[wgood]

I'm considering moving up from an SD MiniDV camcorder to HD for an upcoming vacation. I'm not sure I want to edit in HD quite yet, but I want to make sure I shoot in the right format for maximum usage.

If I shoot in HD, can I import and edit the film in SD or do I need to work solely in HD? Can I make an iDVD project out of the footage and still fit 2 hours of SD footage from the original HD material?

[hughmass]

I can with my Canon HV20, and iMovie. The Canon lets me tape in HD, download in either SD or HD. iMovie HD lets me download HD as SD, if I set things rights. I can edit the tape and upload back to my camera.
I am selling the Canon HV20 and getting a flash based, no moving parts smaller camera, but the process will be the same. I suspect that it all depends on what camera a person has and what software they are using.
I have found it most useful though to tape in DV (Standard definition). It is possible to tape in High-Def, edit in High-def and upload back to the camera to archive the tape, then code the movie to a h.264 SD quicktime file for making a DVD.

Then connect one's camera with the high-def tape in, and connect to a high-def tv via HDMI, and watch spectacular footage.
Lots of possibilities.
Hugh

[wgood]

That's great information.

If you have a MiniDV tape with LP that is 90 minutes long, can you still tape 90 minutes of HD?

[hughmass]

I have never tried that. I just put another tape in for longer time. The HV20 manual says that one can record in LP, and that will extend a tape for 1.5 times, but the quality isn't so good for playback. My guess is it is plenty good for DV, but high definition would be a problem in quality, but it would be doable. I know that some commercial shops sell the 90 minute tape with the HV20, so it works.

Hugh