A Few Questions About HD...I'm New to making videos...

CannibalisticWolf
Member

I'm sure these questions have been asked in the past and I must have overlooked the posts.

Well, my buddy and I have been talking about making short films for a while, and I would like to get a camera. My friend has sound equipment (he does recording with his guitar and stuff), and we were wondering, if you were to get HD and record stuff, if you can get software that will change the size of the picture. I noticed HD is wide screen and is 16:9 I believe and SD is 4:3. Does this matter? or can all this stuff be converted? Because I would like the picture quality of the HD, but I don't really like the wide-screen.

Is there any other problems or anything I should know about?

Any responses would be really appreciated.

Thank you

Posted 4 years ago #
birdcat
Moderator

There's a lot of things to know that are different between HD & SD.

If you're going with HDV, realize there is a big sound trade-off (standard dev MiniDV has much more room left for audio and so has better sound) and you may need to use alternate sound recording when filing music related clips.

There's a great book from VASST: http://www.vasst.com/product.aspx?id=ed515883-935a-4037-aef0-0ad68139e940 which can help a bunch if you plan to go down the HDV path to HD.

I would also suggest you read these forums (as well as many others which I won't post here) searching for HD items and read, read, read!
Bruce Paul
7Squared Productions
http://www.7squared.com

Posted 4 years ago #
CannibalisticWolf
Member

thanks Bruce, the book seems very informative. I'll have to check it out.

Do you think though, that it would be a better choice to go with HD though. It seems like that's whay everyone and everything is heading towards. Do you think it'll make SD obsolete?

Posted 4 years ago #
birdcat
Moderator

I do think the world is heading toward HD and will leave SD in the dust - I also think SD will be around for quite a while longer.

While the FCC has ruled that broadcasts will need to be in HD soon, most folks use cable boxes or will have other devices that will play the HD signals fine on their twenty year old TV's.

While I have purchased HD assets for use, I still only output in SD to DVD and don't foresee that changing until:

1) The HD/DVD - BlueRay war is over (D. Eric Franks believes it is irrellevent as on-demand will be the true future delivery mechanism)

and

2) There is a sub $100 player that will play both formats

and

3) There is a sub $200 burner for either format I can put on my PC.

Think about it - Do you see folks who have had 12:00 flashing on their VCR's rushing out to purchase the latest technology? My parents and mother-in-law just got DVD players last year! My ex-father-in-law still doesn't have one!

I think SD will be here for at least another ten years but if you are truly looking to the future, HD would be the way to go (you can always downconvert).

But remember - This is only my opinion - your mileage may vary - I am not a professional prognostigator, nor do I play one on TV.

Posted 4 years ago #
;0)
Member

I suggest that you not only look at cameras before jumping in.
look at everything from computer (is yours up to the task?), software, storage (big hard drives), and delivery (Apple tv is the cheapest means right now, I'd rather charge a few hundred extra bucks and throw in the apple tv, to avoid the cost of buying burners and getting caught in the crossfire of the format war).

I had everthing needed and jumped right in with an hdr hc1, and the only minor problem I have is low light at weddings. Some brides opt for upping the ambient light, some don't mind the on camera light, and some opt for the "night shot" mode, edited in post for an infra red, black and white FILM LOOK.

as for letterboxing and formatting, that is workable, both at shooting and post stages (I love the wide format, can switch it in post if needed.) now as for quality, here's a little tip:
YOU CAN SHOOT SD ON AN HD CAMERA! and believe me, standard def dv on my hdr hc1 compares favourably with many (if not all) top performing sd only pro level cameras (exept in low light of course)!

Posted 4 years ago #
hidef1080
Member

The way things are today with technology becoming better, cheaper and more accessible, you can have your HD and your 4:3 too!!!

I also believe HD is the future overall but the HD-DVD vs. Blu Ray has just taken a new turn with HD-DVD making up some groundÃ¢Â€Â¦ However, the good thing about HD is that it is far more than DVD disc and the more people learn that the less the format wars will mean to us.

Adobe will have a new Flash player that is H.264 readyÃ¢Â€Â¦

I believe the format wars will be the death of both formats as new HD deliveries become available.

Posted 4 years ago #
ralck
Member

[quote=birdcat]While the FCC has ruled that broadcasts will need to be in HD soon[/quote]

Are you refering to the switch over to digital broadcast? If you are, then this is only digital, not HD. SD signals can and are (and will be when this switch is made) sent over digital signal. Just look at digital cable from companies like Time Warner. The only thing this means, is that you will need a digital tuner. So, the switch over will make HD signal more common, but it's not forced on consumers (so they won't have to buy a new TV or anything if they don't want to).

Posted 4 years ago #
birdcat
Moderator

ralck Wrote:
[
Are you refering to the switch over to digital broadcast? If you are, then this is only digital, not HD. SD signals can and are (and will be when this switch is made) sent over digital signal. Just look at digital cable from companies like Time Warner. The only thing this means, is that you will need a digital tuner. So, the switch over will make HD signal more common, but it's not forced on consumers (so they won't have to buy a new TV or anything if they don't want to).

No, I'm referring to the HD switchover - Has nothing to do with the digital signal from cable companies - NTSC of 720X480 is to be replaced by HD - why several of the major networks are already broadcasting in an HD signal.

Posted 4 years ago #
ralck
Member

When is the HD switch over to take place? Now I need to read up on this... I had only ever heard of the digital switch until now.

Posted 4 years ago #
birdcat
Moderator

I (once again - seems like a lot lately) am wrong - Thanks for making me look. I was under the impression that HD was mandated - Below is a link to an a posting on Sony's forums that explains it.

For the life of me, I really thought it was an HD mandate.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=345487

Sorry for the confusion.

Posted 4 years ago #
ralck
Member

No worries. I made the exact same mistake when I first read about it until my Uncle explained it to me.

An interesting thing would be how many channels do start broadcasting in HD after this (I know a lot do now, but not all), and if any choose to broadcast in HD only... (Seems like it would anger a lot of customers to me, but I'm not the big-wigs at the stations!)

I personally think SD will still be around for at least a couple more years.

Posted 4 years ago #
Jockey
Member

CannibalisticWolf Wrote:
I noticed HD is wide screen and is 16:9 I believe and SD is 4:3. Does this matter? or can all this stuff be converted? Because I would like the picture quality of the HD, but I don't really like the wide-screen.

1) HD is 16:9
2) 4:3 is SD
3) SD is not necessarily 4:3

Posted 4 years ago #
RScottyL
Member

When is the HD switch over to take place? Now I need to read up on this... I had only ever heard of the digital switch until now.

There is not going to be an HD switchover, but a DIGITAL switch over. This will take place in February 2009, and will only affect people that currently receive their television programming with an antenna (rooftop or "rabbit ears") and have an SDTV. Once the switchover to digital occurs, then you will no longer be able to receive programming without some type of converter box.

"Because I would like the picture quality of the HD, but I don't really like the wide-screen."

As mentioned above, HD is in widescreen, although you can have an HDTV movie in "full screen", but this would apply to the older movies, such as the Wizard Of Oz that was originally in the 4:3 aspect ratio.

What is it that you don't like about widescreen? You know that when you buy a dvd that is fullscreen, you are not seeing everything that was shown in the theater? Something has to get cut out, so you are missing some information. Anyway, I say this, as I love widescreen, and know the benefits of widescreen. I have ALWAYS chosen widescreen over fullscreen for SD-DVD's.

Posted 4 years ago #