Canon HV-20

Regarding recording in DV or HDV...

I could just use regular mini-DV tapes and do a firewire (or even USB 2.0?) transfer to my pc?

How is the quality in (just) DV?

(I hear downconverting is the best quality, but the tapes seem kind of on the expensive side right now.)

The "24p" is just when using an mini HDV tape while recording in HD mode, right? What about "cinemode"...only with HD mode?
Are there any "filmmaker" type features for DV?


Regarding pc specs and editing...

I have a P4/2.0 ghz/Win XP/512 mb (which I will increase to at least 1 gig).
Are those specs going to cut it (even with a regular dv recording)?
What about minimum specs recording with HDV?

How many gigs of storage is 1 hour going to be?

I was thinking of shooting mostly in DV and if I venture into something serious like a short film...then in HDV..
With the whole "use the same brand of tape in your camera" in mind - what if sometimes I were to use regular mini-DV and then sometimes HDV tapes - should they both, for example be Canon brand? Any brand? Any other factors?

Thanks for any answers.

You are confusing tape type with format,

HDV 1080i is recorded on regular, plain ole DV tape. "HDV Tape" is a marketing ploy to get you to pay more for tape which is NO different from regular DV tape.

You can shoot HDV 24p on DV tape with the exact same resolution as "HDV steal your money" tape.

I recently took a high def recording and used the HV20 to output 480i to my computer and then to a DVD (for a friend...I don't tolerate 480i anymore) and the results were very very good. Superior to native 480i on my old Sony TRV20.

Tom

Yes, I was confused... but that's great news that you say it can all be done with regular mini-DV tapes.

Thanks

Since my post, I finally got to handle an HV-20 in a store...

I see what people are talking about the cheap look to it - I'm wondering if it could take a hit if dropped on the pavement - would it break apart like a cheap model airplane?

The joystick button (ouch, that's really skimpy) - I guess if that thing eventually popped out and went missing, there's probably something else you could use as a replacement.

Just observations - tell me if I'm exaggerating - it would be nice to know that it only appears cheap but is actually sturdy...


Anyway... I was wondering if it's worth it to have this cam just for SD? (Won't have HD anytime soon.) i.e. compared to something like a Panasonic PV-GS500 that's just SD.

Regarding shooting in HDV and downconverting... how does the cam do that? Is it time intensive...does it do this during import?

I heard shooting in HDV, then downconverting is a little better quality than shooting in SD....


I also wanted to know - could I edit in HD on my pc and then give it to someone else who has HD equipment (without ever viewing edited footage on an HDTV myself)? I mean, could there be anomalies that would appear on an HDTV, but not on a pc monitor?

Does HDV take up more CPU, gigs, etc. on a pc than SD footage?

Thanks again!!!

There are at least two people at http://www.pana3ccduser.com/ which have owned both and stayed with the HV20 go there and search for HV20. I think their names are Bif and Ian-T. You could also go to http://www.hv20.com/ and search for GS500.

It converts HDV to SD is it outputs it. It is actually the same speed as SD MiniDV. One hour of video takes one hour.

The samples I have seen HDV transfered to the computer, edited and then downconverted to SD looked the best.

I guess you could. How do you plan on giving it to them?

Encoding from HDV to SD MPEG-2 on my system takes about 3.3 times longer than encoding from DV AVI (SD) to SD. My system and some test results are in two threads here http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/t140984.html

Rich

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