With the arrival of high definition, we are seeing video go through a new evolution and manufacturers are taking advantage of this to simultaneously multiply formats, supports and codecs. For this reason, it’s easy to get lost. So should we immediately switch to HD ? If you are an amateur film maker, is a hard drive support for you? Is it easy to edit in AVCHD ? There are many questions to be answered before we commit to a model.

The resistance to high definition

While high definition video is making a permanent place for itself, SD format (standard definition) isn’t dead and far from it. The mini-DV cassette is still putting up a fight and offers excellent image quality with the main advantages of easy editing and automatic archiving. On other supports like DVD or hard drives, camcorders record in MPEG-2 format. In terms of reading, this format is very easy to use. DVDs are directly read on home players and recording time is limited to one hour (which won’t bore viewers). If you like video marathons, the hard drive option is surely for you. While high definition video is full of promises, there are some obstacles, notably with AVCHD, which only some software can recognize. Luckily, it’s still possible to record or export videos in SD or HD for more versatility. Otherwise, the difference between the two formats is obvious with an impressive level of detail for the latter. Once you’ve tried it, it could be difficult to go back to anything else.