Having a couple of FX1s coming my way soon I was wondering if the down-convert function would work for me in the following setup. Normally I will be using them in SD for filming church services, feed the signals into a nNovia FireWire switcher (dual output) and from there one signal into a stand-alone DVD burner, the other one into a PC for live streaming. This should work no problems.

But suppose something comes up I consider worth filming in HD for post processing - can I record HD to a tape while the camera is still streaming SD via FireWire? Has anyone tried this? I know the FireWire output will stream whatever the camera is set to work at the moment (SD or HD), but will it down-convert real time? I would think it will, but the owner’s manual only mentions playback from an HD tape and not live.

Thanks,

Yes you can down convert via firewire, wile recording HDV to tape.

Cool, thanks Mack!

Yep, it should work. But there's something different between the FX1 and Z1 with live downconversion IIRC. I have never looked into this myself (I have a Z1), but note this on the watchdog site:

http://www.hdvinfo.net/articles/sonyhdrfx1/compare.php

HD out to iLink: (FX1)2 sec. delay (Z1)Realtime

Does anyone have firsthand experience with this? I was always curious about just what it means....