Does a hd video camera look good played in sd?

Question

im hopefully getting a hd video camera and i was wondering if i played the footage on a standerd definition tv would it still look better than a normal standerd definition video camcorder?

Answer 1

Yes. A video shot in HD and downconverted to SD will almost always look better, granted you downconverted properly. Almost asny video editor can do this for you. If you think about it, about 95% of today's televisoin programs are shot in higher resolution formats, and about 99% are downconverted and broadcasted in SD. And why wasted the time in money, shooting in HD? Cuz it looks better.

Compressing HD to SD gives you better color reproduction, less noise, and more DR than SD shot in SD. Picture this: all your DVDs are standard def, and if you ask me, that's not bad quality.

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

You will probably notice a sharper picture, but you will not be utilizing the full 720p or 1080i/p or whatever it is that your camera captures in.  Standard def is of course 480i/p so you will definetley not get the full HD effect.