Re: Is Sony HVR-Z1 camera better than Sony PD 170 when shooting in DV & DVCAM modes?

[Jim Harvey] "... people who are shooting HD (or HDV) are less interested in 24P I would think."

I nodded my head in agreement with most of what you said throughout your post, until I got to your last statement.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you, but do you really think the majority of prosumer, freelance & independent HD shooters have little interest in true 24p recording capability, or less interest in 24p than their SD-shooting counterparts?

If you're comparing these SD shooters vs. similarly-employed HD shooters, I think the reverse is true: At least as high a percentage of these HD shooters highly value true 24p recording capability as do SD shooters. After all, HD cams typically cost more than SD cams. So, if they're going to all that expense, wouldn't they expect true 24p capability to be included? I know I would.

In many situations 60i (or 50i) is completely appropriate or preferrable, such as TV news, sports, and so forth. But for prosumer, freelance & independent shooters considering the purchase of some kind of HD cam, I suspect many of them highly value 24p capability.

In light of the enormous popularity of the DVX-100a SD DV cam, in large part due to its true 24p feature, I have a hard time understanding why anyone today wouldn't expect at least that much flexibility in terms of frames rates in another camera, especially if the cam in question costs significantly more.

Just my 2 cents; I could be wrong.

And, again, my apologies if I've misunderstood your meaning.

All the best,

- Peter