AVCHD vs HDV

[David9799]

The new AVCHD camcorders will do 24 Mbps. How does that comapre with HDV? Are they pretty much equal in quality now?

It seems that Sony and Canon no longer have any HDV cams for sale on there websites for consumers only pros.

I did a google search and they only compared the older lower data rate (17Mbps) AVCHD to HDV.

I don't care about wich one is easy to edited.

[MJA]

It seems that Sony and Canon no longer have any HDV cams for sale on there websites for consumers only pros.

.

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=177&modelid=17996


http://www.amazon.com/Canon-VIXIA-HV40-Camcorder-Optical/dp/B001OI2Z4Q/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2...7760795&sr=8-2

[David9799]

It seems that Sony and Canon no longer have any HDV cams for sale on there websites for consumers only pros.

.

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=177&modelid=17996


http://www.amazon.com/Canon-VIXIA-HV40-Camcorder-Optical/dp/B001OI2Z4Q/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2...7760795&sr=8-2

It's not out yet. So you can't acutally buy one right now can you?

[Undead Sega]

Panasonic's AVC-Intra!

hands down!

[racer-x]

There are still lots of consumer HDV cameras out there, you obviously didn't look very well. HDV is so much easier to edit, it isn't even funny. If that's not important to you, then get what ever format you want.

The fact that you have to ask such a ridiculous question, tells me you know next nothing on the subject. I suggest you do some serious reading on the two formats before you decide. At the very least, you should download original samples of each format and see if you have what it takes to work with them.

[David9799]

There are still lots of consumer HDV cameras out there, you obviously didn't look very well. HDV is so much easier to edit, it isn't even funny. If that's not important to you, then get what ever format you want.

The fact that you have to ask such a ridiculous question, tells me you know next nothing on the subject. I suggest you do some serious reading on the two formats before you decide. At the very least, you should download original samples of each format and see if you have what it takes to work with them.

obviously you can't read.

[minidv2dvd]

brand new consumer canon hv30 hdv cams are still available at most retail/online stores. the hv40 will be out in quantity this summer.

[edDV]

HDV follows the traditional pro workflow where acquisition is done with as low compression as economically practical with the expectation the resulting video will be decompressed for editing, filtering or effects before distribution (e.g. DVD, Blu-Ray, Flash, etc.). HDV is a special case of the Sony broadcast IMX-XDCAM MPeg2 based camcorders. IMX was all I frame MPeg2 for SD. XDCAM is the HD News/Reality format originally designed for recording directly to erasable Blu-Ray optical media (35Mb/s). HDV uses the same MPeg2 optimized instead for 25Mb/s DV tape. There are 1440x1080i and 1280x720p versions of the HDV format and most HDV camcorders are also compatible with SD MiniDV.

There is a history of SD MPeg2 consumer camcorders (DVD-ROM and HDD) intended for simple cuts only editing with quick results. These camcorders tend to use higher compression intended for final distribution. Consequently, their video suffers heavy quality loss if recoded. The AVCHD MPeg4 H.264 format follows this tradition. The intended recording media is flash ram so compression must be very high to fit affordable flash cards. H.264 is intended as a distribution format but can now be edited with recent consumer software and fast computers. Consumer software usually recodes h.264 to less demanding MPeg2 so that typical dual core home computers can cope. This extra recode causes additional quality loss before final encoding for DVD or Blu-Ray. AVCHD can be used productively with higher end edit packages when converted to digital intermediate formats like Cineform or Apple Intermediate Codec. In summary, AVCHD requires more expensive edit gear and suffers greater loss in editing vs. HDV.

According to the latest reviews at Camcorderinfo.com, the latest 24Mb/s AVCHD camcorders are approaching initial first generation picture quality of HDV but are not there yet. AVCHD has the advantage of flash ram or HDD recording media to make up for lower picture quality and more difficult edit work flow. HDV remains tied to MiniDV tape although you can record to external hard drives instead.

Sony has introduced a $6K prosumer focused XDCAM-EX camcorder which records to proprietary flash ram. The quality is very high. This format could be extended down market with flash or HDD storage eventually replacing HDV. Next year Sony will announce a higher compression codec for XDCAM-EX. Maybe this will come with more affordable XDCAM-EX camcorders.

So the low end format wars come down to XDCAM-EX/HDV (prosumer) vs AVCHD (consumer). Broadcast formats will battle at the upper end of XDCAM-EX (35-50Mb/s), vs. DVCProHD (100Mb/s) and AVC-Intra (50-100Mb/s).


PS: Recently JVC announced commitment to the XDCAM-EX format. Panasonic is pushing AVC-Intra. Canon is committed to both HDV and AVCHD but hasn't committed yet to higher formats.

[David9799]

Interesting but i am only interested in the consumer side. I can't aforde the pro stuff.

Looks like i will be sticking with HDV after all but it seems to be fading away with only 1 new consumer HDV coming out (VIXIA HV40)

[zoobie]

already way too many pet codecs out there...with hundreds more on the horizon...little wonder the consumer is totally confused...now mix in the pro stuff for a potent cocktail of poison...

whatever that means

[nitro1973]

well, in my opinion hdv is fading away like you said. i choosed avchd camroders. i own panasonic sd9 and canon hf100. it is all amatour camcorder but as amoutour i am quite happy with it. the only disadvanted of avchd for me is big cpu power consumption, both for playback and encoding.

[edDV]

well, in my opinion hdv is fading away like you said. i choosed avchd camroders. i own panasonic sd9 and canon hf100. it is all amatour camcorder but as amoutour i am quite happy with it. the only disadvanted of avchd for me is big cpu power consumption, both for playback and encoding.

I still think the Canon HV20/30/40 HDV series are consumer bargains if you intend to seriously edit your work. That pretty much defines the "prosumer". AVCHD works fine for simple cuts and transfer to DVD media. Most Blu-Ray players and the PS3 will play AVCHD mt2s files from DVDR or BD media without authoring.

The cost of flash media is still a major disadvantage for AVCHD. Good HDV 62 min tapes cost less than $3 online. Two premium level 2 8GB flash cards cost ~$35 to store ~78min @24Mb/s. Tape gives one an instant backup. You need to carry a laptop to off load AVCHD flash cards and backup becomes a discipline.

[David9799]

editing HDV is no trouble at all with the PC i built, i have a quadcore overcloked to 4Ghz with 6GB of RAM on a 64bit OS plus i have 4TB of data storage. A 1TB hard drive is less than $100 now days.

Im really only interested in the quality of the High Def video storage and editing are no trouble at all. I am only shooting family events a 60min HDV tape will last me a year usally.

My only grip about my HDR-HC1 is that it uses tape and its getting dated, i can deal with the tapes if it has better video quality and i also would like a smaller camcorder some of the AVCHDs that i seen where the size of a pop can! but if the video from one is still bad i'll hold for another year or so.