hi all,
i would like to know.. if i buy a HDV camera (HV20 or HC7), and i'm viewing the film directly from the camera to non-hdtv Television, will i still see the diffrence?
is it gonna be more quality video from my old Hi8 Cam?

let's say that i record something at HDV cam.. and i capture it to my PC, and i compress it with Divx or Xvid Codec..

can i still see the video quality? or i need to keep the HDV format all the way?
(capture, edit, burn) ?

thanks,

Shakel.

Downgrading the quality is not something that you would want to do if not necessary, but even if the quality IS downgraded, it's better than a DV cam.

If you view on a non hi def tv, of course you will not be able to view in hi def but you will still see a quality picture.

If you have the money I would definitely go with a hi def cam. Today's hi def cams can work in dv mode as well as HD mode so there is little sense in buying a straight dv cam. You can always upgrade your playback equipment at a later date.

As for what mode to shoot in.... I would always shoot in hi def mode... not dv. The cams are equipped with the capability to downgrade the hi def image on the fly either when capturing to computer or when viewing. You can always archive your hi def video and come back to it at a later date when your playback equipment has been updated. If you shoot in dv mode, then it will ALWAYS be just DV.

And it will definitely be a much better picture than your Hi-8, even on a regular screen.

Thank you for your answers :)
so i will go with the Canon HV20 (like everybody else)

btw, i'm from israel, and the method here is PAL and not NTSC.
but i'll be in New York on this Thursday, and i'm gonna buy my camera from B&H.
So is there any hi def camera that working with PAL?

I have the Sony HDR-SR1 and love it so far. I especially like having a hard disk for instant clip access instead of forwarding and rewinding a tape.

The manual says that playback from the camera needs to be on an NTSC - based TV, but the PC software that came with it allows it to be switched to PAL if you convert it to MPEG-2, which of course is no longer HD.

Check w/B&H to see what they have that will play HD on a PAL set.