HD

really it's all about your budget. how much can you spend on equipment and tape stock and all that. HDV can be considered by some outlets as HD but barely. it'll get you 16:9 and better resolution than standard but that's it. it'll work great with your FCP with firewire connection.

HDCAM is a great way to go. excellent looking HD with 4 channels of audio. but you have to think about tape stock and getting a video card that'll take the HDSDI input.

i wouldn't touch XDCAM HD at this point. major output problems are going around even with the new transfer software.

if you require 5.1 surround for your edits then i think panasonic D5 is the only way to go. not sure. maybe HDCAM SR. that you'll have to do research for.

HDV is heavily compressed Long GOP, and hard to edit. It runs roughly the same as NTSC DV.

HDV uses an Interframe GoP (Group of Pictures) compression algorithm which compresses the differences between adjacent frames, unlike HD which uses I (Intraframes) which are encoded without reference to another frame.

DVCProHD on the other hand is intraframe, and runs about 100 mbps - four times as much data as HDV with color space.

There are a number of HD formats other than these two including uncompressed.

I use and recommend DVCProHD cams from Panasonic. The HVX200 as a starter.

This ALL depends on your clients needs. What will they want to deliver? What are they required to deliver? HDCAM is a standard delivery format, as is D5. HDCAM is cheaper than D5, so might be the way to go if you are just starting out. But even then, HDCAM is EXPENSIVE. D5, twice as much.

DVCPRO HD is a standard acquisition format, but not so much delivery. BUT, as I said, depends on who you are delivering to.

Shane