AVCHD or HDV?

[dagobert13]

Originally Posted by Paranoid666au

I don't think you can say AVCHD has better image quality than MPEG2. The advantage of AVCHD is that it can compress a lot more the MPEG2 with out losing quality.

Maybe if you had AVCHD running at 18 Mbps or higher then maybe the 25 Mbps MPEG2 might start looking worse. But where is an 18 Mbps camera? Who knows, it really depends on a lot of factors too, such as the camera (lens, chip etc.) and the encoder used etc.

As far as I know, the HDC-SD1 supports 13Mbps max.

[Paranoid666au]

Yes exactly.13Mbits probably isn't enough for AVCHD to provide the same result as MPEG2 at 25MBits. Also the encoder is a very important part of the chain too.

[dagobert13]

Originally Posted by hopeless_4ever

I saw on a website identical footage recorded with a Sony HDR-HC3 (which uses HDV format) and a Panasonic HDC-SD1 (which uses AVCHD), and from what I observed, the Panasonic one gave a much better image. It had better color separation, it was sharper, and the picture had less noise. Some people would say otherwise, but I think HDV is a dying format and will eventually be replaced by AVCHD.

I just compared the image quality of HC3 and SD1 in a shop, and the Panasonic image was definitely better, regarding color separation and, which is even more important to me, noise. The only thing I'm not sure about is the motion blur effect of moving objects. Both cameras did show this unpleasant effect, relatively comparable. But I still don't know where exactly it comes from. As the test was inside a building, it could have been caused by the slow shutter speed. What else could it be?

[zemlyn]

Originally Posted by dagobert13

I just compared the image quality of HC3 and SD1

HC3 is looser - 2MPx matrix was bad idea from Sony.
The real choice is between Canon HV10 (800-900$,cheapest), Panasonic SD1, Canon Hv20, Sony HC7 (most expensive, 1300$)
I think these models have best "perfomance/price".

[lovehateHDV]

Drop the HC7 from the list- it should retail for the price of HC5.

[zemlyn]

Originally Posted by lovehateHDV

Drop the HC7 from the list- it should retail for the price of HC5.

well, hc5 is hc3 again but with new name. So hc5 is not for our bestchoice list.
And...sorry, my price for Sony HC7 was old. It looks like they corrected it after Canon Hv20 became available last week.
Now HV20 (1100$) is only 70$ cheaper than Sony HC7 (. And it looks the same as Panasonic SD-1

[lovehateHDV]

Not that the price was wrong- HC7 does not deserve to be priced more than HC5.

By the way, which part of Russia are you from?

[zemlyn]

Originally Posted by lovehateHDV

Not that the price was wrong- HC7 does not deserve to be priced more than HC5.

Well, some people with Hc3 (2mpx, el.stab) want to change it for HC7 (3Mpx,optic.stab) and not for HC5 (same as HC3 %)

I am from Saint-Petersburg

[diggadonkey]

Until I see how the new JVC GZ-HD7 stacks up against all of these, I'm keeping my wallet in my pocket! It's also 3CCD, true 1920x1080i, 60G HDD and apparently uses some unique flavor of mpg2 for compression. I really love the small form factor of the Panasonic, but AVCHD sounds like a major headache to edit.

[1stade]

HOw have you found the SD1, what are it's positive things, and what's the downside. What do you think of the video quality?

Thanks
Adrian.