If you have a HD Mini DV camera does it film HD onto the MiniDV or do they film onto something else??

HDV, a hybrid.

so the ones that have MiniDV slots does that mean you can tape in SD with them and also HDV in HD,
Im assuming there both the same size or?

just wanting to bump my last post, wanting to know about it thanks

HDV is HD formats on mini-DV tapes.

sorry if it sounds dumb, but do you have to buy a MiniDV HD tape or do you use MiniDV (and select a option on the camera to record in HD)

I think just a mini-DV tape. Someone who knows about this will jump in, I've been winging it. ;)

HDV records on standard miniDV tape but uses stronger and better compression than SD DV.
But you are better off buying good quality tapes, as a tape drop-out has more relevance when recording HDV than with SD (12 frames vs. 1 frame lost).
I recommend using Panasonic advanced master quality (AMQ) tapes or studio quality tapes (SQ), they use better coating technology for the tape compared to the cheaper tapes (e.g. from Sony).

Hey
HDV is a format that uses the whole width of the DV tape to record some non native HD formats (depends on the camera), that means that you'll still need HD monitor, equipment etc.
The con is that it records straight as an mpeg-2, which means only one out of 4-5 frames is a real frame, the others are delta frames, also known as BULLSHIT.
Don't ask me how to edit that stuff, I have no idea

Any old dv tapes will do, but only ever use the same type else you'll bugger up the camera heads.
Now, the question is: why do you want to use HDV?
Compare HDV to HD on things like data rate, colour space, color subsamp. and you'll start wondering...
WHY BOTHER?

Hey
HDV is a format that uses the whole width of the DV tape to record some non native HD formats (depends on the camera), that means that you'll still need HD monitor, equipment etc.
The con is that it records straight as an mpeg-2, which means only one out of 4-5 frames is a real frame, the others are delta frames, also known as BULLSHIT.
Don't ask me how to edit that stuff, I have no idea

Any old dv tapes will do, but only ever use the same type else you'll bugger up the camera heads.
Now, the question is: why do you want to use HDV?
Compare HDV to HD on things like data rate, colour space, color subsamp. and you'll start wondering...
WHY BOTHER?


You are way off base with some of your comments on HDV. Do you own and use the HDV format? Many major news, sports and television shows are filmed with HDV cams. Why bother? Because you can achieve beautiful results with HDV. I own a JVC HDV camera and absolutely love the stunning pictures I get. I think your post is a disservice to the people who may wish to upgrade and learn about the different formats available for HD production.

Oh by the way... what compression scheme is used for Blu-ray DVD and TV digital broadcast? How about MPEG2. The same as that HDV BS... Imagine that.

If you have a HD Mini DV camera does it film HD onto the MiniDV or do they film onto something else??

Yes, it records a form of High Definition called "HDV" onto the mini DV cassette. Any Mini DV cassette will work, the special tapes aren't really all that special.

The difference between HD and HDV is in the compression. The data rates and compression are somewhat high for HDV compared to the more mild compressions of DVCPRO HD or the HDCAM, and there are data streams that deal with uncompressed HD, but those are all over $15,000 or more.

Within HDV there are still the various formats of

1280x720 sometimes called "ProHD" and most often a PROGRESSIVE format of 24P, 30P or 60P.

Then there are the 1440x1080 formats that a lot of the "prosumer" cameras use. Part of getting the data rate down is to squeeze pixels from 1920x1080 down to 1440.

In most cases HDV works very well for creating great images that look amazing on an HDTV. It definitely looks better than most of the SD videos uprezzed for HD.

It definitely looks better than most of the SD videos uprezzed for HD.
And if your final output is intended to be standard definition, shooting in HDV gives you a MUCH better looking image than footage that originates as SD