Hi Everyone -

I am new to the forum and needed some questions about the HD100 answered, as I am ready to fork over the money on it.

I've been a producer on a few documentaries and I am now I am getting into the actual working end of production more, so forgive my ignorance. Here are my questions....any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks!

*Can we use the firewire to Sony Vegas to capture HD footage?

*Do we really need the JVC deck or can it wait until funds increase?"

*How do we export the final HD product from Sony Vegas? What's the most cost effective method?

*What type of firewire card does the camera need or is recommended?"

Hi Everyone -

I am new to the forum and needed some questions about the HD100 answered, as I am ready to fork over the money on it.

I've been a producer on a few documentaries and I am now I am getting into the actual working end of production more, so forgive my ignorance. Here are my questions....any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks!

*Can we use the firewire to Sony Vegas to capture HD footage?

*Do we really need the JVC deck or can it wait until funds increase?"

*How do we export the final HD product from Sony Vegas? What's the most cost effective method?

*What type of firewire card does the camera need or is recommended?"

Yes you can use firewire to import to Sony Vegas, Vegas has a limited version of Cineforms' ConnectHD built in, better than trying to use m2t files.

No, you don't need the deck, just be aware you will put additional wear on the camera. If you're using only one camera, a better addon might be the HD recording device. Less expensive than the deck too.

Export HD? What are you trying to output to? There are several options, including printing back to tape, or outputing to Quicktime for sending to a facility for transfer to HDCAM tape. You should be able to uprez to 1080i if needed. Vegas has excellent resizing algorithms.

Firewire is built into the camera, most desktops and laptops come with at least 1 firewire port. You can get expansion cards very cheap if needed. Belkin makes them for either desktop or laptop. If you have a 4 wire firewire connection, that might be the best thing to use to avoid sending power to the camera.

Make very sure to read the cautions about hooking up the pc and camera via firewire.

I would also recomend spending the extra 200.00 and getting the full version of ConnectHD (from Cineform), it has its own capture program, and the latest version fully supports Vegas Smart render. Still, if you are on a very tight budget, the included Cineform codec will work just fine.

Also check out gear shift from VASST.

Thanks! I'll be buying my camera today.

How is TapeWorks Texas?

I am considering them or B&H Photo.

I bought through ZGC, another of our sponsers and got great service. The only problem I had with them is they don't sell the JVCHDV tape stock, so I had to go elsewhere instead of getting everything in one shot. Minor issue for most.

btw, sponsers don't get to be sponsers here unless they meet Chris' high standards, so you won't go wrong with any of them.

Thanks! I'll call them.

Joe Carney is right - do not hot swap the firewire with this camera! It has the bigger six pin(?) firewire port and it can short out the cameras, or your computers, firewire port.

Connect HD is easily worth the money, converting to Cineform during capture is a huge time saver. Also I believe it is the only way to currently capture 24p from the JVC. Also the 24p cineform works great in Vegas.

Congratulations on your camera...I sure do like mine :)

I bought my camera thru tapeworks and highly recomend them. Better pricing than B&H.

Thanks for all the advice. I bought it through TapeWorks and found Jason to be very friendly and helpful. He busted his butt to get the shipment out to me today.

Again...thanks and I am happy to be a HD100 owner. :) Can't wait.

Richard congrats on the camera. I also bought cartoni focus tripod portabrace ctc-3 bag and AT 897 mic. It a great camera. I have been shooting SD mode since I am not equipt to do HDV now but at least the camera is.

I bought my camera thru tapeworks and highly recomend them. Better pricing than B&H.

Yeah, Tapeworks is good. I got mine there.