Should I upgrade from HV10 to HV30?

[Dale Ficken]

Hello.

I thought I would post a question and get some opinions here. I have seen many comparisons btwn the HV20 vs. HV30 but not many btwn the HV10 vs. HV30.

Ignoring the ergonomic and cosmetic differences, do you guys think it would be worthwhile to upgrade to an HV30 from an HV10? If I go this route, I would keep the HV10 as a deck.

Currently I just use the HV10 from time to time for home videos and such but I am starting to get into making short films. For example I am entering a short film festival next month, so I would like to have the best looking footage as possible (submissions need to be in SD format).

I think i have developed a pretty good system for downconverting HD to SD without degrading quality much, but deinterlacing is still questionable. I am wondering if I skip the deinterlacing step (i.e. use an HV30 at 30p instead) should I expect to get a much "crisper" image than 60i footage downcoverted to SD then deinterlaced?

Any comments on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Dale.

[Sean James]

I think it would be well worth the upgrade.

The hv30 has much better low light capabilities, 24p and 30p progressive, and is a very much matured camcorder.

From what I read (I never owned an hv10), the hv20 was a big step up, with much smoother image quality.

From what I heard (but I can't confirm it, as I never held one myself) the hv10 has a design which is rather difficult to hold and operate.

30p would be interesting, if you plan to stream your shorts on the web.

It also depends on where you plan to go. Do you want to buy a prosumer camcorder later? Then it might make sense to hold on to this camcorder a little bit longer, and then take the bigger step.

[Lou Bruno]

I own both cameras......among others. I would never give up my HV-10 due to its size when vacationing.

OTOH.....There are more controls on my HV-30 which can be read in this BB. The HV-30 is also better in low light by virtue of its larger lens.



HOWEVER, both cameras produce the same quality picture. Same chips...different body.

[Christopher Ruffell]

For filmmaking, the (true) progressive functions alone are worth the investment in the HV20 or HV30. And if you want to keep to 30fps and/or would like to have a very clean HD -> SD downscale, then the HV30 with it's 30P function is incredible value.

All cameras have great images - I own an HV20, and I too am considering moving to the HV30 to get away from legacy interlaced video.

The idea of keeping the HV10 for vacations sounds great, but I think I'd use an HV30 for that use even just to keep the resolution at 1080P rather than 1080i for the future.

[Dale Ficken]

Thanks for all the replies.

I figured the image quality would be really close btwn HV10 and HV30. And Yes, although its a bit awkwards at times to hold and operate, i do love the small size.

The main concern and reason I was thinking about picking up an HV30 is for image quality after downconvert. I am by far an expert here, but I would "assume" the quality would be crisper because i would not need to deinterlace the footage. From the sounds of it, this would be the correct assumption.

I have had pretty good results using HDVSPlit to capture files in m2t format. Then using mpeg streamclip to convert to mpeg. Then Virtualdubmpeg to resize and deinterlace.

With an added sharpen filter, it looks pretty darn good. I just wonder if it would be that much better if I could skip the deinterlace step.

The only part I haven't tested is throwing in an editing process and what format to save it in before resize. Any recommendations?

Also, I assume i will have no issues with editing 30p footage using premiere cs3 and after effects...

Thanks again for all your replies.

[Ian Thomas]

sorry to butt in i have 2 hv10s and just bought a hv20 today

My first impressions are the the 20 is not as solidly built it feels a bit plastic compered to the 10, I bought it to back up my h1 for weddings i have been using the 10 for this purpose and found that in delicate situations it is not as obtrusive

The pictures is puts out are stunning for such a small camera but of course you can't add a mic as there is no socket for it and a few other things are missing

Yes the 20 has a few extras to the 10 but were does it really shine

[Dale Ficken]

Yeah I noticed that the HV30 felt a little plastic like as well.

Have you compared 60i deinterlaced images to the 24p footage of the hv20?

Just curious if it seems crisper if you downconvert it to SD.

I am guessing it would, but wondering if the difference is worth the $700+