AVCHD – About That Camera You Want To Buy

3 Minute Read
14 comments
A

Back in 2006, Sony and Panasonic got together and created a new, consumer-level, high-definition video format called Advanced Video Codec High Definition (AVCHD).

These days, when consumers are thinking about buying a high-definition video camera, AVCHD is likely the “type of camera” they’ll come across. But there are a few pitfalls regarding AVCHD cameras you need to know about…and I’m going to cover them here.

First, all AVCHD cameras will record to one of three types of media; hard drives, Flash memory or DVD. And that’s the first issue you need to know about. When recording to these types of media, your video is compressed. Anytime a video is compressed, it loses quality. And by taking this hit in quality, you may be disappointed with what your final video looks like (in fact, many purists insist that AVCHD isn’t even high-definition video because of this).

By comparison, HDV cameras record to tape…where generally…there is no loss in quality. HDV cameras also give you the option of recording to an external hard drive, like a Firestore, where again, there is no loss in quality (and you gain the benefits of fast “direct to edit” recording).

Second, AVCHD video can be a headache to edit with video editing software (actually all high-definition video can be a headache because it requires major computer horsepower). But AVCHD video can cause unique problems within video editing software. While all modern video editing titles can now handle AVCHD (Final Cut, Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere, etc.), that doesn’t mean they’ll always play well with video shot from a specific camera. In fact, with a few AVCHD cameras, you have to use the proprietary video editing software they supply to edit your footage.

And third, well, it’s a combination of 1 and 2 above. You’re all excited about your new “high-definition” camera and all the breathtaking web video you’re going to create with it. But after you’ve shot all your footage, reality is going to set in. What’s the reality? Well, here’s a CNET review that sums it up.

My recommendation? If you want to go high-definition, particularly for the web, stick with HDV cameras (the ones that use mini-DV tapes). You’ll get the best quality and the fewest amount of headaches. Yes, tapes are considered endangered technology…but they also happen to be the only format pro’s use.

The HDV camera I recommend (and personally use) is the Canon Vixia HV30. You can check it out here on Amazon. Both pro’s and hobbyist’s consistently give it the highest rating in a crowded field.

14 comments

  • Hi,

    Could you recommend a good consumer HD camera to record ChromaKey movies. I thought about buying the SONY HDR-XR520V 240GB High Definition Handycam. You mentioned the Canon HV30.
    Whats cons and pros? what should I buy?

    Thanks,
    Tom

  • Thanks for the useful AVCHD / HDV article. As a video pro, you are correct: while some folks decry tape as “obsolet”, the camera original makes for an instant “archive”.

    I’m often astounded about folks who record to a camera’s non-removable internal hard drive, flash cards or disc-based removable media who don’t seem to bring up the topic of backups or dupes process in their conversation. Particularly hard disc based recordring; are people buying more and more drives (who’s form factors changes all the time, making shelving and lableing “interesting”), or are they having to offline to some archive format eventually anyway?

    Probaby “yes” to archiving to offlined formats anyway. So, why not simply shoot on affordable, convenient, standardized, removable media for the camera original in the first place: either videotape or 16mm, 35mm film?…

  • There is a need to talk about having an archive copy of your work but I don’t think you need to shoot on tape if you don’t want to. If you choose to shoot on flash cards, hdd, or dvd (I personally wouldn’t own a camera that shoots directly to DVD), you can still make a back up using dvds (particularly dual layer and blu-ray).

    True, many pros still shoot on tape but many don’t. Cameras that use tapeless formats such as the HPX-170/200, HPX 3000, and HPX 500 utilize the increasingly popular p2 format. The Sony XD-Cam HD line uses discs. Both of these formats are widely accepted in professional circles.

    HDV/DV Footage shot on tape is compressed. In fact footage shot on Sony’s highest HD format HDCAM-SR is compressed.

    The only way to get uncompressed footage out of a camera is to go HDMI/HD-SDI out directly to a hard drive that has both enough speed and data flow to handle the information.

  • If I am buying today in the $500-$1000 range, is there any reason to to buy a tape based recorder? Has the AVCHD compression improved to surpass tape based units within this last year?
    I will buy tape everytime if it compresses less.

    List of importance to me:
    Color quality (no overblown highlights) and sharpness (lense size/quality)
    Shakiness of handheld video
    Sound

  • @Mike – quality is a subjective thing. The main difference will be that tape footage requires less computer horsepower to work with than AVCHD footage (an HD camera using Flash, hard drive, etc.).

  • Hi Dave,
    I love my Vixia HV30 for almost all online video. But it seems like they’re getting rid of the mIni DVs as fast as possible.

    Do you know an up to date camera that still uses the mini dvs? My camera is about a year or a year and a half OLD! out dated already! haha

    Thanks Dave.
    Mary

  • @Mary – You’ll have a tough time finding tape-based cameras these days unless you move up to pro-level cameras from Canon or Sony (think $$$$). And even those will be phased out eventually. The last tape-based, consumer level camera Canon made was the HV40.

    But the HV30 is still a pretty coveted camera (usually selling for more than the newer HV40…sometimes at over $1,000). And it still shoots great video. So you might want to hold onto it, as the major difference between it and the newer Flash based cameras is speed and convenience (Flash based cameras are just quicker all around because you’re not dealing with tape).

  • Hi Dave, I work with a mac, and want a pro-consumer camcorder that be use over firewire to broadcast livestream over our platform kelseylive.com. I would like xlr inputs, and would like to use hard drive ie cf, cards P2 or SD. I during the livestream I want to tape at the same time. Now I will edit several camera angles together for later upload. Is the compressed video going to be a problem, or with the new p2 format am i getting the same quality as tape.
    thanks so much this blog is great and appreciated.

You Might Also Like...