Need to replace DVX100A: do I go SD or HD?????

Greetings! Shopping for new camera: I had an accident with my DVX100A, now damaged beyond reasonable repair. I have lots of 24P footage and need something compatible. I'd definitely use the 20X lens on the Canon XL2, but miss the flip-out viewfinder when I'm out in the field. My work is mostly documentary style "exercise in nature". Film transfer is not a priority, but carrying into the field IS.
I'm not sure if this forum deals with this issue, but for FCP editing I'm concerned about having and HD camera and not using it's HD, considering what seem to be issues about down-rezzing for SD edit and output.
So, can anybody direct me to recent discussions about HD versus SD with current cameras being on the market in coming weeks?
Thanks! -Ed

go to www.dv.com and become a user. Login to the camera forum. A decent place to banter about all aspects of DV video. In addition, Jay Rose hosts the audio forum.

Great. Thanks! I'll become a user there as well. -Ed

ive recently moved from an XL2 to a panasonic HVX200 and i LOVE it.
i do miss the higher power zoom lens of the XL, but not enought to cry about...

SD downconverts from my DVCproHD timelines look FANTASTIC. and it makes some of the best looking DVDs ive ever seen.

only drag is getting used to the P2 workflow, and thats not even so bad if you have 2 or more cards

i also, wouldnt spend money on an SD camera right now. too much stuff is going HD and unless you have a ton of work on the books already, i'll bet your clients will soon be asking for HD and your newly purchased SD camera will have less and less street value. thats why i got out of my XL2, before it started losing significant resale. as it is, i lost $500 on it.

depending on how much run and gun work you do, or graphic overlays that your work involves i would also avoid HDV like the plague. the ONLY good HDV video ive seen is when either 1. the camera is locked down and there isnt a lot of motion in the frame. or 2. there is all kinds of motion (like surfing) and you cant detect the jittering...

Thanks- I do like to be able to turn the camera on and shoot, requiring spontaneity for nature and crowds, etc. Do you think the new Canon FH-A1 will have the same issues you mentioned?

My problem with the HVX200 is the overall cost with P2 cards.

I do use lots of graphic overlays, and don't yet understand why I should avoid HDV in that case. I would assume that greater detail in original camera pixels would result in a higher quality SD downrez. Is that a correct assumption?

Thanks for your input! -Ed

im not sure exactly what causes the sketchy graphics in HDV, id assume that its largely the same thing that causes it to be all jumpy with high motion (longGOP, mpeg compression, etc)

when i was doing all my HDV testing (keep in mind this was about 8 months back) i shot using the sony Z1 at 1080i, brought things into an FCP HDV 1080i timeline captured and edited. the workflow was great and no different than usual DV (ASIDE from the fact that HD/HDV cannot be live monitored via firewire) i then rendered out some lossless compressed text and graphic alpha elements from after effects and NOTHING that i did resulted in crisp, smooth moving results. i saw demos that jvc put on and all their graphics looked just the same. all the fished-in goobs in the room said it was the fault of the NLE - i called bullshit!

i then did similar tests with the jvc hd100 and the canon xlh1 and all 3 cameras had similar results. and so it was then and there that i totally blew off the format.

there are some folks here (travis, ryan and sometimes joey) who seem to like the format. and for some it does have its uses - but i still havent seen ANY HDV footage in which i couldnt see various issues...

and yeah, i'd put my money on the new canon having the same issues - from what ive seen HDV is what it is. and for me that = useless.

what sold me on dvcproHD was one day panasonics demo disc showed up in the mail and it had a folder of P2 footage, so copied that to my drive, imported it and did my edit, monitoring and graphic tests and it looked spectacular! and fit really well into my existing workflow.

i'll admit that the P2 is a bit overpriced at the moment, but prices are coming down AND there is always the focus fs100 (although it hasnt so far been compatible with the 24pN format - though i hear that may be about to change)

oh, and NO. "greater detail in original camera pixels would result in a higher quality SD downrez" is NOT a correct assumption. well, in theory it is - just not in practice. not as a rule anyway.

there are a number of various workflows that some folk use to get good looking SD. but from what ive seen, those are few and far between and IMO, their "beauty" is in the eye of the beholder.

add to all this the sketchy chroma key ability due to its limited colorspace and HEAVY initial compression, make it an EXTREMELY limited use format.

but this is all just ones man's experience, listen to others, rent and test for yourself. who knows you might like it. - though i'd bet you wont ; )