A1--couple of questions
 

These may have been answered someplace else on here but I haven't been able to find them. I'm wondering if the XH A1 will downconvert from HDV to DV in camera--ie., can you record in HDV but play back the tape as DV if you want to do an edit that way?

Also, can you shoot 24F in DV mode if you want or is that strictly an HDV thing?

Oh yeah, one more...I believe I read it has repeatable focus like the Z1, but does it give the readout in feet/meters or in meaningless numbers?

Thanks.

24f and 30f both work in SD

the focus setting can show feet.inch/percentage numbers

not sure about in camera downconvert, but most likely

Thanks.

Well...this is interesting. I just posted the above message, "Thanks."

But it wouldn't post. Instead, it sent me to a screen saying the post had to be at least 10 characters long.

No one word replies. Unless it's a big word.

Bill, yes, you can record in HDV and playback/output standard def simultaneously.

Or, if in post, your video was recorded in HDV, the camcorder, A1 or G1, will downconvert to SD if you choose.

Best Regards,
Scott Cantrell
TapeWorks Texas Inc - HDVinfo Sponser

Thanks again. Now, if Canon only made a deck that would play back 24F, I wouldn't be able to find a thing wrong with this camera.

It's called the HV10

Yeah, I know, and it has a lens on it. Sometimes I gaffertape a TRV900 to my DVCAM deck and call it a camera.:) I guess that's better than nothing. Has it been verified that it will play back 24F?

Did you know that the Sony HDV deck is actually just a glorified Z1 camcorder transport?

Yeah, and it's not particualry worth the $3000! Has trouble with Canon's SD 24p form the XL2... poop to drop outs!

Now, you cannot export 24F back to tape... so can you embed 24f in a 60i timeline without it looking retarded?

What decks are you guys looking at for the A1/G1? I'm looking at this Sony M15U, it seems to be the best price/value... unless any of you have better suggestions??

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

Forget that Sony deck if you want to shoot 24F with the Canon. You can NOT play back Canon's 24F HDV footage on the Sony deck. Although, they announced recently two new models (not that one) that will allegedly play back JVC and Sony 30P/F. Just not 24P/F from either manufacturer.

In effect, when shooting 24P/F we have three HDV formats: JVC, Canon and Sony. None of the three is compatible with the other. This is only in the 24F/P world, which of course everybody wants to shoot these days.

Obviously you can load footage from your camera, or buy the little one for that purpose. But if you're using Canon cameras in a professional editing setup, you really need decks. In our studio, for example, we have 2 DSR1800 decks, with firewire and component, and SDI capable if needed. Each deck stays permanantly attached via component in and out to a similar Betacam deck because we still get involved with Betacam for local TV spots, and old footage. We make master tapes on both DVCAM and Betacam, though not as often in Betacam anymore. It would be nice to have a deck in that system that would play and record Canon 24F HDV, and a little camera wouldn't really cut it because many shows are more than an hour long and require standard size cassettes, not minis. Sony has recognized this need and JVC too. I wish Canon would too. For the type of work we do, it would be easy to dump our big cameras and get two H1s and a couple of A1s--that would be even cheaper than the normal cameras we use and the HDV quality would actually be better than what we do now with 2/3" chip DVCAM gear (at least it would with the Z1, which is the only one whose footage I've actually compared). We could still do that and use Sony decks, but we'd have to shoot 60i or 30p, which would defeat one purpose of the Canon cameras and in that case we might as well go with Z1's. I'm not knocking the Canons--I want one for personal use, but for the company, we'd need decks too. You would think that with 3 very nice HDV cameras almost on the market, they would make a deck. I think Sony has recognized that with their upcoming V1, and that fact alone is probably going to push people more to that camera in spite of its smaller chips and less desireable lens.

Nick, my understanding is that no existing deck (except the Canon HDV camcorders themselves, including the HV10) can play Canon F-mode.

I am guessing th HV10 does not have a componet out or in?

It has component out. Here's a list of the included accessories:


•
BP-310 Battery Pack (with Terminal Cover)
•
CA-570 Compact Power Adapter
•
STV-250 N Stereo Video Cable
•
WL-D87 Wireless Controller
•
IFC-300PCU USB Cable
•
CTC-100 S Component Cable
•
Digital Video Solution Disk for Windows and Macintosh
•
1-Year Warranty

Has anybody determined for sure if it will play 24F.