XH A1 Questions

[bentramer81]

1. Using I-Movie with this camera it will not be possible to have my 24f footage edited at 24f since it only offer 25 frames per second, correct?

2. Will Final cut express work for 24f editing, if so what is the quickest way to learn how to use this program... (I already have but don't know how to use it and Apple won't help unless you buy their support)?

3. How noticeable is 24f from 25f?

4. Will one gig of ram being added to my Imac be enough to edit 1080 24f, it's at 512 now?

5. Is the XH A1's 24f pretty much the same thing as the 24p to the average viewer or does not measure up? (this is subjective I know, but hopefully those who answer will try to answer with being partial)

6. And finally, It's down to the XH A1, Hvx200, Sony's HD and the JVC Gy-hd100 from what I can see the biggest bang for the buck is with the canon. Ultimately the other camera's cost more. The Panasonic I don't believe has the steady cam and the HD is only acheived using the P2 cards which are very pricey and only record for minutes, but I do like the 24p I have seen from the dvx's and the hvx would only be better. The canon will take tapes which works for me. So my only concern is that it will shoot 24f that looks like 24p. That and that the canon 24f footage can be converted back to mini-dv since that is the criteria for some of the festivals out there.

[meta4]

I would suggest rather than spending a ton of money on a camera and very little money on software/hardware. You will get more bang for your buck if you spend proportionate amounts on both. It takes quite a powerful computer to edit HD video, not to mention a RAID hdd configuration is recommended.

I would work at spending 2 grand on a new mac book pro with core 2 duo and spend another 2 grand on a camera.

Spending 4 grand on any camera and then not being able to do anything with the footage would be torture.

Just my 2 red pennies

[scharky]

WHile I agree with Meta4 on the most part, a RAID configuration is not a requirement for editing HDV footage, or for the most part DVCPro footage either. Both can be edited in real time directly from your hard drive. The thing that will hold you up will most likely be your processor. I have to ask first before going on to your other questions, do you live in a PAL location? If you do, then don't worry about 24P, you will be using 25P.

[Sean Michael]

I'm able to edit HDV on my 3.2GHz with HyperThreading. But it isn't a fast process. My machine is obviously stretched.

I'm not a Mac owner, but I think 512MB is not enough RAM. My machine has 2GB and it would love more.

Q1 next year we'll have Quad Core processors from Intel which will supposedly boost performance 70% over the fastest Duo Core today. I suspect the Quad Core PCs will handle HDV nicely.

[ecking]

The new entry level non dedicated gpu imac is more than enough to easily edit hdv, you don't need to spend anywhere near 2 grand for a mac that'll kill it.

Hell if you're not using motion todays minis can do the trick.

meta4 is talking about a really nice computer but it's just not necessary.

[ecking]

1. Using I-Movie with this camera it will not be possible to have my 24f footage edited at 24f since it only offer 25 frames per second, correct?

2. Will Final cut express work for 24f editing, if so what is the quickest way to learn how to use this program... (I already have but don't know how to use it and Apple won't help unless you buy their support)?

3. How noticeable is 24f from 25f?

4. Will one gig of ram being added to my Imac be enough to edit 1080 24f, it's at 512 now?

5. Is the XH A1's 24f pretty much the same thing as the 24p to the average viewer or does not measure up? (this is subjective I know, but hopefully those who answer will try to answer with being partial)

6. And finally, It's down to the XH A1, Hvx200, Sony's HD and the JVC Gy-hd100 from what I can see the biggest bang for the buck is with the canon. Ultimately the other camera's cost more. The Panasonic I don't believe has the steady cam and the HD is only acheived using the P2 cards which are very pricey and only record for minutes, but I do like the 24p I have seen from the dvx's and the hvx would only be better. The canon will take tapes which works for me. So my only concern is that it will shoot 24f that looks like 24p. That and that the canon 24f footage can be converted back to mini-dv since that is the criteria for some of the festivals out there.


1. iMove can't do 24f editing, only 60i

2. Final Cut Express didn't use to have 24p editing in it. I don't know if it added 24p support in the newest update, but even if they did I doubt it added 24f support because the press releases never mentioned Final Cut Express.

3. They look the same except one is NTSC and the other is PAL, in the past pal may have looked better but for all rights and purposes unless going to film or working on a region specific machine they're the same thing look wise.

4. Depends on what imac model you have 1.5 gigs of ram in lets say this generation Core 2 Duo imac or last generations Core Duo imac sure, it's enough I'm using 1.5gigs on my macbook pro. iMac G5's and down - I don't know, i would think they'd have bigger things slowing them down then ram. We need to know what model you have.

5. Yes. Even the non-average viewer(us) thinks it looks great.

6. Yes. Once again, it looks like 24p and the the newest Final Cut Pro upgrade allowed it to be printed back to tape.

[bentramer81]

According to this link 25p will edit on iMovie. And from your post 25p and 24p are virtually the same.

http://www.photoethnography.com/blog/archives/2006/05/info_imovie_hd.html

And it sounds like the Xl H1 worked on the G5 so long as you increase the RAM a gig or so, sure it is not a fast as a dual but it will work and more importantly save me a lot of money.

Buying a $2,000 camcorder with 24f or p is currently not available at that price point. Spending $4,000 for a 24f 1080HD camcorder is actually a good investment in my opinion... I mean compared to the dvx100b you pay only $600 more.

Thank you, to those of you who gave me your feedback.

[Drew Ott]

Actually you can get a dvx100b for about $1400 less than the a1.

[bentramer81]

Can you show me the link that sells these for $2,600, and are they a reliable seller? Thanks.

[meta4]

He means that the $4000 HDV camera is only $600 more than a $3400 DVX100B.

Also, HDV does require a pretty powerful cpu if you're going to be doing any effects or color correction. Even cineform asks that you use a raid setup and a fast processor.

HDV is way more compressed than DV - not to mention it's interframe, so in order to show frame 8, the cpu needs to render frames 1-15 (in most cases)

By all means, you can work with HDV on a slower computer, but if you do this stuff for pay...well, time is money.

I think to successfully work with HDV the costs fall somewhere near $6500

I'm figuring that $4000 (Xh-A1), $500 (cineform), $1500 (home built PC), $500 (software)

This is probably on the low side as far as software to be honest. Once you master your NLE, then you want a compositor, then you need something for audio effects/music composition, blah blah blah.

It adds up.

I'd say if you're going the thrifty route, I'd go for an SD camera right now. A used DVX100 is still a great camera, and television is still SD. It's easier to work with on a cheap computer (less time consuming).

Ask yourself...would my film win a festival purely because it's HD?

If this answer is no, then you're probably making a need out of a want. And making needs out of wants is expensive.