Beginner Question about Camcorders

A

aweesit

New member
Sorry for the dum beginner question, as I could not find a matching thread for my needs, please redirect if there are any.

Anyway, I would just like to begin making films (long films, not short indie films), and was thinking of getting a Canon HF100. My problem is that I can't get a new super-computer to view or edit the AVCHD files. I heard that there are several programs that can convert high-def AVCHD files to standard-def AVI files (easier to edit in an older PC like mine). My PC is a 1.6ghz Pentium 4. I am planning to buy more ram and hard disk space (as much as needed) but won't upgrade the pc anymore otherwise. So my questions are:

1. Is this hardware enough to convert HF100 high-def AVCHD files to standard-def AVI files? What is the best software for this?

2. Once the files are converted, is this hardware enough to edit the AVI files?

3. I would like to backup my AVCHD files in the camcorder to hard drive. In the future, I would like to be able to edit my high-def AVCHD movies when PC's are cheaper and faster, but don't want to use my SD card as backup for the moment (need the space of course for current footage). How is this done?

4. If I do number 3 above, will I be able to return the files back to the camcorder for viewing?

5. Am I even asking the right questions? Am I missing anything here? :)

Thanks!
 
aweesit said:
Anyway, I would just like to begin making films (long films, not short indie films), and was thinking of getting a Canon HF100.

5. Am I even asking the right questions? Am I missing anything here? :)
Click to expand...


Yes, you seem to be missing a great deal of information about how movies are made.

Given a fairly tight 10:1 shooting ratio, you're going to have a terabyte or two of video files. If you're worried about buying a computer fast enough to edit AVCHD, I think you might need to slow down a bit and do some learning.

Putting together a "short indie film" of decent quality can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Long films as you call it, can jump into the hundreds of thousands of dollars without too much effort.

A decent editing computer is a relative drop in the bucket in a movie budget.
 
Ya sorry didn't mean to belittle short films or jump the gun or anything. I don't have any experience and wouldn't be able to shoot my dog running around the house properly, let alone a short film. I just want to create a full-length movie eventually, that's just the end goal I'm targeting, whether it's realistic or just a dream. So actually my question was more about how to make the most of my limited budget at the moment to film and edit my footage.

Anyway, sorry for the mixup, and any more feedback would be welcome.
 
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