Any value of shooting hdv for dv delivery?
 

I have to deliver on dvcam, so I'll output dv from the hv10, but will the image quality be any better if I shoot in hdv, or should I just shoot in dv?

Come to think of it, can I even shoot hdv in 4:3, or will I have to guesstimate the crop?

Hi Stu, this section is for XH-A1 & G1, not HV10.

But I can try to answer a bit of your query (others please correct me if I am wrong).

First, you can't record HDV in 4:3 aspect ratio. However you can output HDV in 4:3 with letterbox (& it is not HDV but DV). So the quality is degraded and the viewing area is much smaller in 4:3 TV.

If the video you are taking mean something special to you and you want to keep it as highest *resolution* as possible (and you don't mind the ghost-blur "effect" which is much obvious in HDV GOP then DV) , but you don't have a nice HDTV at this moment (or your client just want normal DVD). You can shoot HDV and archive your tape. Make a copy of SD just for viewing today. Tomorrow you might probably output it as HD-DVD or Blu-Ray when it is available.

So far only Sony Z1 has a feature of cutting the edge of 16:9 HDV to 4:3 DV, which effectively makes no quality lost in "down-convert" HDV to DV (other then you lost the side-edge of the footage). Unfortunately this feature is not available in Canon A1/G1 & Sony FX1/FX7/V1, obviously your HV10 doesn't have it too.

Hi Ing,

Thanks for the reply. Should have been clearer - acquisition is with the A1, the hv10 is just a "deck". In any case, you answered my question - the z1 does what I was wondering about. Oh well, no big deal, I'm sure shooting in dv mode the A1 24f looks at least as good as my dvx 24p.

I find that there is no degradation in the letterboxed form. The picture seems to be real sharp by virtue of the letterboxing creating a well proportioned picture plus a full field of view which is not cropped.

Lou, are you doing this as part of your workflow? Do you think it's preferable, or at least equal,in terms of image quality as opposed to shooting dv?