Hi

I'm currently editing DV video, but I plan to upgrade my camera to a full HD (1920x1080) camera. Doing so, which upgrades should I do with my PC?

Currently system:
Premiere 2.0
HDDs:
a) 1 HHD for programs (XP, P2.0 etc)
b) 1 HDD for media
c) 1 HDD as scratch disk (and exporting to mpeg from P2.0)
2 GB RAM
Win XP
Intel Dual Core 2,4 GHz

I plan to upgrade to a BlueRay burner - but should I upgrade to RAID disks (striping), and if so, which of a) b) and c) need RAID? Are my HDD settings appropriate?

When importing full HD material (using ForeWire), how much disk space does HD use per hour video (DV uses approx. 12 GB, what about HD?)

Thanx
Nicolaj

What kind of full HD camera, the EX3 or one of the HDW-700 series?
If you are considering a consumer full HD camera, be warned that is only AVCHD, which is not supported.

The HPX3000 from Panasonic also has and records a Full HD raster. But that camera is a little pricey, and like AVCHD, AVC-I isn't yet supported in Premiere.

Thanx
I have not checked which camera to buy, so nice to get information about which cameras that are not supported. Any other considerations which are important? HDD, DVD-burner og memory stick storage on the camera? I'm thinking of HDD.

I'm not going for a very expensive one, but I do want a 1080-camera.

AVCHD and AVC-I, are these model ID's (from which company?) - cuz I haven't heard of these before ...

Your best bet would be a HDV camera which uses tape. All others is either asking for trouble or require a very convoluted work flow to convert to HDV, possibly with external programs or expensive plug-ins.

AVCHD is the codec used in a camera, just as HDV is.

HDV works great with PP. HDD, DVD, memory stick etc. cause trouble.

Aha :) I've now read some articles on the internet about the codecs AVCHD, so I now see the problem. But, it seems that AVCHD is the codec which is recomended as it is easy to play back, BUT to edit this format is demanding (almost not possible it seems, and as you say, PP does not support it).

Does HDV cameras also support 1920x1080 pixels. Which option in PP 2.0 is best to use when editing such video? I've seen the "HDV" option when starting a new project, but there are several different options: 1080 i/p/24/ etc...

But do Premiere support burning to Blue Ray disks which might be watched on a regular Blue Ray player? It is possible to burn HD-video (1080) on DVD disks, isn't it? But can regular DVD players transfer this to a full HD TV? If so, I do not need a Blue Ray burner:)

In short: I'm looking for a HD camera (1080), from which I can edit the video, burn it to a disk and view the full HD on my full HD TV (1080) :)

Use a HDV camera, export to BR disk and play on a BR player in full resolution. The preset options depend on your shooting mode, most common is NTSC 29.97i or PAL 25i.

Your best bet would be a HDV camera which uses tape.

I have to disagree with that recommendation. I feel HDV was a very bad idea from the start, as it uses MPEG compression, which creates artifacts in the original recording. Right now, the only 'affordable' HD camera that deserves recommendation is the HVX200A from Panasonic. You will also need CS3 for this, as the Panasonic's superior recording format and Blu-ray export wasn't supported until then.

None of these options will record the Full HD raster of 1920 x 1080. For that you have to step up to the $50,000 (without lens) Panasonic HPX3000, which is the cheapest HD camera on the market that will record 1920 x 1080. HDV and even the Panasonic 200 record only 1440 x 1080 or less.

In short, what you want will cost you more than you're likely able to afford, so you'll have to compromise somewhat.

Hm ... seems that the idea of steping up to full HD has to be scaled down a bit... When looking at camera spec's, I guess that a 1080 camera meens 1440x1080, and not 1920x1080 (for approx $200 cameras (in Norway)).

But Jim, although you think that HDV is a bad codec, it will be my only option if I want to continue editing on PP 2.0, right?

What does "BR" mean?

How much diskspace is needed for 1 hour HDV, and should the disk be in RAID (striping)? When editing, is it possible to edit at a lower resolution to gain more speed during editing? Cuz I gues editing will take some more time when dealing with HDV an not DV.

it will be my only option if I want to continue editing on PP 2.0, right?

In HD, yes. DVCPro HD requires Premiere CS3.

BR usually means Blu-ray.

HDV size and disk speeds are the same as for DV. They get the HD signal to be the same size by using destructive MPEG compression.