It's been quite a while... SD vs HD camcorders?

[Immortal25]

Is it time to really get a HD camcorder now? Or are most still using SD? And do I venture into the HDD and SD card storage or still stick to mini-dv tapes? Last I heard, only the tapes are editable and not the HDD and SD cards...Is it still like that? Actually, why is it not able to edit in HDD? I thought the HDD just acts like a regular hard disk and the recording would be in dv format or something.

[zoobie]

that would be funny if the HDD footage wasn't editable...all these goofs would be running around saying "huh???"

looks like you have some homework to do...starting at www.camcorderinfo.com would be a good beginning

[jagabo]

Last I heard, only the tapes are editable and not the HDD and SD cards...

All of them can be edited. HDV camcorders record with MPEG2 compression. This isn't too hard for modern computers to handle, the CPU processing requirement isn't too high. HDD and SD card base camcorders usually compress with MPEG 4 part 10 compression (aka h.264, AVC) which is more complex and takes much more CPU power to decode. That makes it more difficult to edit (for example, it can sometimes take several seconds to display a new frame when you move the scrollbar in the editor). Because of this some people transcode the video to a codec that is easier on the system before editing. But faster computers and the ability to use the graphics card to decompress the video are alleviating this problem.

Also, AVC compressed video is usually more highly compressed than HDV. That can lead to more compression artifacts. And after editing and recompression you may get more artifacts.

[redwudz]

HD video can be edited in the camera and in a computer. It's not as easy to edit as DV in a computer, but most consumers are more interested in the higher quality/resolution than ease of editing. For the average user, I think you will see SD DV camcorders go the way of VHS camcorders and fade away. Hard drive camcorders and SD and other solid state storage devices seem to be the way of the future. Just my opinion.

[Immortal25]

Oh...ok...well that's cos last I posted...which was about a year ago I think; some told me that HD compared to SD are more difficult to edit and some software do not support it. t's more about HD vs Sd rather than the type of storage I think?
The only prob is HDD camcorders tend to have HD and not SD videos thus automatically making HDD cams "hard" to edit or in my earlier words, not editable.
So I guess if looking to the future I should be getting HD cams regardless of HDD or SD cards but bearing in mind the difficulties of editing and also whether my machinery is capable of handling that task.
Btw, I'm using the latest Pinnacle Studio so software part is solved, just hardware...

[zoobie]

You're software problems are probably just beginning...

[jagabo]

I'm using the latest Pinnacle Studio so software part is solved

LOL. If history is anything to go by zoobie is right, your problems are just starting! Pinnacle Studio has been one of the buggiest programs around. Once you go beyond a few simple cuts and pastes it will start corrupting the project and crash.

[2Bdecided]

Oh...ok...well that's cos last I posted...which was about a year ago I think; some told me that HD compared to SD are more difficult to edit and some software do not support it. t's more about HD vs Sd rather than the type of storage I think?

No, not at all. For example, the step up from HDV to MPEG-4 1080p60 is bigger than the step up from DV to HDV. Even the step up from HDV to MPEG-4 1080i60 is huge.

The only prob is HDD camcorders tend to have HD and not SD videos

No, not at all.

Btw, I'm using the latest Pinnacle Studio so software part is solved, just hardware...

I agree with the other posts comments on this point!

Sony Vegas HD is very cheap. Free demo too. I'd try that.

Cheers,
David.

[frlane]

If you are planning on purchasing a camera, I would definitely go with HD. However, if you currently have an SD camera, you may not need to rush to HD, especially if you are only going to DVD or Web.

[edDV]

An easy versatile step is to HDV. HDV cameras use MiniDV tape (~$3/hr) vs. Level 6 SD flash (~$30/hr.). HDV cams can shoot standard def DV format (4:3 or 16:9) or high definition HDV (16:9 only). If you shoot HDV, these camcorders can export over IEEE-1394 in either high def or standard def DV format so can be used with old software and weak computers. HDV can be edited on your Pentium D, 3GHz but a Core2Duo or Quad would be a better fit. My personal favorite consumer HDV camcorderss are the Canon HV 20/30/40.

AVCHD h.264 camcorders are the alternative and as people say, the trend is to SD flash storage but the cost of flash is high, editing requires current version software, faster hardware and the workflow is more difficult.