HDV anyone?

[3snowboards]

Thinking of making the move to a high-def camcorder, the Sony hvr-v1u. 3 cmos, true 24p/30p, nice lens and uses miniDV tapes.
Anyone have any experience shooting/editting this kind of footage?
Any advice before I make the leap?
Thanks in advance.

[mordy07]

I just bought and HD camcorder, but I decided to go for flash memory instead of miniDV or hard drive. I went with the Sanyo HD1000, mainly for size and price. Although I'm sure it's definitely not as nice as some of the higher end Sonys, Canons, or Panasonics, it still has been a great camera. It fit in my camera pocket on my Dakine backpack, so it was always available when I was skiing. Plus having everything on an HDSC card made it very easy to put everything on the computer and edit. With flash memory continuing to increase in capacity and decrease in price, I would recommend looking at those options. For example, I bought a 16 gig HDSC card for under $60. Some people say the current wave of hard-drive camcorders will be completely replaced by flash memory camcorders in the near future.

[Gerome]

I just bought and HD camcorder, but I decided to go for flash memory instead of miniDV or hard drive.

You are talking about completely different quality here, the Sony hvr-v1u has 3 sensors and is pretty much professional grade. I looked at one in the store and loved the viewfinder, something kinda weak on my sony hdr-hc7. It's also not going to fit into dude's back pocket, it'll need a dedicated backpack w/ tripod. mini-dv tapes are the equivalent of about 16 gb or so and are still the best quailty as hard drive cameras still use more compression to save it on the hard drive.

As for editing, I'm sure you can capture and edit the video just like any other camera, but I'm not familiar with what procedure is required to keep the original full quality on the camera.

[3snowboards]

You are talking about completely different quality here, the Sony hvr-v1u has 3 sensors and is pretty much professional grade. I looked at one in the store and loved the viewfinder, something kinda weak on my sony hdr-hc7. It's also not going to fit into dude's back pocket, it'll need a dedicated backpack w/ tripod. mini-dv tapes are the equivalent of about 16 gb or so and are still the best quailty as hard drive cameras still use more compression to save it on the hard drive.

As for editing, I'm sure you can capture and edit the video just like any other camera, but I'm not familiar with what procedure is required to keep the original full quality on the camera.




Hey,
What store had a v1u on display? I have only had a chance to work with a z1u. Very similar cams, but the v1u comes with a decent shot-gun mic. And 20x zoom. And super slo-mo.

[advres]

what kind of "advice" are you looking for? I have both shot and edited footage using a very similar camera, yes.

[Gerome]

The sony style shop at the Metreon in San Francisco. I'm pretty sure it's the same model I looked at.

[3snowboards]

what kind of "advice" are you looking for? I have both shot and edited footage using a very similar camera, yes.

im not a pro, so i basically do everything on a budget. Im wondering how the less expensive editting suites (final cut express?) handle the compressed info. I dont have any way to edit the footage yet, and am planning on doing a good amount of shooting before i do have the ability to transfer the data anywhere.
is 24p a magical frame rate that stockhouses want?

[7cs]

FCE handles HDV fine I'm sure, it's your computers power that will determine how well. I use a MacBook Pro 1st gen and it works fine with FCP, added ram to it but otherwise I have no big issues. Not sure about the stockhouse reference, you want to make money selling stock footage? It's not really 24p that will make or break you. It all depends on where the footage is going in the end. Best example since this is the TGR forum is look at their movies, they use 16mm film, I assume they cut in footage from HD cams as well and I know they blow up SD helmet cam footage to HD and use it too. I don't have any experience with the V1U, I'd read a lot before buying a camera. Find reviews from people who have used it for an extended period of time since it's been out for a while now. And make sure it'll do what you need it to do. Compare it with everything else in it's price range and see if you get more features elsewhere, or more desirable features even.

[3snowboards]

I already know that 24p or 30p just doesnt cut it for fast action sports, but for a little over $1k i can get one of these cameras.
Im just hoping to avoid having to spend twice that amount for a computer to properly deal with the footage.
Had the idea that there was a market for well shot hd footage of high mountain sunsets or waterfalls. The filler stuff they play on the station when they dont have anything to put on the station kinda stuff? Not buying the camera for anything other than fun, but damn, it seems like a pretty powerful tool.

[7cs]

People are shooting great stuff with crappy cameras and crappy stuff with great cameras. It'll be down to you and how you set up what you buy. There are plenty of forums for each brand and model that will help with setups. Get a camera and a notebook and just shoot and record your settings till you find what you like and go with it. Most cameras out now have SD slots or something you can use to load settings into them that you can usually download on the forums for that brand.

[3snowboards]

Trigger pulled on an hvr-a1.

[robokill1981]

Why do you need to edit in HDV? You can just shoot in HDV and use the ilink to capture DV so you don't have to deal with the huge files.

[3snowboards]

Why do you need to edit in HDV? You can just shoot in HDV and use the ilink to capture DV so you don't have to deal with the huge files.

My hope is to stay 1080i till I export.
My hvr-v1u price quote yesterday was body only. Seemed almost too good to be true. Can't wait to get my hands on the a1.