HD Video Cameras

[timseley]

hd cam for new macbooks

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.

None of the tape based cameras will work for you so no DV/HDV. They all require firewire. Many have usb but that's more for still images and won't transfer the video. If If I was you I'd probably get imovie '08 (its not great) and take a hard look at the Canon HF series. HF10 and HF100 are both great little cameras and transfer via usb. If you are going to do very much video at all I'd look at an inexpensive external hard drive. But you can purchase that later if you need to.

As far as HD or SD goes... 5 years from now SD video probably won't exist, so if you're shooting your first kid... pay the extra few hundred bucks now and enjoy a much nicer camera that CAN shoot HD. If you're an average consumer buying a new camcorder that you're planning on using for more than a couple years, there is NO REASON to buy an SD video camera now that HD cams are so affordable. You can get an HV20 on ebay for under $500. If you don't have the hard disk space, then shoot in SD till you do. You can upload HD videos to the web very easily now and its just going to get easier.

 

[coachburke]

If If I was you I'd probably get imovie '08 (its not great) and take a hard look at the Canon HF series. HF10 and HF100 are both great little cameras and transfer via usb.

Will the HF series work with imovie '06 or do I have to upgrade?
And thanks for your help

 

[Courtaj]

Will the HF series work with imovie '06 or do I have to upgrade?

iMovie 6 (also known as iMovie HD) won't import AVCHD, nor does it support 1920x1080 video. You will need iMovie '08 at minimum, or use a third-party app like Voltaic to import your clips at 1440x1080 for editing in iMovie HD.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with that: Voltaic is fine but takes twelve times the length of each clip to convert. If you have an Intel Mac, get iMovie '08 or (if you want to get into editing video a bit more seriously) Final Cut Express.

Andrew.