Help needed with HD camcorder, PC and editing software choice

[Paul Tyrrell]

All,

As you have probably guessed from the title I'm a newbie in the HD world and I need some basic assistance.

My old DV camcorder has finally ejected it's last tape so I need to move on. It seems silly to buy another DV camcorder when HD ones aren't that much more expensive. I've had a look online and in stores and I think I prefer the SD card type (rather than HDD/disc) due to weight and size. The Panasonic HDC-SD9 seems to be the front runner at the moment due mainly to its very light weight. I have to admit I'd prefer a smaller package if possible though (like the lovely Sony but that didn't seem to fit comfortably in my hand). I realise the SD9 is a rather basic unit which is fine for me - I'm after a 'point-and-shoot' device. I'm certainly no budding film-maker! I would like to have the facility of an external microphone but that only seems available on the more expensive models?

So the first question is this - is the HDC-SD9 a good option given my needs/abilities? Is it a 'true HD' (whatever that means?!) device? For well under £400 it seems to be good value.

I know my old 3GHz Pentium 4 isn't going to be up to the task of editing the HD video so what sort of machine specification should I be looking at? I don't play games on the PC so I'm after something that will allow me to edit the footage and create discs (intially DVD but in the future possibly blu-ray?) as well as the normal email/web/office apps.

So the second question is this - what processor type/speed, RAM, video card(s), etc. should I be looking for. I have a couple of 500GB SATA II drives spare so storage won't be a problem!!

Editing software - for capturing my DV footage, editing it etc. and creating disc images I've used Ulead DVD Workshop. It runs a little slowly on my machine when converting the video but it gets there in the end! What I need from the software is the ability to 'get' the footage from the camcorder (or is this simply a matter of copying the MTS file(s) from the SD card?), allow me to edit it, add chapters and menus and either burn discs or preferrably create ISO disc images so I can create multiple copies easily. If possible I'd also like to be able in the future to do more with the menus (animation, sound, etc.) as well as adding titles, credits to the footage.

So the third question is this - which editing packages should I be looking at? I understand that some are better at dealing with HD/MTS/AVCHD footage than others.

Disc creation - this is probably going to be a very dumb question but is it possible/OK to create DVDs from an HD source? Does the software magically convert the higher resolution HD footage to the lower resolution of DVDs? And what about blu-ray - is it possible to create blu-ray discs which retain the HD resolution? Can you buy blu-ray burners and blank blu-ray media?

Finally (phew!!) - SD cards. What about real-world usage of HD SD card camcorders - what sort of length of footage can you fit on, say, a 16GB SD card? There seems to be a massive price difference - is there some sort of performance difference as well? What do the various classes of SD card mean? Which type(s) do I need?

Thanks very much in advance and apologies for the probably asked-a-thousand-times-before questions!

Cheers,

Paul.

[Supreme2k]

I got the Aiptek HD+ (known as the AHD300 across the pond), and it works great. HD resolution is about 1/2 hour per Gig. Class 6 media is the best right now, as it is the fastest. I use Sandisk and Kingston, though not exclusively.

Check out this thread about a great dvd-ready conversion method.

Blu-Ray is probably a bit expensive right now, both in burners and media.

I'll get back to you other questions later (if someone doesn't beat me to it). Fill out your computer specs in your profile so that people can suggest software or hardware for you.

[Paul Tyrrell]

Supreme2k,
Thanks for the response. I'll investigate those links.

Is there a minimum speed/class of SD card that I should be looking for?

The blu-ray question was, as you suggest, something for the future. I haven't got an HD-compatible TV (I'm still on a 36" CRT!) but I wanted as far as possible to make sure that whatever I choose now won't cause problems in the future.

The reason I didn't fill out the specs is because my current machine is going to be replaced - part of the advice I need is what sort of spec I should be looking for.

Cheers,

Paul.

[yoda313]

A couple of things here:

1st - you'll probably want to get AT LEAST a dual core processor in your next computer. That will make video editing a heck of a lot easier. Plus probably at least 2gigs of ram to make life easier. Plus a decent video card will help if you do get the high def camcorder. Probably at least an nvidia 8400 or newer - don't know the ati equivalent as I've only recently gotten back with ATI with the All-in-wonder 512mb hd card.

As for the hd to dvd conversion question here is some insight:

The "magic" as you put it will be lossed upon conversion to standard definition from high def. Granted it will still look good but it won't have that high def sparkle (now I haven't seen any footage off a high def camcorder but I do have bluray and hd-dvd and know the difference is exceptional above sd content). You can certainly downconvert to dvd and not be disappointed terribly it just won't have the same punch as if it was kept high def and burnt to bluray.

I can't answer the questions on the sd cards directly. However they do have speed ratings for digital still cameras. I assume there is a similar structure for video sd cards as well. I would think the higher sd capacity cards would do well for at least a couple of hours however I don't know what their capacity is for a given camcorder. You would need to research the capacity requirements on their websites.

As far as the editing goes there are two things you need to look into:

1 - editing suite software

2 - authoring software

Editing software from Pinnacle or Ulead has evolved nicely. I currently have Pinnacle Studio 12 BASIC which has nice editing functions for titles, transitions, audio replacement, etc. I'm sure the Ulead equivalent is good as well. The BASIC package starts at 50.00 (EDIT - Sorry forgot to mention that is in USD - didn't see you're in the UK - that should help for conversion needs). There is a PLUS and an ULTIMATE in the STUDIO series. The higher up ones include support for high def editing and more special effects features. I think you'd need at least PLUS if you are working with high def video.

Authoring software is what you use for the menus and the actual burning of dvds/bluray discs. Now some editing software does have rudimentary menu applications. However I've only used standalone authoring applications so I can't comment on the combo package offerings. You would need somehting like Tmpgenc Dvd Author to do a good dvd menu and structure. Check into dvd works I think it is from TMPGENC that now offers Bluray authoring.

Also I don't know if you can simply copy the files off of sd cards or if you still need to do realtime firewire transfers with the camcorder. Somebody else here with more experience with newer models can tackle that question.

Hope these suggestions give you a jumping off point. Happy hunting.

EDIT - And welcome to our forum - it's always nice to see a new face (metaphorically speaking of course )

[filmboss80]

The Panasonic model you mentioned has some very nice features for the price, but the one big negative IMO is the AVCHD format. It uses a compression scheme that requires loads of CPU processing, and editing software makers are just now catching up to it. (Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 will handle it, and it is priced very cheap at $100. I haven't used it, so I can't vouch for it.) HDV tends to work better with most current editing software.

So, if you buy the Panny camera, plan to also buy a new PC with at least a 3GHz-class processor and 2 gigs of RAM, as well as the newest AVCHD-friendly editing software to handle it.

[Paul Tyrrell]

yoda313,

Thanks for your response and the welcome!

I'll bear those PC specs in mind when I'm looking. Of course I'll also need a decent display that does the HD footage justice!

I appreciate that by converting HD footage to SD for a standard DVD will lose some quality but it'll be a significant improvement over the DV footage I have at the moment! I just wanted to make sure the operation was possible with.

I got a couple of very cheap (2GB for £2) Kingstons SD cards recently which I used when I tried a few camcorders. They seemed to work to my untrained eye! The 32GB ones seem quite pricey at the moment but the 16GB seem OK value.

As long as I can create very basic menus (with 'Play' and 'Scenes') that'll be fine for now. In the future I may want to do more. I think I'll investigate the main packages and see if they do what I want. Of course I can't really do that until I've got the camcorder and new computer!

The Panasonic cameras I tried allowed the files simply to be copied from the SD card directly onto the computer. I then tried a couple of the MTS to AVI/MPG conversion utilities I found to see what was what. The playback was very slow and blocky and the sound wasn't great. I'm pretty sure it was my machine as when I put the same SD cards directly into a TV in the store the footage played fine.

Of course I've continued looking and I'm now wondering if the Canon HF100 is a better option than the Panasonic HDC-SD9. It's around £110 more over here but seems to offer not only a (slightly) better picture in the reviews I've read but it has more features (mainly the external mic input) that I'd like.

Cheers,

Paul.