I'm looking at moving up from SD to HD....

Can one shoot in HD mode and then down-convert to SD? Or does one have to choose which format to use prior to recording?

not a dumb ? I was wondering too. The Sony Z1 does....

You can shoot in HD and down convert to SD in final cut, dvd studio pro, or compressor easily. I don' t know about any other editing programs

Never a dumb question here (sometimes we forget that we were once new at this too : )

Rule of thumb is to capture in the highest possible resolution on the camera, and then digitize in that resolution if possible. If your workstation can at least capture the HDV material, you should then do an intermediate convert in software to SD for edits. However, if you can edit on the PC in HDV or cineform intermediate (for example), then do so and render to SD.

There are several examples, not isolated to any one HDV camera, that prove that HDV material makes for a sharper SD output.

Do a search on HDV to SD.

Thanks for the replies. I understand the direction I want to go. Now I just need to save a few $$.

Does anyone know whether the new Canon HDV cameras will be able to downsample from HDV on tape to DV out via firewire like the Sony HDV cameras do? If so, will that work with the 24f mode?

The HV10 HDV camcorder will letterbox the 16:9 footage.


Does anyone know whether the new Canon HDV cameras will be able to downsample from HDV on tape to DV out via firewire like the Sony HDV cameras do? If so, will that work with the 24f mode?

If they are anything like the XL-H1, you will be able to shoot in HD and down convert directly from the camera. We do this all the time with our H1 and works perfectly. Since I work with a powerbook it's a little rough to work with the HDV file, but you can change the settings on the camera itself to downcovert straight out of the firewire... I bet these will have that same capabilities. Always shoot in HD though... always!!! and yes it will work with the 24F mode but depending on your editing system will depend on if it works properly or not...

Eric Hansen
www.ehansenproductions.com

I asked Canon Support and they confirmed that you can shoot HD and downconvert directly from the camcorder to HD. Just like the H1.

Bill in Ohio

Sorry my sentence should have been donwnconvert to SD directly from the camcorder.

Bill

I shot a musical in HD, edited in HD, and then used the mpeg2 export to SD and the finished product looked very very good (for SD).

By doing it that way I believe I got a better looking final project details that would not have been picked up in miniDV were present in the final DVD.

Starting with a source better than the NTSC standard means you get an output that meets the standard miniDV is 550 lines vs 700 lines for the full NTSC standard.

Bill in Ohio