Playback of 3ccd HD video camera footage?

Question

I'm going to buy a 3ccd video camera. I am debating whether to buy a SD or HD camera. My question is this.. If I get the HD version, how can the video be played back on a TV in high definition? If it's burnt to a DVD, can it be played back in HD at all? If no, what's the advantage of the HD camera at this time?

Answer 1

An HD camera will have higher resolution. Prices for them are starting to drop and you should get one because soon everything will be played in HD.

Answer 2

all these blokes have made excellent points and I'd like to add one thing.

wanna present in HD? most sony cams now have HDMI outputs so you can cut your film print to tape (mini dv/dvcam etc) and present via your hdmi output. it'll exactly like how you shot it. (of course if you haven't put in any filters during the edit) so if you shot with a sony you're laughing.

hope it helps.

Answer 3

An HD camera is capable of being played back in all ways an sd camera can, and better ones. They come with HD cables, but I'm assuming you won't be doing that unless you edit to tape.

The fact is, the word HD is thrown around way too much, and you're not going to be filming in "true HD" no matter what kind of prosumer HD solution you use (do your research bc there are so many false claims about each camera and how well it utilizes its format).

No matter what the HD format, though, it will be better than SD because they all pack in more horizontal lines.

A dvd is 8-9mb/s at best, but if you use a good encoder it can look good. Coming from an HD camera, it will be high definition relative to SD.

However, unless you need to create a dvd (I understand its convenient and often necessary) I would suggest exporting an uncompressed file, or printing to tape. You will get much better mb/s, making for excellent high definition quality.

Answer 4

All consumer high definition camcorders come with

** an AV cable that is the normal yellow/red/white analog composite cable for playback on any TV with those connections. This will be standard definition regard less of the format of the video on the tape.

** either component (RGB) and/or HDMI which will connect to a HDTV with those connectors. The resulting playback of high definition video on the tape will be high definition on the HDTV if these connectors are used.

If the Video is burned to a DVD, it depends what that format is. If the DVD burning application is writing to a standard def DVD and you want to playback on a normal DVD player, it can be standard definition. It is also my understanding that if your video editing application can handle it, the project can be rendered out compressed in AVCHD format and written to a normal DVD for playback in a BluRay DVD player. Or you can get a BluRay burner and write the file out to a BluRay disc for playback on a BluRay burner. http://www.lacie.com/us/products/range.h...

Even if you capture in high definition and burn only standard definition DVDs, it will be the CLEAREST standard def video you've ever seen. But here is what I do - and I can do this because I use a MiniDV tape based high definition camcorder. When the project is complete, I burn a standard def DVD for regular use. I also save the file as a high quality MPEG4 data file because I can connect my computer with the VGA cable to my HDTV... AND I export the project back out to the camcorder (onto miniDV tape) so I can use the camcorder as the playback deck... OR if I ever get around to getting a high definition DVD burner, I can re-import from the camcorder and burn the high definition disc... You will not have quite this flexibility with the other video storage formats (internal hard drive or flash memory based high definition camcorders).

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED HIGH DEFINITION CAMCORDER - their video is terrible for editing and the discs are a pain.