High Definition Content. Making the leap?
 

I'm going to be shooting a lot of footage in the next year for a new site my hubby and I are going to be working on, and I was thinking maybe we should get a HD video camera.

We spent a few hours researching them today, and found that suprisingly the $1500.00 Sony HDV 1080i handycam appears to be as good as most of the 5k + ones.

Few questions for you gurus. |bow|

Just how big is HD movies in adult these days? I am assuming that in the next several years that HD is going to slowly become the new standard, so I figured we should start shooting in that format now. Nice feature to is that the HD footage, can still be converted to regular DV standard.

Next question. Just how much more BW does this use? Right now my average clip of about 5 minutes is 30mb. Just how much will that jump in HD footage.

It's a no brainer that an HD site will sell better a few years from now, but what about now?

I know questions......many questions....... |waves|

this might give you some ideas on the file size an then all you have to do is calc the bw.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...tshowcase.aspx

i think the file size is huge compare to the standard movie today but definitely the quality is superd in HDV... I thing to consider is the processing of the contents...

Wow, now that is some serious bw! |crazy|

http://www.ulead.com/msp/runme.htm

Looks pretty good. |waves|

I was thinking of this last night and have to say. I don't even know if it's worth it. One that camera you are looking to buy is a pricy investment. Does your business warrent such an investment? And second I was looking over those files last night and they are all over the place. Some of the files are 60MB and 2 minutes long some are double that size and have the length. All of which seem to be 720 pixel rez. I personnally do not use HD on my computer, I use it on my TV. I think DV video is still a good way to go, besides if I'm not mistaken you are going to need codex or something to make those things work correctly on the persons system. Each one of those files from MS is an .exe for a reason. I don't know what the reason is but I would think something is getting installed in order to make those badboys run correctly. I would not bother yet.

We are using the Sony HDR-FX1 HDV 1080i and the files size is about one gig per five minutes.

I shot with Sony HDR-FX1 HDV 1080i and i must say is far the best camera i woked with for now:)

Cleo, and Lykos. How is the editing software? Is converting HD to DV difficult for your members area? Do you offer HD now in your members areas? |waves|

if you want to see a site shot in all HD .. check out www.brookeskye.com ... very well put together. and i think her site was the first site to shoot everything in all HD.... i think.

Ww are still just putting up mpeg-1 (mpg) videos. The only difference between the stuff shot is HD is the vids are widescreen and a little bigger so basically we are throwing away 95% of the info but we are keeping the masters for future use when we will rerelease it in true HD.

Just using iMovie at this time to edit stuff. We own Final Cut Pro but for what we are doing iMovie is really all we need and much easier to use.

To turn the movies into mpeg-1 (mpg) we are using Compression Master. It's not that we think mpg is that great of a format, it isn't, but it does seem to be the only format that our members can always play without any problems.

My thoughts exactly hun. That is why we're going to make the switch. Just to have the footage for future HD use. I just hope it is simple enough to convert to standard DV for now. |thumb

We have been shooting with a Sony HVR-Z1 for over a year
we have a few high def clips as promo but thats all but all our footage for a year is ready for when its needed

Bandwith is so cheap now but the consumer is not really ready yet in big enough numbers to wait so long for downloads

However the HD cameras are a huge leap forward in image quality over the previous generation even when you film in HD and output to DV or DVcam so you can't afford not to use one now

We have used the $1500 handycam too and there is a huge difference in quality of picture, sound and focus/ light gathering capabilities with it compared to the Z1.. There is a Pro version which is better as it comes with an off cam mike kit...

the other thing you need to remember is editing...you really need a much more powerfull edit suite to cope with the HD rendering
Hence Adobe's rushed Premier Pro 2.....just look at the system requirements for HD on Adobe's website

Sony Vegas may be a cheaper option but you still need a mighty machine for HD editing

hope this helps

A high end mini dv cam is still better than an entry level hd cam. Other things to consider are the number and size of the ccd(s).
Also, to transfer your video from the camcorder to the computer and have it remain in HD, you need to use Vegas or Premier to edit with, which will easily add another $500+ to your expense. It's gonna be very resource intensive, so make sure that computer is powerful.
The footage cannot be stored on a regular dvd, so you will need hd or Blu-ray discs (and of course the appropriate burner)

I'd wait till other companies get their products on shelves, so that you have a variety of cameras to compare and choose from. Each generation will improve upon the past, and you will end up with much more value for your investment.

We tried the Sony HVR-Z1 and the Sony HDV 1080i handycam and saw absolutely no difference in the finished HD product. |huh

The 1280 X 720 finished product looked identical. |thumb

I'm not getting any younger hun! |jester|

I need to shoot ...... now .... and fast! Gravity is becoming
a REAL bitch! |shocking|

i prefer pictures :) so i don;t nothing about cameras. :)

if you want to shoot when shoot, don't wait ;)

You have that correct! Make sure you get the fastest processor you can afford. Rendering videos is processor dependant. The faster your processor, the faster you can render video. (all other points being equal) And rendering also generates a lot of heat. Poor MadHatter has 2 fans running in his office, plus the AC full blast, trying to keep the temps down in the room when he renders video...it is VERY resource intensive.

We tested rendering a 30 sec clip on 3 computers. a 3.4 Pentium (fastest) and AMD, and a 1.7 Pentium. The 1.7 was more than 2x slower to render the video as the 3.4.

He uses both Vegas and Premier... great stuff.

Also, consider using the high-def to author DVD's in the future, and sell those in your members area for peeps who want high-def for their TVs...while providing on your sites lower quality files / sizes / resolutions so that people downloading the files don't take all day. Just a suggestion.