[Endeavour]

This article was the first time I had seen mention of a consumer HD camcorder in a compact size. Pity they don't mention a price for the consumer camcorder but 3000eu for the semi-pro one isn't too scary.

I like the fact that they have stuck with DV tape as it makes the transition easier but I was wondering if anyone could answer some questions I have:

• What will be the recording time on a DV tape, I am presuming it is going to be shorter than the time using normal DV.

• What kind of compression system do they use and will it need something to exotic to edit it?

• If you want to produce a 720p version to suit the native resolution of your display devices, will you have to transcode the whole output

[MarkE19]

The X1 can be bought for around £2,200 and the Z1 around £3,300

Both models will record as SD DV at the standard 1 hour (sp only) per tape. Sony recommend getting dedicated HD-DV tapes for HD recording. I believe (but can't find where I read this, so could be wrong) that in HD you still get 1 hour to a tape.

HD is compressed as MPEG-4 and only a few editing programs can as yet handle HD editing, such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Pinnacle Liquid Edition, Canopus Edius on a PC. Apples own editng package can also handle HD along with a few others I should think. The Sony cams can record in HD but transfer to a PC/Mac as SD for editing with current software. As there is currently no recordable media (other than recording back to the cam) for HD material then this should be fine for now, but allowing you to recapture as HD once HD-DVD/Blu-ray etc become available.

JVC HD cams record in 720p but the Sony cams are 1080i. If you want to create media in the correct resolution for your 720 screen then you would need to convert the footage. But with all LCD/plasma etc screens having a built in scaler then there is IMO no point in converting the footage.

Mark.

[klr10]

You're going to need a pretty exotic PC to edit this stuff, most of the people I've spoken to reckon you need at least a dual 3GHz machine with at least 1Gb RAM... Then there's the problem of what you're going to view the resulting images on.... IMHO there's a way to go before we all start running out and buying these things.

Sorry to be a pedant... HDV is based on MPEG2 not MPEG4.

ImovieHD is a cheap easy to use programme (if your mac can stand it, needs G4 1Ghz, 1gb ram) Final Cut Express is superb for the money and can also handle HDV.

I'm a PC man through and through, I'm running Prem Pro and it works like a dream (after some early set up problems), I also bought a wee mac mini for home, and with sensible upgrades to the RAM and using an external HD, it copes acceptably well, and won't break the bank.

If you have the money to spend then buying any opther cam is a false economy. It's a future proof device. If you buy SD you could be kicking yourself in 2 years.