Posted by PTravel on 11/23/07 06:31

"Smarty" <nobody@nobody.com> wrote in message
news:Vcj1j.9479$B21.1078@trndny07...
> Denny,
>
> Your assessment is essentially correct, and may recommend deferring any
> purchases a bit longer. You may want to consider the following, however:
>
> Current HD camcorders available for well below $1000 deliver vastly
> superior video quality to those who view them with HDTV monitors /
> receivers. The delivery method can be as simple as a normal DVD-R burned
> with a typical ($30) DVD-R burner, providing approx. 46 minutes of content
> when used with HDV (mpeg2) encoding, or essentially twice as much if
> encoded with mpeg4/AVCHD compression, a somewhat less mature format with a
> bit more artifacts. In both cases, the recipient needs an HD playback
> device, either an HD DVD player (now available for under $200 with 10 HD
> DVD movie disks included) or a BluRay player (about $400 with 5 BluRay
> movies included). The players are, as you are already aware, engaged in a
> format war, and neither player will play the other format (although dual
> format players including an imminent Samsung dual format player) will
> mitigate this problem (at a cost of nearly $1000!).
>
> Editing HD and authoring these disks requires relatively modest computer
> and software tools, and I particularly favor a terrific $89 program which
> does the entire job despite owning much more expensive programs like Final
> Cut Pro HD and Vegas Studio 8, both of which are vastly more complex for
> the serious professional user.
>
> You could consider replacing the camcorder first with HDV, making standard
> def downsampled disks for the time being, and then migrating to HD format
> as your recipients begin to commit to the newer players.
>
> The format war was introduced a big element of uncertainty for many if not
> most buyers, so the transition may not take place for years. There are,
> however, enough price cuts to make the current opponents attractive
> immediately if you are willing to face 'orphaned' formats and products a
> few years from now.
>
> An alternative approach for computer-savvy recipients is to deliver the
> encoded file to them on a data disk and let them play the content with
> freeware on a PC or Mac. The recipient may need to download some
> additional player software and/or codecs to allow for HD playback, but
> this is a low cost and low risk distribution method until the format war
> is resolved.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
>
> Smarty

Tiger Direct has a Toshiba A3 HD player for $169.99 as an on-line Black
Friday special. I just picked one up specifically for this purpose, i.e. to
play standard-def DVDs with HDV-encoded high-def.

>
>
> "Denny" <nudest@ca.inter.net> wrote in message
> news:a358c62a-1c9e-4dff-94a0-866c98b5f7b8@i29g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>> Hello, for the past 5 years I have been producing a home video and
>> sending copies to family and friends around Christmas time. It's about
>> 60 minutes and consists of skits, stories and various light-hearted
>> shenanigans. I switched from VHS to DVD-R 3 years ago, and most
>> everyone on my mailing list now has a DVD player.
>>
>> My camera is a standard def Panasonic PV DV953 that I'm quite happy
>> with. I use a PC for editing and once I've burned the finished video
>> onto a DVD, I use a Pioneer DVD recorder to make copies to send out.
>>
>> My questions relate to moving up to high def. HD video cams are now
>> available as is the editing software to support HD. However, how would
>> I get in onto an HD medium and deliver it?
>>
>> I understand that there are 2 proprietary HD DVD formats - Blu Ray and
>> HD DVD (the VHS and Beta showdown all over again). Looks like you have
>> to pick one of the above and go with it?
>>
>> Are there recordable Blu Ray/HD DVD discs available? What about the
>> machines to record onto one or the other?
>>
>> Then, just as some of my recipients still clung on to their VCRs, they
>> would have to own an HD TV as well as a player that reads Blu Ray or
>> HD DVD.
>>
>> Have I sized up the situation properly? I'm thinking I'll stick to std
>> def for quite a while yet before making any committment.
>>
>> Thank you in advance for your help,
>> Denny
>
>

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