HDV - over-hyped at the moment?

Nick Stone · August 25th, 2008, 01:53 PM

I use the Sony Z1 and find it's a great camera both SD and HD. Mind you, I'm now wondering why I shoot HD to downconvert to SD. This thread has got me thinking about HD and my work flow. I deliver everything in SD.
After testing both HD to SD and SD to SD I find that there really is not much of a difference on final output quality. By shooting SD from the Z1 focus is so much easier and editing is a breeze and to be honest the quality is great.
By shooting HD, focus is something you have to really watch and then editing in HD can become a pain to get full rate playback (for me anyway) in my NLE.
So i'm now thinking on my next shoot of shooting SD DVCAM instead.
The one thing I dont like about the Z1 in my opion is shooting HD and then downconverting from the camera, I think the image looks a bit soft after the convert and if your a bit soft on focus to start with (and it's very easy to do it ) the resulting SD footage looks very soft.

I think HD is great but right now all my work is to SD and to be honest SD from the Z1 is fine for final delivery.

Nick

Boyd Ostroff · August 25th, 2008, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart Graham

It doesn't mention the OIS in the Sony brochure for the V1 for some reason.

Look a little more closely on page 4 of the brochure :-)

http://ws.sel.sony.com/PIPWebService...nalpdf1-07.pdf

Boyd Ostroff · August 25th, 2008, 01:59 PM

That's interesting Nick, because my impression is definitely the opposite. I get better results shooting HDV and down-converting to widescreen DV in-camera. I even tried some tests several years ago after first getting the camera and satisfied myself of this....

Boyd Ostroff · August 25th, 2008, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

I don't see the V1 manual online, and have only played around with one for a little while, but I know it's a little different. I believe it lacks the edge crop downconversion, not sure whether it can record 4:3 in DV mode.

While looking at the V1 brochure manual just now I found the following (see attachment). But I'm pretty sure *something* is different between the V1 and Z1 when it comes to 4:3 material, just can't remember exactly what!

Nick Stone · August 25th, 2008, 02:15 PM

Yeah Boyd,
You could be right about downconverting in camera. I had shot some footage in HD a while back and it looked great (componet out from the Z1) on the LCD screen at home, so I downconverted via the camera to SD and the footage came out soft and this was three 60 minute tapes, so ever since then I either shoot SD or HD. I have'nt gone back to downconverting via the camera as it takes to long only to find that the image has gone soft in my situation. I capture the whole tape and come back when it's done.

I might do some small tests again.

Nick

August 25th, 2008, 01:53 PM	#31
Nick Stone Regular Crew Join Date: May 2008 Location: Australia Posts: 133	I use the Sony Z1 and find it's a great camera both SD and HD. Mind you, I'm now wondering why I shoot HD to downconvert to SD. This thread has got me thinking about HD and my work flow. I deliver everything in SD. After testing both HD to SD and SD to SD I find that there really is not much of a difference on final output quality. By shooting SD from the Z1 focus is so much easier and editing is a breeze and to be honest the quality is great. By shooting HD, focus is something you have to really watch and then editing in HD can become a pain to get full rate playback (for me anyway) in my NLE. So i'm now thinking on my next shoot of shooting SD DVCAM instead. The one thing I dont like about the Z1 in my opion is shooting HD and then downconverting from the camera, I think the image looks a bit soft after the convert and if your a bit soft on focus to start with (and it's very easy to do it ) the resulting SD footage looks very soft. I think HD is great but right now all my work is to SD and to be honest SD from the Z1 is fine for final delivery. Nick

August 25th, 2008, 01:59 PM	#33
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	That's interesting Nick, because my impression is definitely the opposite. I get better results shooting HDV and down-converting to widescreen DV in-camera. I even tried some tests several years ago after first getting the camera and satisfied myself of this....

August 25th, 2008, 02:15 PM	#35
Nick Stone Regular Crew Join Date: May 2008 Location: Australia Posts: 133	Yeah Boyd, You could be right about downconverting in camera. I had shot some footage in HD a while back and it looked great (componet out from the Z1) on the LCD screen at home, so I downconverted via the camera to SD and the footage came out soft and this was three 60 minute tapes, so ever since then I either shoot SD or HD. I have'nt gone back to downconverting via the camera as it takes to long only to find that the image has gone soft in my situation. I capture the whole tape and come back when it's done. I might do some small tests again. Nick