Is it worth buying a high definition camcorder?

Question

Suppose I only have a HD TV, but don't have a HD player.

Answer 1

I think so - I've been doing HD for two years before I got a HDTV. The standard def video that gets burned to DVD is the clearest video you have seen - and when you get around to a HD or BluRay burner and/or player, you will have the source video in high def. You can also save the project as a data file and use your computer/media center connected to a HDTV (my plasma has a 9-pin xVGA computer connection and the video looks great).

The miniDV tape based camcorders will provide best available quality - and when you re done editing, you can export the project back out to the camcorder. You can then either use the camcorder as the playback deck or re-import that when you get the HD playback devices.

AVCHD compressed video (in hard drive and DVD based HD camcorders) compresses a LOT. When you compress up front and lose all that data in the capture process the downstream video when edited cannot recover that lost video. The best process is to capture the video with the least amount of compression - at the END of the process compress whatever you want... but to start with that compression (and lose all that video data at the start) is just poor planning and execution.

Take the hint from the pros - DV and HDV continue to be the best, cheapest and easy to use storage formats - that is why you don't see them using AVCHD compressed or MPEG2 compressed video.

Your computer needs a pretty good processor. And you need lots of hard drive space. DV (standard definition) video uses ~13 gig of hard drive space per hour of video. HDV uses ~44 gig of hard drive space per hour of video.

MiniDV tape is a digital media storage format and has excellent shelf life when stored in a cool, dry, place.

All miniDV tape based high-definition camcorders can also tape in standard def (4:3 or 16:9), so id you don't want to tape HD, you don't have to - and you will be ready when you want to start.

Answer 2

of course it's worth because all the images taken with that cam will have brilliant quality and you will be given a data cable witch can be used to transfer the data betwen the camcorder and tv