SD-1 and Final Cut express?

[Gen Franks]

Is it possible or will it be possible in near future to edit footage from this camera using final cut express?

Other mac user.questions is:

will the express card reader for the mac accept that SD card?

Also, in general, Why is there not more buzz about this camera in this forum? Is the HV20 and the new JVC coming out better choices?

I am looking for a good pro/consumer HD hardrive or flash drive camera that is small. I do like to be able to edit my footage.

I am vey interested in the new AVCHD Technology. IT would seem to be a great way to have high quality video on a very small camera! However, I need a camera fairly soon so should I go toward one of the others mentioned? Or is ths SD-1 good enough?

[Guy Bruner]

At this point, it is not possible to bring AVCHD directly into the Mac for editing. What folks are doing is booting into Windows and using Nero 7 Ultra or Elecard Converter Studio to convert the video to MPEG2 which can be edited on the Mac. I'm sure it won't be too long before Apple updates its software to support AVCHD. Editing AVCHD is still a problem until the major software manufacturers incorporate it into their suites. You will also need a dual core CPU and video card hardware acceleration to make it reasonably manageable.

SDHC cards cannot be read on a standard SD card reader with a PC. You need a card reader that accepts the higher capacity cards. I can't say for certain if that is true of your express card reader but I suspect it is the same.

The HDC-SD1 is definitely small. Record times could be a problem unless you have a lot of SDHC cards. You can extend the record times somewhat by using a lower bitrate. The 6 Mbps bitrate looks as good as a good quality SD cam if you aren't dead set on the highest quality. If you are pretty much a point and shooter, then it may work for you.

[Gen Franks]

When you convert into mpeg2 does that take away the hd quaility?

[Guy Bruner]

Any time you transcode video, there is opportunity for degradation. The amount depends on the quality of the encoder. However, I have used Elecard and Nero 7 to transcode from .MTS to MPEG2 and if there is any degradation, I was not able to notice it.

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Originally Posted by Guy Bruner

Any time you transcode video, there is opportunity for degradation. The amount depends on the quality of the encoder. However, I have used Elecard and Nero 7 to transcode from .MTS to MPEG2 and if there is any degradation, I was not able to notice it.

any time you transcode video, there is always degradation. The amount depends on the quality of the encoder...

Put both original and transcoded on a scope, you'll see the diff. The loss in transcoding to higher bitrate, 4:2:2 short GOP such as an I/P frame format, is visually lossless, and holds together much better than the original transport stream, but based on a few years history of transcoding, splitting, editing, and rendering MPEG even on very high end systems...it's never a good idea.
As AVCHD makes it's way into the world, it's only going to be worse, not better. You'll be wanting to use an HDI for AVCHD for the next while, until the next-gen NLE's have better decoding and CPU's catch up to the AVCHD editing requirements. Currently, it's a bear.