These are the HD camcorders that are geared strictly for the professional, relying primarily on manual controls, though they include automatic controls if you need to fall back to them.

Panasonic
The Panasonic AG-HVX200 ($5,995) is the only DVCPRO HD camcorder in the sub-$10,000 category. Though the base price is around $6,000, this doesn't include the P2 cards, which are needed for recording HD. A Mini DV tape transport system is included, but it can record only DV footage (not HDV).

P2 is a card-based technology Panasonic developed to keep the camcorder's costs low. While the prices are dropping, two 8 GB P2 cards, which can hold about 8-20 minutes of HD quality footage each (depending on shooting format), can cost around $1,200 each as of this writing. These cards are necessary to shoot in HD.

The AG-HVX200 is similar to the revolutionary AG-DVX100 DV camcorder in look and design. It can capture footage in 1080i 24p, 24pA, 30p and 60i, along with multiple frame rates in 720p mode, from 12 fps to 60 fps. This can give the user smooth slow- and fast-motion effects.

Canon
Canon's HDV equivalent to its XL family of DV camcorders is the XL H1 ($8,999). Like the JVC camcorders, this camcorder also includes the ability to remove the lens and put another on. The XL H1 also has a significant number of film-like image settings, and a Professional Jackpack (HD SDI, genlock, and time code output).

JVC
The JVC GY-HD200 ($8,995) is designed more for electronic news gathering (ENG), along with digital cinematography and other forms of videography. It is very similar to the HD110, but has more features, including the extra ability to record in 60p and 50p in HDV mode.

The GY-HD250 ($10,995) is also similar to the GY-HD200 and GY-HD110, and is the most professional of its ProDV camcorders. This camcorder features HD SDI, genlock and time code output.

When deciding which HD camcorder to buy, consider whether you truly are a hobbyist or a prosumer. Many of the smaller HD camcorders are ideal for both, but prosumers may need the extra features found in the higher-end HD cams. Always keep your end needs in mind when choosing a camcorder.Happy shooting.

Now that you've thought about that HD or HDV camcorder, you need to plan how to edit your high definition images.

What do all the editing applications that support high definition video have in common? They all contain ways to capture HDV footage using an intermediate codec, changing the HDV footage to a more standard and universal high definition (HD) format, which is easier to edit with.

The reason is that HDV's compression, which is very similar to how video is compressed for DVDs (MPEG-2 TS, or transport stream), is hard to cut natively on an edit system. This is why the manufacturers of most of the major editing software provide an intermediate codec or offer one as a plug-in. The footage encoded with the intermediate codec can be converted back to HDV upon playback to camera or VTR, though with uncompressed HD, the file sizes can easily quadruple.

Apple Computer
Apple computer has three major applications, one professional (Final Cut Pro), one consumer (iMovie HD), and one in the middle (Final Cut Express). Whereas iMovie HD and Final Cut Express rely on the Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC), Final Cut Pro version 5 and higher allows clean editing of native HDV .m2t files.

Final Cut Pro also has excellent integration with DVCPRO HD, which can be captured via FireWire (also known as iLink or IEEE 1394) and edited as if it were captured with an uncompressed HD card.

Also note, Apple regularly provides small updates to Final Cut Pro to support new camcorders. For example, a recent update was issued to support JVC's new camcorders with 720p24 modes. Make sure you check updates regularly.

Lumiere HD
If your system is a bit slow, try a proxy editor, like Lumiere HD, which captures and demuxes (splits) the audio and video in HDV, and allows you to select a different video codec. I recommend using DV (digital video). It can often times support new cameras before Apple does.