best picture for DVD - HD or SD?

[jaybravoAV]

Hi folks

I've got to make a commercial film for demonstration of agricultural machinery. In the past they've used a consumer standard definition camcorder but the results have been quite blurry when viewed on a large screen. I thought that an HD camcorder would be better for ensuring maximum detail even if the picture is to be downsized for DVD. Do you think it would be better to get an SD camcorder with the best picture quality, and if so can you recommend one that's affordable and has professional picture quality, or do you think it would be better to go the HD route?

thanks in advance!

[A n d r e w]

How much is the budget? Hard to make sensible recommendations without a figure in mind.

[jaybravoAV]

well it won't actually be me buying the camera but I know the company will be expecting to pay no more than is strictly necessary - I would imagine it being £200 - £300 - which is very low I know!

[senu]

Originally Posted by jaybravoAV

well it won't actually be me buying the camera but I know the company will be expecting to pay no more than is strictly necessary - I would imagine it being £200 - £300 - which is very low I know!

And no way will you get anything near "professional quality" in that budget especially viewed on a large screen
I might even suggest simply hiring a decent Semi Pro/ Prosumer model for the shoot especially for a Commercial film Demo
It would not show the company in good light if the outputtted DVD , however nicely edited lacks sharpness colours especially blown up and looks like it was taken on a home video kit .all IMHO of course
Hi def is not always equaly to better definition as there are £ sub £100 Hi def "gadgets" masquerade as camcorders out therel

[FauxPas]

Why not hire something like a Sony HVR-Z1E or better Z5 and shoot it in HD?
That way you can crop in futhur if needs be or future proof the footage.

The Z5 shoots to HDV miniDV tapes as well as to a CF card in 576i.
So, you could save the money of the tape and use only the CF card, or shoot to HDV and the CF as a safe guard.

[senu]

Originally Posted by FauxPas

Why not hire something like a Sony HVR-Z1E or better Z5 and shoot it in HD?
That way you can crop in futhur if needs be or future proof the footage.

The Z5 shoots to HDV miniDV tapes as well as to a CF card in 576i.
So, you could save the money of the tape and use only the CF card, or shoot to HDV and the CF as a safe guard.

The problem with shooting HDV is that you need an HDV camcorder to access the footage unless you capture immediately been " returning" the camcorder
I shoot HDV even if SD is the main ouput but where the " client ( or frined) want the raw fooage shooing HDV means I have o then output to tape again) as DV AVI..
The Z5 may be a better idea but how much can you get onto a 16Gb card and 2 Gb cards are very costly per Gb compared to thier smaller brethren