H264 (AVCHD) OR HDV Camcorder ?

[Zetti]

Hi all,

I`m new to these so called HD formats, but spent the entire day reading about this and figure out somethings I`m not 100% sure about, I`m plaaning to retire my current MiniDV camcorder and get an HD one, preferably a "tapeless" one, I mean, with built-in HDD.

My questions are:

Are AVC, AVCHD and H264 acronysms for the SAME thing

There are ONLY two rival formats to choose from, HDV (which is basically MPEG2) and H264 (aka AVC, AVCHD), AM I RIGHT

Is H264 superior to HDV format

Regardless current lack of editing software, should I choose a AVCHD camcorder rather than a HDV one

When it comes to authoring the final home made (writable media) Blue-Ray disc, would authoring softwares accept the either camcorder native or software edited H264 files

I'm considering the Sony HD-SR-7 camcorder, it's in the range of $1000 at BHphotovideo.com, it uses the H264 format, NOT the HDV one, would that be a good bet

Many thanks,

Zetti

[edDV]

Wikipedia can give you the detail. Bottom line, HDV is MPeg2 @ 25Mb/s and is well supported by home and pro level editing/authoring products. Yes it uses tape. It can also be recorded to hard disk using a Firestore type device.

AVCHD is a medium quality MPeg4 implementation using lower 6-15 Mb/s with the priority tilted to flash memory or mini hard disk recording. Quality at 15Mb/s is a bit lower than HDV but most people record lower bit rates to get longer recording times.

People who buy AVCHD are those that want convenience of flash or hard drive recording and don't worry much about editing. If they placed priority on editing and finish video quality, they would choose HDV.

Editing software for AVCHD is very limied at the current time. Full decode can be performed but MPeg4 generally suffers considerable generation loss. Prosumer versions of AVCHD with shorter GOPS and higher bit rates (25Mb/s max) will allow the format some day to rival or replace HDV. That will require much higher hard disk capacity or shortened record times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD

[Soopafresh]

JVC Everio GZ-MG50 HDV Digital Camcorder records onto hard drive and is MPEG2 based. I'm with ed on this, avchd is difficult to edit. I like the look of MPEG2 HDV and it is supported by many different programs.

Here's some avchd footage: https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/rtknapp/00003.MTS

Try loading it up in your favorite editor.

Here's some HDV footage

http://www.canonhv20.com/canon-hv20-footage.php

[Zetti]

Thanks to both that replied,

Well, maybe my best bet will be to wait say 1 or 2 years to realize what will be the deal regarding AVCHD at 24 Mbps, I've read both links at the Wikipedia, as far as I realized AVCHD is still "growing" and has the powerful to overcome HDV in some years....unless something NEW appears;

Opinions ?

Thanks,

Zetti

[edDV]

The pros are still firmly on Meg2 (XDCAM @19-35Mb/s) and DVCAM-HD @100 Mb/s. MPeg4 is still considered a distribution format rather than acquisition format at the present time.

This can all be overcome by raw computer power (8-16 cores?) or DSP in the future.