Image quality: better HDV firewire or Component out?
 

I noticed that the HDV compression adds many artifacts, so i'm wondering if recording from the component out would achieve better image quality, despite it's analog.
Thanks

Something must be wrong with the clips you're looking at... see the user reports about HDV in this thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=120491 and read through them. Consider also that any advantage of capturing live uncompressed component analog is going to be seriously offset by the work-arounds involved in that process... such as having to capture audio as a separate signal, being tethered to a capture station while shooting, etc. A much better way is to use SDI, as found on the XH G1.

Thanks Chris, at the moment i have to work with the A1, so no SDI output, and the workarounds needed for a better quality can be accettable for me.

HDV can give nice results, especially when i shoot HDV for SD. But if i want to produce a spot that is accettable, when compared to other spots shot in 35mm, i have to find every solution and workaround that can give even a little advantage about the image quality.
I'm a perfectionist (at low budget...), so i know, as you know that HDV HAS artifacts. I'm curious if recording the component out to i.e. a DigiBeta could be better than recording HDV then putting the clips in a SD timeline in FCP.

Actually no, I strongly disagree that HDV has any artifacts worth being concerned about. If you're experiencing some problem with artifacts in HDV, most likely it's due to your particular camera settings or post workflow settings and we can help you to fix that.

Once again, please realize that the overwhelming consensus from most all people using HDV on this forum is that it delivers perfectly adequate results. Therefore what you're most likely encountering is some problem with your specific setup. The advantage for you is that this site is the single largest pro-HDV forum on the web, so you'll find lots of experienced folks with good advice to help you.

Also, if you're convinced that analog capture is a better way to go, a search of this site will reveal numerous discussion topics which explore it in detail. You're going to find that the Law of Diminishing Returns is fully in place on this matter: the negligible improvement in image "quality" is generally not worth the hassle of the work-arounds required to achieve it. With that in mind, yes, it can be done.

Please search for those topics covering component video capture and continue the discussion there. Hope this helps,