HV20 -- Regret or Bliss? A few more Questions

[zeek543]

Thanks to all the discussion as well as the replies to my post/questions on this forum, I think I may be ready to buy a Canon HV20 and being filming my own movies! Now, do to my limited budget at this time, I can only afford the camera and a few accesorys. But sadly, I won't be able to build myself a new computer until later this year, end of summer most likely. So that means I won't be editing any HD of any kind until I build that new computer. However, I plan on simply using the built in HDV --> DV conversion with the camera to transfer via firewire to my current computer, and then I will edit that.


So a few final questions for everyone here before I go ahead and buy:

1) If I buy this camera now, will I regret it 1-3 years from now? AKA: will there be a huge price drop soon? Will there be new/added features that are "must-haves" to cameras in at similar price anytime soon? Are the accesories for available for this camera fairly good (mics, tripods, filters, lenses, etc)

2)What accessories should I buy for this camera to shoot for a couple hours and have good quality outdoor and indoor shots? (not spectacular) (specific products would be appreciated)

3)What are the recommend (and minimum) system requirements for editing HDV using Premiere Pro or something similar (Vegas)?

4)Since I won't be editing HDV right away, would I be better off filming in the camera's SD mode using only DV compression, or would I get just as good or better results from filming HDV but later converting to DV when transfering to computer? (I will shoot some sports and high-motion video if that helps--I'm still a little concered with the HDV's mpeg-2 compression's quality with high motion footage).


Wow, ok. Again, I really am thankful to all of you out there on this forum. I have learned so much from reading and posting questions. Hopefully, I learn enough to be able to help others out there.

And of course, any other comments or opinions about the HV20 are welcome as I would like all the insight in to this camera before I purchase. (....anyone think the sony HC-7 is better? minus its LANC support?)

[dun4cheap]

I bought the HV10 back in October 2006. I loved this camera however, I had the opportunity to get all of my money back for it in March so I jumped on it knowing the hv20 was coming out in April. I bought the HV10 for $1100. The hv20 was at Circuit City for $935 over the weekend. I would not hesitate getting one. Now trying to compare it to a camera in 1-3 years, well no doubt there will always be better. The HV20 while similiar to the hv10, the body style is different, it has better reviews at low light levels and it supports 24P.

By the way, why can't you edit in HDV now. You can alway export your hdv to an SD source. The cool thing about HDV 1440x1080, is you can pan and zoom on it especially if you intend on exporting it to DVD at 720x480. Now Pinnacle Studio 10 and 11 will both edit HDV. Liquid, Vegas etc all of those will edit HDV. I currently use Liquid 7.2 and edit in HDV all the time. The cool thing here is with a touch of a button you can export your HDV timeline to SD DVD.

Anyhow, take the plunge.

[Soopafresh]

Wow, I'm looking at a 24P example right now. Looks really, really good. How great that you won't have to worry about interlacing artifacts.