Customer Reviews

Working with HDV: Shoot, Edit, and Deliver Your High Definition Video

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a filmmaker. I have recently begun shooting in HDV format. It was a struggle to find any good technical support especially in the editing phase. I paid for support from both Avid and Final Cut Pro, a hefty $900 each. Avid was of NO help. If I had had access to this$34.95 book, I would have avoided all those expenditures. When I was purchasing my first HD camera, I was at the mercy of the salesman at Rostrum Camera and the internet. Nobody seemed to know. Cameras were being recommended soley on the cost. I remember asking the saleman a simple question and I was told, after I bought the Sony HVR-ZIU camera, that he hadn't a clue about the camera.

I am so grateful that all of my questions can clearly be answered by referrring to Working with HDV.

This will soon become the Bible of HDV shooting.

Working with HDV is an excellent resource for non-technical people like me who want to learn new technologies without having to be an engineer. Written in easy to understand language, I gained a wealth of information and learned how important focus real is (I like the free focus chart included). I recommend this book for anyone considering HDV as an upgrade or beginners starting out in the industry.

I am just starting to explore using HDV and purchasing some equipment. The book "Working with HDV" was a great introduction to HDV but the overal quality of the book was very mixed. The author did seem very knowledgeable about the subject matter and parts of the writing were excellent. The first few chapters which provide a historical perspective and overview of HDV was really excellent with the right balance of technical detail. the middle portion on HDV production techniques was marginally useful as it did not go into enough detail to be really helpful. The last portion on post production and delivery was awful. It seemed like the deadline was approaching and the last few chapters were just thrown together. It was just a bunch of disjointed information on various options without any flow to it whatsoever. Some sections seemed incomplete and without any clear purpose in the text (e.g. some of the case studies). Maybe it was because there are so many software and hardware products on the market it was not possible to go into any detail. One of the problems was several terms were used which were not defined unlike the first chapters which explained everything thoroughly. There were also a fair number of editing mistakes which I found a bit annyoing (example: page 59 second paragraph last sentence should read "384-Kbps").

Overall I found the book useful and the first few chapters alone were worth the cost...but barely.

Finally- a comprehensive, easy to understand book on HD technology.

This book has everything you need to know about HDV, in a friendly format.

A great investment for anyone working with digital video.

I am a computer professional, and bought this book to learn how to get started in HDV. To my dismay I found numerous errors when the authors referred to computing. e.g. in one place they call RAID, Random Access Internal Drives, yet in the glossary they correctly call it Redundant Array of Independent Disks. They claim that USB 2 is faster than Firewire (not true, although the theoretical maximum speed in USB is higher, in actual use Firewire is much faster for sustained data transfer, such as one sees with digital video.) They also say that Mac files cannot be accessed from Windows. This is also not, strictly speaking, true (although it is not easy).

With the advances in High Definition and HDV, staying ahead of the learning curve might seem a daunting task. "Working with HDV" is a god-send. Seven chapters of technical wizardry, yet it's incredibly approachable; allowing even the most novice of film makers to grasp it. This is a MUST HAVE for any one considering whether or not to shoot on HDV for your next project!

Chuck Gloman has definitely helped me,a non-technical person, understand the basics of working with HDV. I have begun my project with a new confidence, and he has showed me this can be real simple.

I own this book and it is an excellent tool. The new technologies involved with Hi Definition and its baby brother HDV are tricky to grasp at first, but not as explained in this book. "Working with HDV" breaks everything down for you and then tells you how to use it. If you're looking to get started with HDV this is for you whether its for amateur video work or an honest stab at a Independent Film. Invaluable.

This is an excellent book. It covers the topic of High Definition very thoroughly.
It is copyright 2007. At the time of this review (July, 2007) it seems very much up to date.
It reviews ALL the high definition cameras on the market today. It covers the best video editing programs (Sopny Vegas, Adobe Premiere Pro2, Avid Xpress ProHD, Apple Final Cut Pro HD 5, Ulead Media Studio Pro 8).
Dr. Pescatore does a masterful job of describing the various Digital Video formats. (Did you know that you can have digital video without it being High Definition)?
Chapter 5 deals with shooting with HDV, and could have used a few more rewrites. It seems to lack coherence.
HDV is the wave of the future, and you need this book to prepare you for this technology