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Camcorder shortlisting and MacBook

M

murali1404

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 10, 2007
11
0
Strongly appreciate urgent advice as I need to buy before weekend. I have short-listed to Sony HDR-HC7, Canon HV10 and Canon HV20. I intend to use iMovie HD 06 for my editing. Some questions please.

1. Which of these cameras are the best? I would like the HV10 ideally for size.
2. If I choose to edit in HD mode and burn to normal DVD (which I am assuming I can do), would I get a better quality image than with a good SD camera to DVD?
3. Are all these cameras TRUE widescreen?
4. Should all these cameras work with iMovie HD on MacBook without trouble?

I am sorry for asking so many questions but no-one in the stores seem to know these answers and thus I am pleading to the wise ones out there.

Many thanks in advance.
 
The HV20 is quite a bit better than the HV10. But if you are only going to put your movies on DVD, you might be better off getting a decent SD camcorder like the Panasonic GS550.
 
Would the Pan GS500 produce better quality video than the Canon HV20 when captured in standard definintion? Also is the GS500 true widescreen.
 
It is 100% pointless for someone in your situation to shoot in HD. You are buying a world of trouble doing so - everything will be much more expensive, from more storage to a much more powerful rig necessary to edit etc., etc., etc. And for what? There is no advantage and plenty of disadvantages once you have your product out - there's no equipment out there in a home setting to take advantage of the HD which will be on a DVD anyway... unless you intend to show it in movie theatres (which is not gonna happen).

Think simple - bang for the buck. When on a limited budget (and the cameras you are considering prove you're on a limited budget) it is critical to constantly ask this question of every single dollar you have: "is this the best way to invest it, will it show up on the screen". HD is a disastrous misallocation of funds in this situation, IMHO.
 
OldCorpse said:
It is 100% pointless for someone in your situation to shoot in HD. You are buying a world of trouble doing so - everything will be much more expensive, from more storage to a much more powerful rig necessary to edit etc., etc., etc. And for what? There is no advantage and plenty of disadvantages once you have your product out - there's no equipment out there in a home setting to take advantage of the HD which will be on a DVD anyway... unless you intend to show it in movie theatres (which is not gonna happen).

Think simple - bang for the buck. When on a limited budget (and the cameras you are considering prove you're on a limited budget) it is critical to constantly ask this question of every single dollar you have: "is this the best way to invest it, will it show up on the screen". HD is a disastrous misallocation of funds in this situation, IMHO.
Click to expand...

Can you recommend a good camera that would work with iMovie/mac and has true widescreen? The Pan GS500 and Sony DCR-HC96 appear to have issues according to other posts.
 
I am in the same boat as you, I had planned to get the HV10 and the lowest spec Macbook Pro.

The HV20 certainly seems THE camera to buy at the moment..the idea being you can convert to SD but keep HD copies for future reference.

I prefer the HV10 simply for the portability. The HV20 is fairly chunky for carrying around town.

It seems editing HDV on a MBP or even a MB is possible.

did you make a decision?
 
From what I have read, none of the other hdv consumer cams match the HV20 overall.

I went to TCR today and found an HV10 to look at..I really love the upright look but, and the sales guy agreed, there's not much point buying it at the moment when the HV20 is hardly any more and has the HDMI. The HV10 also feels light as hell which worries me somewhat.

Not that I have an HDTV anyway...

For anybody interested, the best they offered me on TCR was £650 for the HV20.
 
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