HD Video Introduction

As owners of LCD or Plasma TVs many of us in the UK now enjoy the benefits of High Definition (HD) content. HD subscriptions with Sky or Virgin Media or Blu-ray or HD DVD have given many consumers their first taste of this exiting new medium.

There is no question that HD offers a superior viewing experience, and the question on every consumers lips is how they can get more. Standard definition in whatever form is beginning to look tired, and no more so than with our existing home video footage.

Our existing home movies don't quite measure up any more, but the good news is that High Definition Video is now within the grasp of the home video amateur - just.

Company's like Canon and Sony are introducing HD Camcorders that do not yet fall into the bracket of 'impulse' buys, but at under £1000 are now generally affordable.

Here at HDTVorg we have tested many of these HD Camcorders, and without a shadow of a doubt, the results are stunning. These are results that any of us can achieve, as many of the camcorders on offer are compact, fully automatic, and as a result very simple to use.

As with all new technologies however, there are potential pitfalls, and the following pages will guide you around these pitfalls.

First we will have a look at the different HD video formats out there and consider some of the background to this exiting new technology.