I will be doing a film that I want to shoot in Hi Def w/a Canon A1. I’d love to get some feed back on the HV10 both as a deck and back up cam.
1) It has come up in these forums that the HV10 can be used as an input deck for any flavor of A1: 60i, 24p, 30p. I need some reassurance on that.
2) If I use the HV10 as a second camera. Can I convert the image to 24p or 30p in Post, let’s say FCP and how complicated will that be? What will I have to buy, and how much quality will I lose?

2) If I use the HV10 as a second camera. Can I convert the image to 24p or 30p in Post,

Yes. You will need to de-interlace your footage to achieve a progressive image.

let’s say FCP and how complicated will that be?

The press of a button, the click of a mouse, straightforward stuff.

What will I have to buy, and how much quality will I lose?

De-interlacing goes from the free to the expensive, quality ranges from the ok to the very good.

FCP will de-interlace by itself without the need for additional software, although depending on your needs and your source material 3 party de-interlacers like 'Magic Bullet' may be worth a look.

http://www.usa.canon.com/app/html/HDV/HV10/specifications.shtml

see the section "supported playback modes"

i use mine as a deck for my FX-1 tapes, and it does a good job....i don't own an XH cam yet, but i feel confident it will work fine. this little camera is an excellent piece of equipment.

Thanks, Lee and Meyrem, a short thread but all I needed to know.

MG

Sorry, Meryem for the misspell!

It is worth noting that in scenes where there is very little or very slow movement (for instance a slow pan across some landscape scenery) you may not need to de-interlace at all, it is only if interlacing becomes apparent that you might want to de-interlace to match the look of other progresseive footage you may have.

I so plan to combine the shots with material shot on the Canon XHA1.

(Which raises the question do I want to shoot on Progressive (24F) at all???
If I can leave that decision to Post w/out loss in quality? I'll bring that up in XH A1 forum.)

I really plan to push the HV10. Using it at lower shutter speeds and/or frame rates to shoot in subway stations.

I don't want to open up that unrelenting issue--which tape stock. I think I will convert to Panasonic hi-def tapes on both cams.

(Which raises the question do I want to shoot on Progressive (24F) at all???
If I can leave that decision to Post w/out loss in quality? I'll bring that up in XH A1 forum.)

De-interlacing will always lose some quality (well to be more accurate resolution - quality being subjective).

Some of the better de-interlacing software is very good (magic bullet etc) at producing near loss free progressive frames from an interlaced image.

Futher down the food chain you have motion detection de-interlacing - MPEG Streamclip, After Effects etc etc.

Then simple interpolation (which can still look great) and finally simple field doubling which loses half of your vertical resolution.