I didn't read every item listed here so stop me if someone already said this:

Q: How do I access the setup menus on the HD100U?

A: You have to hold the round menu button for a couple of seconds instead of just tapping it.


I used the camera twice before I figured this out, and it darn near drove me nuts. I'm sure it's in the manual somewhere, but if you're in a hurry it's not an intuitively obvious step.

That's a good point for users new to pro cameras. I honestly can say I never thought about it because I always did find it intuitive, probably because of my pro camera experience.

This reminds me of when I bought my grandparents an imac a couple of years ago. They had NEVER used a computer before. The closest they ever came was an electric typewriter.
I showed them how to click on the "mail" icon to read their email, the photo icon to watch photos I had loaded in there. I thought "wow," this is going to be so easy for them because they won't have to worry about viruses or anything.
Everything seemed to be fine until they took over and kept looking down at the mouse everytime they moved it. They just couldn't move that mouse without looking at it, and then they'd look back at the screen and have no idea where the pointer was!
It drove me nuts... they have no problem comprehending the OS, applications, folder heirarchy, or even the internet, but they still can't use a mouse properly - and that doesn't even include click & drag.

The point of the story is that maybe we should have a 'beginners' area in the FAQ that addresses issues that many of us take for granted. Stuff like +48V phantom power, aperture, manual/servo zoom, or maybe even the location of the VTR button. Thoughts?

The switch, knobs, and buttons are fairly easy to find. Figuring them out is a different story. Like pressing the menu button increases the info in the VF, or turns them off altogether. I still haven't figured out how to use the user buttons though, and the manual isn't always clear to me- in English or Japanese.

I agree, I just use the #1 user button for bars.

Hdv 480 Sd
 

The HDV SD60P recording option throws me. Does the SD mean Standard Def?

yes it stands for standard def but it's standard def in the hdv codec (container). So it'll give you a 4.2.0 color sampling which is better if you're outputting to dvd, as opposed to dvd 4.1.1.