Keep it simple and stick with standard.... Especially if you are new to it. Hyfire
Is it beneficial only to high def player and tv's? - No. better acquisition quality equals better output quality. There are some downsides... data rates go WAY up when editing high def. Storage requirements can be huge, and computing power required to edit/color correct in real time can be huge. I shoot in 4:2:2 with a Panasonic HVX200 at 720p 30fps and I need nearly 1gig/minute storage. Add to that the HVX is entirely IT based (no tape) and that means the files on the hard drive are all you have. Erase them, and its bye-bye to your footage. Not all HD cameras are like this. nor are all "HD" cameras the same. HDV is not the same as "HD". then there is the choice between 1080i and 720p. 4:2:1 or 4:2:2 or 4:4:4. for most consumer camcorder applications HDV is just fine. PM for my phone #, give me call on Sat. morning if you like, I'll be driving to Monterey and can chat some. Video and film are my background, been doing it for over 20 years.
you wont... Right now the market penetration of Blue-Ray and HD-DVD isnt there to justify authoring either for distribution. Shoot in hi-def, edit in hi-def, then master down to whatever your distribution format is... Standard Def DVD, Web video... whatever. always keep your Hi-def source files. you may want to distribute in high def later.
I would suggest that if you are wanting to just upgrade, then go mini dv. It is digital recording to tape, and there are some real nice cameras for relativly cheap out there. At the tv station where I work the "professional cameras" we use record on memory sticks, but we have a small mini dv back-up camera that has nearly the same quality of picture. There are also HD mini DV cameras out there that aren't too expensive($5000-6000.) If you are going to go into video production professionally, then yeah, go HD, but for videoing the drags and car shows etc... then I say go standard definition. Besides HD video takes up 2-4 times the space of standard video. Also, you would have to have an HD DVD player to watch the DVDs, and then your discs would have to compatable with the players out there, and they're not even compatable with each other right now. Tony
that would be yer best bet. Find the new version of the Sony VX-1000 and yer good to go. 3 chip standard def minDV will get you better quality than 1 chip HDV... mostly... easier, cheaper, and will look better than yer average home-camcorder
I use a Cannon Gl2 3CCD its a good Mini DV camera that will be used for a long time.. Hi Def is grate but your not doing a broadcast film..Mini DV is a good,, just get a higher quality camera and you should be fine.. Look at what I shoot it dosn't look like ****.....Ow wait yes it dose,,hahahahaha but I make it look like that.
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