Should i go HD?

[Berty77]

Should i buy a HD camcorder or a standard one? am i going to have editing troubles with the HD?

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by Berty77

am i going to have editing troubles with the HD?

Hard to say unless you state the specifications of the computer you intend to edit on. Care to share?

[Berty77]

Hi

Its a Dell Inspiron 2ghz Ram decent processor, 18 months old. Going to be using it for a new baby and a 3 year old.

B

[Berty77]

Just checked and i have " INTEL CORE 2 DUO CPU - 2.00GHZ - 2.00 GB RAM RUNNING 32BIT VISTA " Any good?

B

[Mr Lazy]

When you say HD it depends what type. I have a Dell Inspiron dual core 1.8Ghz with 2GB RAM and Vista 32-bit and it struggles to even play back AVCHD smoothly from my Canon HF100, never mind edit. That doesn't mean you won't be able to edit, it just means it will take a very long time to render and you might not get smooth playback in the preview window. You don't say if you have an editing package already, but apparently Sony Vegas requires less grunt than other programs (my own experience with trial versions backs this up).

If you don't go down the AVCHD route (ie. HDV) then the requirements will be less.

But don't let your PC stop you from getting a HD camcorder - even if editing now is frustrating, you can still capture those precious moments and make home movies later when you can afford a more powerful computer.