I would like to purchase a HD video camera? Does anyone know which is the most compatible with my iMac? I have a Mac OS X version 10.5.5. Do I have to buy special software to edit in HD. Do I have the capability to burn it in HD? 
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HD Video Cameras
- Thread starter HeatherRenee
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If you are going to do HD camera work you should probably go with Final Cut Pro. Any HD camera will be able to hook up via firewire and FCP will be able to make HD videos.
But you are looking at spending a small fortune..
But you are looking at spending a small fortune..
I assume by "HD" you mean high definition. Is this a camera for non-professional, home movie use? If so, there are a bunch of affordable, consumer-grade high def camcorders around. The main issues are (1) deciding how much you want to spend, and (2) deciding which flavour of HD to go for: the main contenders are HDV (a tape-based format) and AVCHD (a tapeless format recording to memory cards or built-in harddrive). Either should work fine with iMovie, assuming you have an Intel Mac. HDV connects using firewire, and AVCHD by USB.
You could do worse than search this forum for camcorder purchase-related threads - this kind of question is asked frequently.
Andrew.
You could do worse than search this forum for camcorder purchase-related threads - this kind of question is asked frequently.
Andrew.
just get final cut express you can work with HD footage in that and its about $800 less then Final Cut Pro
Anything (almost) does HD. If you have an Intel Mac and iMovie, you can do HD. The OP's question is mainly to do with camera choice. FCE, FCP, iMovie, whatever is pretty useless without a camera.
Jvc Gy-hd200u
We are trying to use this camera with iMovie on an iMac and FCE 4.0.1 on a MacPro and it is incompatible with both!! Be careful. All HD is not created equally from what I have learned! I am still searching for a CODEC that JVC, APPLE nor anyone else can seem to find!!!!
We are trying to use this camera with iMovie on an iMac and FCE 4.0.1 on a MacPro and it is incompatible with both!! Be careful. All HD is not created equally from what I have learned! I am still searching for a CODEC that JVC, APPLE nor anyone else can seem to find!!!!
Blu-Ray Lacie D2 and HD footage to burn
Most cameras are compatable.
Wait till you get to the point of burning HD on Blu-Ray then the problems start. Apple don't currently support Blu-Ray burning on Mac's. Or if they have I havent found it. I have hours of HD video all waiting to be burnt to Blu-Ray even have the Lacie D2 Blu-Ray drive but have not been able to burn anything that will play back yet.
Most cameras are compatable.
Wait till you get to the point of burning HD on Blu-Ray then the problems start. Apple don't currently support Blu-Ray burning on Mac's. Or if they have I havent found it. I have hours of HD video all waiting to be burnt to Blu-Ray even have the Lacie D2 Blu-Ray drive but have not been able to burn anything that will play back yet.
Apple Camcorder Support Links
Camcorders supported by iMovie: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1014
Camcorders supported by Final Cut Express: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2948
Camcorders supported by iMovie: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1014
Camcorders supported by Final Cut Express: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2948
I'm new to Mac and this is my first post. I'm looking at the HF100, we have a new baby coming and it looks like a great camera for the price. When you say you can't burn HD Footage to DVD do you mean the DVD will not be in HD but in SD or that it can't be done at all?
Neither is the whole truth. HD video can be burnt to a standard DVD by making an AVCHD disc, which can then be read by compatible players (but not a regular DVD player). If you want to burn a DVD for folks to watch on their regular DVD players on their television sets, then you need to convert your HD movie to standard definition. DVD uses mpeg2 video, which is SD. AVCHD camcorders like the HF100 record a variant of mpeg4 using the H.264 codec.
Andrew.
The reason why HD camcorders are a waste of money at this point. Unless youll be cropping and zooming, there is no final output acceptable of HD at this point in time.
The costs of HD vs SD camcorders can be staggering, and all you get is more pixels that you wont work with.
Do what you need, not what you want.
Sadly, I think this is true. I've been researching consumer cams for three days now trying to find one that works with my basic needs and sadly, there isn't one! Honestly, I think this is a complete joke - I thought things were a lot further along (haven't been in the market so I didn't pay attention) but obviously we're a few years away from pro-sumer friendly HD capabilities. Sigh.
I think a high-quality SD camera is still the easiest to use option for now. I'm very tempted by the prospect of HD but reading all that I am about HDV versus AVCHD, both needing to be converted to AIC which takes gobs and gobs of disk space, dealing with codec compatibility issues, dropouts on HDV tapes versus storage for archiving raw AVCHD, downconverting anyway to burn DVDs...
Give me a good miniDV camcorder, and a Firewire-equipped (!) Mac, running iMovie 06 or FCE/FCP, and I'll be happy.
Give me a good miniDV camcorder, and a Firewire-equipped (!) Mac, running iMovie 06 or FCE/FCP, and I'll be happy.
Thanks for the info. That's just the thing, I have the new aluminum macbook (no firewire) and use imovie 06. This will be a camera for family use and I would like to burn DVDs. Does anyone have any suggestions, I would like to spend under 600 dollars if that were possible.
HDV can be edited natively in both iMovie and FC. My understanding is that it is not converted when transferred over the firewire cable, just like miniDV. AVCHD on the otherhand is converted.
As for producing Blue-Ray discs, those interested may want to read this Bruce Nazarian article.
Avid and Premiere Pro can edit HDV natively as well. I should've been more specific and said of Apple's first party software only FCP can edit HDV natively.
Lethal
AVCHD can now be played without transcoding
Hi,
I own a HDC-SD5 avchd camcorder and until August of this year I couldn't play my .m2ts files without transcoding them at least using AIC codec. Latest VLC (and mplayer and ffmpeg) makes use of new x264 libraries and it plays my avchd (.m2ts) videos perfectly on my 24 inches iMac mid 2007....
Hi,
I own a HDC-SD5 avchd camcorder and until August of this year I couldn't play my .m2ts files without transcoding them at least using AIC codec. Latest VLC (and mplayer and ffmpeg) makes use of new x264 libraries and it plays my avchd (.m2ts) videos perfectly on my 24 inches iMac mid 2007....
xStep, thank you for posting the article to let everyone know that you CAN burn a High Definition BluRay disc with your Mac.
I have been singing the praises of using Toast w/BluRay plug in and plain DVD disc on a plain DVD burner for several months to anyone who will listen. You can only burn about 25 minutes of video this way but I don't want to watch more then 10 minutes of a family video and I am sure most others don't too .
I have been singing the praises of using Toast w/BluRay plug in and plain DVD disc on a plain DVD burner for several months to anyone who will listen. You can only burn about 25 minutes of video this way but I don't want to watch more then 10 minutes of a family video and I am sure most others don't too
.