My new HC7 HD camcorder will be here tomorrow and thus I bravely step into the world of HD. I've been reading the Vegas manual and Spot's HDV Second Edition, but I want to have some reassurance before I leave this week on vacation with my HC7 in hand.

I want to record in 1080i HD to future proof my recording to tape. I also want to Print to Tape the edited HD rendered file. The final format delivery will be SD DVD for the moment. My PC is a P4 3.2 Ghz with 2GB RAM.

I guess I have a few choices of what to do in between. My current thought is to use Cineform with the Sony Batch Converter, but I'm not sure if my PC will have enough horsepower. If not, it seems like Gearshift is the way to go. Anyone here using Cineform with this level of PC?

Once I've done the editing, what format do I render in so I can Print to Tape to the HC7 for the final HD output? This tape will just be used for archiving and maybe someday used for a new project burned to HD DVD.

If my camera supports it, I guess I can capture in SD rather than HD, but I'd rather not do this.

Am I on the right track? I appreciate any suggestions you have. The only think I know for certain is I want to record in HD later this week but what comes after is what worries me. Thanks.

David,
You'll find that the Cineform tools will run on your computer, but it will be kinda tight, depending on how optimally your system runs.
GearShift with Vegas will definitely work. With this processor, you're in a "tweenie" situation where either/or will work. A faster CPU/system, you'll likely want to deal with only CineForm. Bear in mind that if you have Vegas 7, native HDV is another way to work. I'm a fan of Cineform and GearShift, myself, but Vegas 7 does a great job on its own unless you're doing a lot of compositing.
when it comes time to output, simply go to TOOLS/PRINT TO HDV TAPE and Vegas will use the correct template to render for printing to HDV tape.
You're on the right track, now go shoot some great vid!

Thanks DSE. I'm running Vegas 7e and with my PC I wasn't even considering the possibility of editing native HD. Since my projects are generally on the small side I'll have to give it a try. Plus, I always break my projects up into several small nested projects, which I imagine this would help with editing performance.

And yes, I'm finally retiring my Canon Elura.

Dave