Video Converter Mac

Before buying a camcorder, many people may be faced with a dilemma of choosing SD camcorder or HD camcorder. Although HD is where technology is going for, are you ready for HD camcorder, in addition to the higher price for HD camcorder and corresponding video editing software? This article helps you make a decision to buy a SD camcorder or HD camcorder.

SD vs HD

As you may know, SD stands for Standard Definition, while HD for High Definition. SD is widely used on traditional and web-based media. HD represents the newer generation of digital video which captures moving images at 720p or 1080p. Following is advantage and disadvantage of SD camcorder and HD camcorder.

Note that SD compatible devices (e.g. home DVD player) usually doesn’t work with HD videos. You will need upgrade your devices and computer to well process HD videos.

Watch Camcorder Videos on TV

You need a HDTV to watch your HD camcorder videos. Otherwise, SD image quality is what you get even if you have a HD camcorder. To watch camcorder videos on TV, here is the general work flow: Switch the input on the TV to the connected jack, connect your camcorder to TV (refer to camcorder manual) and make settings on camcorder before playing video on TV.

But, will you always bring camcorder with you? If not, you could burn camcorder videos to Blu-ray discs or DVD disc for disc player. For those who has recorded HD video (usually AVCHD) and wants to play with a general DVD player, the video to DVD software is required to convert HD video and burn to disc.

If your camcorder is a DVD camcorder which shoots video to directly record onto DVD disc, it is very convenient to playback video on TV with compatible DVD player. However, don’t insert an HD DVD disc into a SD DVD player because the disc may not be ejected or the data may be damaged.

Publish Camcorder Videos on Web

Whatever it’s SD camcorder or HD camcorder, the recorded video is not very suitable to publish on web. A fast and powerful computer may be required to edit the video for smaller size and web-friendly. You also need find one powerful video converter software to improve the efficiency and save the money (bandwidth) .

For now, FLV is the most popular web video format. At the same time, many giant companies use their private formats to publish web video, like Apple for the MOV format and Microsoft for the WMV format. When the time comes to 2010, HTML5 is at the cutting edge. The HTML5 web browsers will natively support MP4(H.264) or WebM (not decided yet) by using <video> tag.

HD is the Future

In my opinion, SD will be eventually replaced by HD with time going on. Everyone will go for HD, the manufacturers, the resellers, your friends, and finally you. HD means the future. Now all HD camcorders also allow you to record SD videos. Even if you don’t have HD devices, you can still transfer/edit/watch SD video with your existed devices. No upgrade needed. And when you have build your HD world, use your camcorder in HD. That’s it. Be ready for HD!

Popular SD Camcorder and HD Camcorder models from Sony and Canon.

Now have you already decided to buy SD camcorder or HD camcorder? Hope this article helps.