Ok I have a dilemma.. HD or Not to HD (Streaming flash)

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dreamache

Member
I run a growing network of game sites and we want to start doing video reviews of releasing games... Now the video will be viewed in Flash Video format (.FLV), and we also want to shoot with a green screen so we can put in whatever background we want. Because of this fact, we know we're going to have to spend a good amount of $ on lighting the green screen, so we don't want to spend an arm and a leg on the video camera.

My question, does it make any sense to purchase a HD camera (like a Canon HV20 or JVC GZ-HD7, btw my price ranger is like $1,000-$2,000), or go the route with something like a Canon GL2? We don't plan on streaming HD quality so yeah I guess that doesn't make sense, but I just want to be sure... Also the camera needs to have an external mic input.

Thanks
 
GL2s make for bad green screen. HV20 would be a better option.

In that range you can't get very good color space so I'd say the HV20 is your best bet.
 
I saw some footage taken from the HV20, in a green screen environment and it looks great so I'm going to go that route I think.
 
DV is lousy for greenscreen; HDV isn't really any better when used in its native resolution, but when you shrink it down to a standard-def frame size it's much better than DV was for keying. So if you're planning on shooting for the web and assuming a delivery size no greater than, say, 640 x 360, then yes an affordable HDV camcorder may very well make for a better final image than the price tag might indicate!

However, as David said, progressive is way better for greenscreen, and it's way better for web video, than interlaced ever was. So the ideal would be a 24p or 30p high-def camcorder.

Unfortunately, none exist the way you want, in that price bracket. The HV20 would be excellent at 24p but it stores the footage in an interlaced data stream, and it doesn't have a 30p option.

If you want to go cheap, you might be able to find an old JVC HD1 somewhere on ebay for a few hundred dollars, it might do a good job at 640x360.

If you're using FCP and don't mind using Cinema Tools to strip out the pulldown, the HV20 in 24P mode would probably be my main recommendation. Once you resize it down to 720x540 or smaller, it should be delivering enough color information to do a pretty good job of keying.

Ideally, we should get someone to post a few seconds of footage at full res so you can experiment with keying it yourself, to try out the workflow and see what kind of results you get before you commit your money to such a venture.

EDIT: I forgot, there's some super-cheap little Samsung or Sanyo 720p camcorders that might do what you need; 720p is *always* progressive so you wouldn't have any interlacing issues at all. Once resized to 640x360 they might do fine, and I think they're the cheapest HD cameras on the market.
 
Barry_Green said:
Ideally, we should get someone to post a few seconds of footage at full res so you can experiment with keying it yourself, to try out the workflow and see what kind of results you get before you commit your money to such a venture.
Click to expand...

I'd pay anyone who bothered to do this for me (paypal), say $30? :)
 
I wouldn't pay more than about $300 for an HD1; you'd have to get it awfully cheap to make it worth it, but if you did find it that cheap it could be a good choice.

There's no way on this earth or any other that I'd pay more for an HD1 than I would for an HV20! :thumbsup:
 
I'm just wondering if the issue you mentioned with the HV20 will be that significant of an issue (interlacing), or even noticable...

I'm a complete newb to all of this, so to clarify, the issue you're talking about, it being "interlaced", simply means it might distort the edges of the subject with the green background?
 
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