Filming skiing...

theres no "correct answer". Probs not 24p, its an extra hastle and not worth it. I have heard that 60i is better for slow mo, idk. Personally i shoot 60i for skiing and 30p for everything else

I always like wide aperatures, but it can be tough filming around snow. I would buy a ND filter to reduce the ammount of light

Shutter speed is up to you. Slower will have more motion blur, it will look smooth but can be hard to follow. Faster shutter speeds will get cleaner frames, but that wont always look good if theyre going fast. However, fast shutter speeds are better for frame grabs.

Always set the white balence manualy so you dont end up with tinted shots

Learn to play with the custom image settings, it lets you adjust color vividness, contrast, brightness and sharpness

grab a manual focus ring, it will make your life so much easer and is worth every penny
http://www.irvdesign.com/product/mfr/

(I do realize that I have strayed from HV30 settings to just general advise)

Also I would make a simple handle, its really easy and costs like $10. Heres one I made, I think you have to join the site to see it but trust me, if you have a HV30, you want to join this site
http://hv20.com/showpost.php?p=233789&postcount=209

Good luck, its a great camera if you can learn how to use it

my threads

i try to keep the shutter around 1/100-1/250 so you get some blur in the frame, but not a lot. i shoot in 60i because you can do some good slomo. if you search around, you can find out how to get 60i footage to play at 1/2 speed at 30p, allowing you to slow it down to about 20-25 fps and get super smooth slomo (check vid of cork 7 in my profile to see what i mean) so i usually keep it on 60i