Dumb Question- Why High Definition?

oblivion2076 · Post by **oblivion2076** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 8:08 am

I recently bought the Canon HV20 and VideoStudio 11+, and now I'm looking into buying a new laptop.

One thing I'm interested by (which was brought up in another thread) is the seemingly majority of people who, despite having invested into similar HD equipment like I have, opt to downgrade their projects to SD because they don't have a blu ray burner, and/or they don't have a HD television to watch on.

Why even have high-definition cameras then? Is the answer as simple as this? "I want the footage I film to be of a high quality. I won't bother burning it in that quality right now, but I know I'll be able to sometime in the future when HD televisions and burners are more common and cost effective".

Post by **jparnold** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 8:26 am

My response to this question is that by having a HD video camera it is easier and cheaper to upgrade everything later.
When I started out I bought a digital camera instead of analogue even though they were a lot more expensive (7 years ago). At the time I didn't have a DVD burner so burnt to CD in SVCD. The quality of SVCD is somewhere between VHS tape and DVD. Later when I was able to get a DVD burner I already had a digital camera so didn'r have to go out and buy another camera.

oblivion2076 · Post by **oblivion2076** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 8:32 am

Thanks for that. That sort of confirms my suspicions.

I had been thinking of getting a blu-ray burner with my new PC, but I figure I might pass and buy an external one a couple years down the track.

jmone · Post by **jmone** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 12:45 pm

I always have saved my edited clips down in its native format (DV now HDV). Turns out it was a great option as I keep them on my HTPC which opens it up to the whole family to play. I ONLY covert files I distribute to family and frends which is DVD for now and with be on of the HD formats later.
Nathan

etech6355 · Post by **etech6355** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 3:30 pm

Dumb Question- Why High Definition?

How do we answer a dumb question?

ebone · Post by **ebone** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 7:51 pm

oblivion, I think your question was answered but I didn't even know they had BluRay burners yet.

I won't buy yet due to the risk of ending up with a worthless standard but where do I find them?

(BTW, I'm rooting for BluRay to win the battle)

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 11:33 pm

I won't buy yet due to the risk of ending up with a worthless standard but where do I find them?

At a computer store, or online. I just checked Newegg, and they offer two at about $450 USD each.

oblivion2076 · Post by **oblivion2076** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:56 am

DVDDoug wrote:
I won't buy yet due to the risk of ending up with a worthless standard but where do I find them?
At a computer store, or online. I just checked Newegg, and they offer two at about $450 USD each.

They are available as external drives too, which isn't surprising but encouraging nonetheless.

Thanks for the respones, everyone. I just want to be REAL careful before I buy my next computer, and want to make sure something obvious isn't going over my head.

daniel · Post by **daniel** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:37 am

Yes, think carefully and don't forget that it will be obsolete within three months and almost unable to run new software within two years.

And as to why you need HD: well since you accepted VHS for years, you surely can't be happy with standard DVD quality, do you?

Don't ask so many questions; just buy, and let the economy roll.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 1:04 pm

I just got a new HD TV, and watched an HD channel. NOW I understand why people want to go HD. WOW!

Now I know why people say "once you go HD you never want to go back".

Dilligas · Post by **Dilligas** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 5:27 pm

Actually, I tape and stream lectures and use an overlay with a pan-&-zoom filter to highlight certain items. Having the extra resolution does make that zoom possible even if most of those extra bits just get tossed when the project is complete.

radman2020 · Post by **radman2020** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 3:42 pm

On a standard recording, you can get 60 minutes on one tape. Is that the same when you are doing HD or 24p?

thx

etech6355 · Post by **etech6355** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 4:48 pm

Yes,
If you purchase a cam that records in HDV mode to tape you get record 1 hr of HDV onto a DV tape.
The data rate is very close to DV which is approx 25,000kbs, DV is standard definition. HDV uses the same data rate of 25,000kbs except that it's mpeg2 video in highdefintion, 1440x1080i. This is supposedly the concept of why they can get HDV onto DV tape & use existing firewire interfaces. It's basically the same datarate as DV (except in HDV).
Examples are Sony HC1/HC3/HC5/HC7, Canon HV10/HV20.
Note: For NTSC, If you want to use the HV20 to record in 24p is somewhat complicated because the 24p video is wrapped inside of the standard 29.97fps stream. So you will need software that can extract the 24p frames from the original recording. There is information on forums about this subject and related to Canon's 24p mode. I would look into this if you need to record in 24p. Not all software supports this mode. You will be able to capture the video, but playback will have problems unless your using the correct software.

Newer cams are recording in a new high definition format called avchd. Sony, panasonic & canon also make these cams.
My preference is the mpeg2 format, it's easier to convert & edit. With the avchd format you will need a pretty fast computer.

radman2020 · Post by **radman2020** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 4:56 pm

is the hv20 in the mpeg2 mode?

do you know if it will take sound from a soundboard? This is what I started with and got waylaid...

All I really want is a good recording of concerts by my acoustic band with the camcorder hooked up to the sound system throught a mic jack so I don't get so much ambient noise. The 20p film look sounded great but looks like it will be too much trouble.

any suggestons for my original purpose?

etech6355 · Post by **etech6355** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 5:50 pm

I'm not an expert on the HV20, you should be able to record in both modes, DV & HDV. When you record in HDV mode it's recording in mpeg2 format.
In DV mode it records DV (standard defintion)

You need to see if the HV20 has an external sound input jack so you can use a monitor out jack from your soundboard.
With the Sony units some have external sound input jacks & some don't. On some you may have to purchase an add-on shoe with adapters, not sure. I think the HC7 has a direct audio stereo jack in.

Just a suggesstion, recording bands can be hard with tapes, I put my cam into record mode (powered by the AC adapter), then use HDVSplit to capture live via firewire to the harddisk. HDVSplit uses very low cpu usage.
You know the best part of the song is always at the end where the tape runs out. Plus no need to re-capture the footage & you can to record/stop & breakup each recording live. At the sametime if you record just the audio (by other means) you can sync & edit better, I use a DAT Recorder (tape). For heavy audio work though I suggest using other software that is usually more expensive but dedicated to audio syncing with video tracks & SMPTE timecode.
Besides, you don't want to edit compressed mpeg2 video & a compressed mpeg2 audio track, doesn't work well. You should convert the audio to lpcm before editing so it's raw & not compressed. This is why I use the DAT recorder.

It helps if you have a compressor between the soundboards monitor out jack & the cam. This way you won't overdrive/clip the audio amps in the camcorder. Unless the monitor out has a built in compressor.

Alludo USER to USER Web Board

Dumb Question- Why High Definition?

Dumb Question- Why High Definition?

question about the hi def recordings

re