Any specific things I need to know about HD?

You need a really good field monitor to focus properly. Currently the Marshall at $1300 is the only choice but the upcoming Ikan monitor at $800 sounds like a promising choice.
 
jade8472 said:
You need a really good field monitor to focus properly. Currently the Marshall at $1300 is the only choice but the upcoming Ikan monitor at $800 sounds like a promising choice.
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Yeah, I won't be getting that any time soon. I will be completely broke after the camera.

Do you need a HDtv to take advantage of a HD video camera?
 
Depends on what the HDTV is for. If you plan to watch HD footage on there then you'll also need either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player. Either that or a DVD player that can read .wmv HD files.
 
jade8472 said:
Depends on what the HDTV is for. If you plan to watch HD footage on there then you'll also need either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player. Either that or a DVD player that can read .wmv HD files.
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I want to make short films with this camera. If I shoot in HD, will I be able to burn it to a regular dvd?
 
Morox said:
I want to make short films with this camera. If I shoot in HD, will I be able to burn it to a regular dvd?
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No. Except as a video file which certain DVD players can read.
 
Wrong.

You can down convert your movie to 480p and burn a regular DVD. It will not be HD (1080p) but it will look very good.

Honestly, at this level of camera, I would say 95% of the time the person behind it is the most limiting factor...
 
BennisHahn said:
Wrong.

You can down convert your movie to 480p and burn a regular DVD. It will not be HD (1080p) but it will look very good.

Honestly, at this level of camera, I would say 95% of the time the person behind it is the most limiting factor...
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So there will still be a big difference between SD and HD when burned and watched on a t.v?
 
Well sure.

I watch 480p SD DVD's on my 57" HDTV all day long and it looks great. Certainly not worth the price of a blu-ray or hd dvd player.

Coming from a HD cam, the footage should be sharper down converted to SD then a native SD cam (like a DVX).
 
BennisHahn said:
Well sure.

I watch 480p SD DVD's on my 57" HDTV all day long and it looks great. Certainly not worth the price of a blu-ray or hd dvd player.

Coming from a HD cam, the footage should be sharper down converted to SD then a native SD cam (like a DVX).
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What if you don't have an hdtv?

I actually have an XL2 right now and I want to switch over to the XH A1 for a few reasons. The XL2 is way too bulky, it's heavy, the interchangeable lense means squat to me, it's not HD and the craptastic 2" or whatever it is screen in the viewfinder is a piece of crap. Not only that, I want to sell it before the XH A1 becomes too mainstream so that I can sell the XL2 for a decent price while I can.
 
If you don't have an hdtv then you can still watch HD on your computer monitor. But if you plan to watch it only on DVD then HD capability does very little good. The whole "HD looks better downconvert to SD" thing is purely theoretical in my experience. I've seen the screenshots and the comparison of native SD vs. downconvert SD and if you zoom in all the way and examine details you would be able to see the difference, but how many average people watching DVD actualy does that? Certainly it's more dependant on your codec and export setting.
 
i definitely think u will see a difference when making a SD dvd from a hvx source and a dvx source.
 
We did some split screen stuff at work and the HD downconvert vs SD was sharper but not that much. For us it turned out the HVX just has a nice SD picture to begin with though. I still shoot 720 most if not all of the time just because I can :) and to keep things future proof. once this whole bluray hddvd thing settles down I'll go buy one...
 
jdajda said:
We did some split screen stuff at work and the HD downconvert vs SD was sharper but not that much. For us it turned out the HVX just has a nice SD picture to begin with though. I still shoot 720 most if not all of the time just because I can :) and to keep things future proof. once this whole bluray hddvd thing settles down I'll go buy one...
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This may sound dumb, but why would people want to shoot in SD when they have HD?
 
With the HVX there are situations that a tape workflow might be more convenient than p2 or firestore. SD is also less taxing to edit. But whenever possible I shoot HD.
 
jdajda said:
With the HVX there are situations that a tape workflow might be more convenient than p2 or firestore. SD is also less taxing to edit. But whenever possible I shoot HD.
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Does the XH A1 just use HDV tapes for recording?
 
Morox said:
Does the XH A1 just use HDV tapes for recording?
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Mini-DV tape, but you have an option of using the ones made specifically for HDV; they're a bit more expensive but supposed to be more resistant to dropouts.
 
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