So once you have watched a great film, you want to go out and shoot some HD video right? You could use a Canon HV20 HDV Camcorder. This tiny little camera if used correctly can produce a big beautiful full HD picture at 1920x1080 with a filmic 24 frames per second progressive. Yes progressive just like you TV: 1080p. By the way if you don't buy a plasma TV but want a HDTV, get one with these minimum requirements: 1080p, a High contrast ratio, no larger than 42 inches (to get the most bang for your buck), and a HDMI input.

If you are like me, without any HD source material, and you want to see what your HDTV can do, you need a HD camera. Why not pick up a X3V Series HDMI Male to Male DVI-D (Dual Link) Cable. What this does is allows you to is connect your computer to your HDTV via the highest quality digital connection. Open up your favorite images in preview and go full screen!

For some of the best tips for how to get the most out of this camera buy Stu's book The DV Rebel's Guide. He has developed quite a following that you can tap into for more tips: Rebel Café Forums. Although, Stu is quite busy with a shoot with the ultimate DV Rebel, Robert Rodriguez, he somehow has time to help teach a on-line course about all things DV Rebel on FXPHD. I have had the privilege to learn a lot from this course and the book in the last few months. Before reading DV Rebel, I read Robert Rodriguez's Rebel without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player. It was really inspiring reading about how he subjected himself to medical experiments to raise enough money to produce the film. The most inspiring a re-assuring point he made is that doing it all yourself is in fact the best way to go as far as saving money, but he learned it also tends to make a better film. Learning every aspect enabled him to know when something wasn't being done right or even the most efficiently, especially when it was done by someone else.

Tools:

Once you have shot all your gorgeous footage you really only need a few tools:

• A word processor: Notepad, Microsoft Word or Final Draft
• A Solid NLE (non-linear editor): Either Apple Final Cut Pro (Mac only) or Adobe Premiere (Mac and PC)
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe After Effects

Temptations

To be honest the Plasma HDTV is really a temptation, it's not a necessity. But I think owning a HDTV for a digital artist who proposes to create media for that medium is a necessity. You just don't need to buy a plasma. They way I thought of it was I would pay around $1000 for a good LCD full HD (1080p) HDTV anyway, so why now pay a little extra ($300) and get the best (or nearly).

Here is a list of other tools tempting me at this time:

• Canon Normal EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Autofocus Lens
• Panasonic DMP-BD10AK Blu-ray Disc Player
• Kenko KFM-1100 Autometer
• Epson P-3000 Multimedia Storage Viewer, 40GB
• Canon 430EX Speedlite E-TTL II Shoe-Mount Flash
• Bogen / Manfrotto Magic Arm Kit
• Ikan V-8000HD 8" TFT LCD Monitor, 16:9, 1080i/720p Support
• Panasonic AG-HVX200 3-CCD P2/DVCPRO HD
• M-Audio MobilePre USB - 2 Channel USB Mic Preamp with XLR and 1/8" Stereo Miniplug Mic Inputs
• Canon WP-DC13 Waterproof Case for Canon PowerShot SD1000 Digital Camera

By the way, I keep a running list on B&H Photo's website as well as Amazon.com.