£500-£800 (High Def?) Camcorders?

[AlexApple]

Hey,
Im planning a film project for the summer and require an updated camcorder because my old one is becoming outdated and low quality...
Im looking for a tape camcorder which is in the high-consumer price range of £500 - £800 (Needs to be in PAL format - British).
I am also unsure about a switch to High-Def video, finding a huge drop in price for some! Some issues with the format im a little lost on...
Can the footage be played on a SD devices after editing (after reformat?)?
Will the editing the footage on FCP slow down my iMac Core 2 Duo (2Ghz - 1Gb RAM)?

Any help would be great!
Thanks

Alex

 

[andrewkendall]

I'm having a great time with the Canon HV20 using a similar setup to you.

 

[ppc_michael]

Can the footage be played on a SD devices after editing (after reformat?)?
Will the editing the footage on FCP slow down my iMac Core 2 Duo (2Ghz - 1Gb RAM)?

I'm not sure what you mean about playing on SD devices after "reformat." HDV can be very easily rendered to an SD format and it looks exceptional. Also, playing back HDV on your camera, the camera can convert it to SD in realtime to playback on your SD TV. Mine can even do that during editing. Hopefully one of those answered that question.

Editing footage, at least your basic cutting and transitions, will still playback in realtime with no rendering on your iMac. Rendering the final product, or rendering if you have a large amount of filters on a clip, takes longer on any system because it has to conform the HDV to its GOP structure. There are workarounds for this, however, like converting your footage to DVCPRO HD or some other HD format with a more time-efficient compression.

 

[AlexApple]

Hopefully one of those answered that question.

Thanks, that did!
What I ment was: Can High-Def footage be played on a Standard-Def Television because I dont have a HD TV. So for example, I got a HD Camcorder, shot my film on HD Tape and transfered it to my iMac, edited it, added effects ect. If I then exported it and burned it onto DVD's would it work for SD TV's.
Even I got confused as to what I ment!

Thanks for the advice!

Alex

 

[AlexApple]

I'm having a great time with the Canon HV20 using a similar setup to you.

Thanks!
The camera looks very good! Also noticed a similer Sony one which reviews talk about.
Is there any more detail you can give about the camcorder or any issues with editing the footage from the camcorder?

Thanks

Alex

 

[RedTomato]

I'm interested in this thread too.

BTW I can't playback HD trailers from Apple's website (or HD shorts from other websites) on my 15'' PB 1.5ghz. Even at half screen size, it opens quicktime, then locks my PB until I forcequit the app.

Am I doing something wrong?

 

[AlexApple]

Sony HDR-HC5E

I have found a possible High Def Camcorder! But im not sure about it, looking on pricerunner - http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/pl/8-866985/Camcorders/Sony-HDR-HC5E-Compare-Prices?q=hdr-hc5 - It's a very cheap one, been looking at this one for sometime and just rememebered I had it in my bookmarks, it's been dropping in price by about £100 a month! (only a few months ago it was well over £700) Now it's around £564 from 'PurelyGadgets'...
Anyone know about this camcorder and if it's a good buy ... checked some reviews but they give mixed opinions.

Alex