Advice on new HD cam and workflow for web delivery

Jeff Waters wrote on 1/31/2009, 4:38 PM
Hi Gang,
I've been away from the video editing addiction for quite awhile and my how things have changed! I currently own Vegas Pro 7. I need to purchase a new video camera now (looking for something simple on the nice end of consumer) and it seems everything has gone to HD.

I'm currently considering the Canon VIXIA HG20.

All I really need to do is capture a series of rather simple corporate productions much like this one:
https://www.webdialogs.com/video/host.asp

I will not be authoring to DVD or Blu-Ray, just for the web. In fact, I won't even need to deliver at as high a resolution as that example looks. Probably in a smaller window, too.

So, I'm reading through the forums here and seeing all kinds of issues around AVCHD and HD formats being a pain to work with in Vegas and other NLE's. Not sure if all that has been put to bed or if it even matters for what I'm trying to do as described above.

Very much appreciate some education and advice from you fine folks before I go drop some cash on a new camera.

Thanks (and glad to be back with you)!
Jeff

Comments

farss wrote on 1/31/2009, 7:12 PM
For what my advice is worth I have to ask why are you thinkig to buy a HiDef camera?

Why not buy a PD170?
As you said you don't need HiDef, you don't need 16:9. Better low light performance and proper audio features you DO need.
I do own a rather expensive HiDef camera but for the type of work you're shooting I'm still more likely to take along a PD170. For web delivery I just run the 50i footage through Mike Crash's smart de-interlacer. With low res web content it's more than adequate.

Bob.
Jeff Waters wrote on 1/31/2009, 7:33 PM
Hmmm. Well, I do like the under $700 price point for a new camera. Also, I'm trying to keep in the consumer level as I'll have to teach some other folks at work how to use it without me.

We will be working this video footage in with screen recordings of a software tool (camtasia recordings) and currently display those in a wider format (not sure if it's full 16x9).

My old TRV950 was SD, but had a 16x9 mode. Are you saying that SD 16x9 could match up nicely with no real advantage over something originally recorded on HD and then compressed for web delivery?
farss wrote on 1/31/2009, 10:17 PM
"Are you saying that SD 16x9 could match up nicely with no real advantage over something originally recorded on HD and then compressed for web delivery? "

Sure, if you're talking low res web delivery of course. HD on Vimeo is another matter entirely of course

"Also, I'm trying to keep in the consumer level as I'll have to teach some other folks at work how to use it without me."

I've rented a PD170 with a wireless mic to people who have never even held a camera before. They all come back with good footage and passable audio. It takes only a few minutes of instruction and you know if any camera can get the shot the 170 will. It works pretty darn well in auto inc audio. It is built like a tank and all the vital bits are pretty pro.
On the other hand I've had a lady almost in tears when she lost all her audio because she somehow bumped a 3.5mm plug out of a consummer camera.

The advantage of the 170 is it's got buttons for everything you need to know about. Menus are a problem for new commers, the menus in our HC5 drive even me nuts.

Bob.
Jeff Waters wrote on 2/1/2009, 6:52 AM
Thanks Bob!

Another way to look at it: I typically use On2 FlixPro to render .flv files for the internet. I'm not using any special "HD" codec for this. I generally choose the "broadband delivery" quality presets.

So, if I were to capture on an HD camera or a nice SD camera (in 16x9 mode), I would see no discernible difference in online quality in this scenario?
Jeff Waters wrote on 2/1/2009, 7:26 AM
Ah, and let's throw one more point on the pile here. We may well want to setup a greenscreen for some of these corporate videos (ie, the host is talking "on top" of the screen recordings from camtasia).

I've heard that it is much easier to pull a key from HD in Vegas than from SD. Thoughts?

Jeff