How to Shoot, Edit and Distribute HDV: The Complete, up to Date Guide to Working with the HDV Format

I read this book in three days and came to a simple conclusion - What a brilliant book! This book is simple to understand and gets to the point. I was amazed how simple HDV technology is when you take away all the marketing hype. The author explains the pros and cons and provides many practical suggestions. I recommend this book to anyone serious about HDV. That's why I gave it full marks. If only other books were written like this.

I have to say I disagree with Red Dragon's comments. He seems to have been looking for a comprehensive technical manual, but I bought Lock's book specifically because it was advertised as easy to understand, while providing the foundations and need-to-know information about working with HDV. I've been umming and aahing for months about making the move to HD, but this book has finally galvanized me into action! After reading 'How to shoot, edit and distribute HDV', HDV no longer seems so intimidating. Lock obviously knows his stuff but far from being loaded with confusing technical jargon, the book is written in a very accessible manner. Being a complete novice at working with HDV, I really appreciated his simple but vital explanation of the basics of the format - it's one thing to be told what to do, but to understand WHY and HOW the format works is very valuable. A lot of the advice he gives is based on his own working knowledge of the format - and that's information a standard technical manual can never give. His advice on editing and particularly on getting the film look with HDV will be invaluable to me in my wedding video business - I've already tried a couple of his suggestions and they've made a big difference. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone thinking of moving over to HDV, and it would probably be of value even to those not-so-new to it - Lock give lots of hints and tips you'd only know from constantly working with the format.

I could not disagree more with the previous reviewer 'Red Dragon'. It was like they had read a completely different book. The reason I purchased this book on HDV was specifically because it promised that the content would not get bogged down in technical details that no one needs to know. That appealed to me. I wanted practical advice, not (technical facts) on how to work with HDV, and that's exactly what the book delivers - in abundance. I am an experienced camera operator but I learnt so much about shooting HDV from this book - there are so many useful tips that I could immediately apply. I too sent an email requesting the free updates, and immediately received a response! The book is highly recommended, in fact I don't know of any other book out there that provides such useful information about HDV.

This is the HDV book that was long overdue, there is no other book that gives so much useful information that can be put into use immediately. I don't need to know the intricate technical workings of HDV, I needed to know how to USE the format, particularly editing and distributing my HDV projects. The section that reviewed all the different methods of editing HDV (proxy, native and intermediary) cleared up so many questions I had and enabled me to choose the right editing software for my needs. The author does a great job of simplifying the subject and distilling it down to the most useful and essential tips and techniques. I loved the writing style, it was a refreshing change to so many other technical video books that provide few useable tips or techniques. For example, I always thought it was impossible to distribute HDV easily right now, but the author explained numerous ways that this can be done for minimal cost. That section alone was invaluable to me, and I am not a complete novice, but I had overlooked those methods. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to work with the HDV format successfully.

If you are thinking of getting started in HDV, you really need this book. Andrew Lock has given you a road map. This book starts with a brief discussion of what the HDV fornat is, as compared to HD, SD, or DV and then moves into discussion of the hardware, software, and accessories you will need in order to do the things mentioned in the title. After naming the 8 HDV cameras on the market at the time of writing, Lock devotes a chapter to each of them, highlighting their distinctive features but letting the reader draw the conclusions about usefulness. Along the way we get a better understanding of how varied the approaches are to HDV production, and what we need to give attention to as we consider getting into it. After introducing the camera systems he then attends to the things you have to watch out for in shooting, like focus, camera movement, lighting, recording media (a whole chapter on that), and some key distinctions between shooting video and film. Again, he names names and suggests gear for the job. His discussion of editing centers on what you need in order to edit rather than on the tricks of the trade. That's just what a beginner like me needs to hear before I have spent my money on the wrong stuff. His discussion of the various software options is a nice overview, and his discussion of the hardware and firmware needed for a computer system that can get the job done without choking was worth the price of admission for me. His advice on monitors and graphics cards are a wake-up call to anyone not aware that HDV is VERY demanding for computer performance. I really enjoyed finding out about some of the specialty gear for chroma key work, using 35mm camera lenses to limit depth of field, and high end recording devices. By the time I got through everything, I felt like I could finally make some choices and know what I was doing. If you want to know what it will take to get into High Definition Video with mini-DV gear, this book covers the bases. And for anyone who didn't quite find what they were looking for in the book, he gives two pages of urls to web sites that will fill you in even more. Oh, yes, and my copy came with an audio CD of the author reading the entire book to me so I could hear it in my car. If you are thinking of getting into HDV, then do yourself a favor: spend 25 bucks to get the book and save yourself far more than that in wasted purchases and aggravation down the road. I'm glad I did. My one great hope is that in a year or two, when enough new gear has come along to make this edition obsolete, the author will have put together an update.