Which camcorder (newbie question)

[magillagorilla]

I would agree with you. Although I am doing my final renderings in h.264 right now because of my weird frame rates. I am keeping my original HUFFYUV files archived. In my archive I have a copy of the codec. In a worst case scenario, in 20 years, I could build a virtual Windows XP machine and get the codec up and running to convert the footage.

Funny you mentioned DV as a SD archival format. I have often considered converting my HUFFYUV stuff to DV as it's final archival format.

The future is always a big question mark. Maybe someone will come up with a kind of AI super player that can just figure out how to play any file without having a codec (sombody make an app for that). I also figure in 20 years I'll be able to transcode 1TB of video in like 4 minutes, on my Intel 256 core 80Ghz 128bit processor, and my 700Gbps 50TB SSDs, that will be nice.

[Knightmessenger]

Thanks for the tips. Think I'm going with the HV40 for the tape storage. Don't know what I'm doing with computer or software yet. This will keep me occupied for a while. One question I have though is - What is the resolution of a basic Hollywood widescreen DVD (just so there is no big misunderstanding). That is all I'm looking for in a camcorder right now. Thanks again for the tips.

DVD is standard definition. The reason why they look so good is because of many things besides resolution. The biggest is that the image from a professional movie is in focus. You won't get any video camera to have that sharp detailed look of a professional recording if it doesn't have a manual focus. You also want to be able to control the exposure and white balance is probably the next most important.

Remember as advanced as digital technology and video restoration can get, there is no way to fix something that is out of focus or over exposed.

As for editing systems, most people online seem to mention Sony Vegas as the simplest and easiest to use. I have it myself and I agree completely.

[CliveJ]

My new HV40 came today. Came with a free instructional DVD!!! I got it right from Canon. Could have gotten it $55 cheaper from a big "camera house" but have had bad experiences in the past. Ordered 10 Panasonic PQ tapes from B&H. Will go with Pan and Sony tapes exclusively. Have not taken it out of the box yet! I'll be back with a bunch of questions and reading through posts. Thanks.