I am trying to read all I can on this new hard drive recorder, and from what I gather is if your shooting HD and you want to down-convert to SD to get the most out of your video source, this device is pointless. Is this true or am I missing something?

Hi Rod,

The HD100 does not offer a live downconversion to DV from HDV over FireWire. Therefore it's not possible to record SD on the FireStore while recording HD on the camera. This isn't a limitation of the FireStore; it's a limitation of the HD100. The Canon XL H1 has the same limitation. Sony HDV camcorders will do a live downconvert to SD over FireWire. Too bad it's not a standard feature among all makes and models.

Rod, The HD100 is sending HDV to the firestore, and that is what it is saving. To say that this is of no use for a project that will be DV in the end is not true. Capturing to HDV first, doing your editing in HDV, and downconverting to DV for the final file will produce a better looking finished product than doing the whole thing in DV.

Plus, later if you ever want to publish your work in HDV, you will already have it.

Rod, The HD100 is sending HDV to the firestore, and that is what it is saving. To say that this is of no use for a project that will be DV in the end is not true. Capturing to HDV first, doing your editing in HDV, and downconverting to DV for the final file will produce a better looking finished product than doing the whole thing in DV.

Plus, later if you ever want to publish your work in HDV, you will already have it.


What he said.

How about any of these?:
http://www.aja.com/products_converters.html