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Community Newsletter: Q&A: Need help with camcorder buying decisions
- 3/15/07 1:34 PM
hd camcorder
by sajidada - 3/9/07 1:11 PM In reply to: To HD or not to HD, that is the question. by pdxjdhi...what is HD and what is HDV? High Defination or hard drive? I think it makes sense to buy a hi def camcorder that uses tapes. Do you agree?
camcorders
by xenios1 - 3/2/07 8:26 PM In reply to: Need help with camcorder buying decisions by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I recently purchaced a panasonic nv gs180 miniDV and have to say it was a good buy. I had thought for a moment on getting a camcorder with built in h/d but at the last moment, after checking out the features of this device clearly changed my mind. When it comes to editing probably the only drawback I can see it when transferring from tape to h/d, yes it can take a while. However other than that miniDV take excellent quality video's which look great even on a bigger screen.
Hope this helps
xenios
Answer to Camcorder Question of Carol L.
by mercerik - 3/2/07 8:57 PM In reply to: Need help with camcorder buying decisions by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
My camcorder is almost 6 years old. I have a Sony Digital 8 Handycam DCR-TRV 330. It uses Hi8 Digital 8 tapes. I almost bought a new one because I thought there was something wrong with it. It turned out that the problem was the battery.
When buying a camcorder, it is best to get a good brand. Personally, based on my experience, I prefer a Sony Camcorder because of the ease of use and durability. My suggestion to you is read reviews about the brand that you are interested in before you buy it. Right now, it is not advisable to get one that just came out in the market like the High Definition and the ones with the Hard Drive because they are so expensive. Eventually, their price will go down and that has been a trend. Hope this helps.
What camcorder to buy?
by jord9 - 3/2/07 9:50 PM In reply to: Need help with camcorder buying decisions by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Absolutely no one on this planet should be purchasing ANYTHING that uses a tape. We are in the digital age now. The ONLY camcorder anyone should be buying is a HI-DEF HARD DRIVE camcorder. Sony and JVC both make consumer models for under $2,000 but I would really recommend you spend about $3,000-$10,000 for a semi-professional HD hard drive camera. I am a professional multi-media editor and I will not touch anything that is not capturing in a pure digital realm. When you record into a direct hard drive camera you can then download that directly into your computer and then start making whatever magic you want depending on your skill level and the editing software you have.
Mac users get the short end of the stick .....
by twyrick - 3/9/07 5:31 AM In reply to: What camcorder to buy? by jord9I'm extremely pleased with all the video-related things I can do on my OS X based Mac, *but* I'm also constantly frustrated by the limitations I run into if I use one of the new hard disk based camcorders with it!
Apple's iMovie and even Final Cut Express or Pro assume your camera has a *firewire* connection to the computer, and most hard-disk based camcorders use USB instead. To a Mac, this USB connection means the device must be a *still camera*, not a camcorder - so it launches iPhoto.
Sure, several of the drive-based camcorders claim to have OS X compatibility, but they do so by telling you to go download a copy of "CaptyDVD" off a Japanese web site. When you do this, you end up with a 2nd. rate piece of software that can work with your camcorder directly, but requires a 2-step import and export process to save your video clips in a format you can then load back into iMovie or Final Cut for editing. (Or of course, you can work entirely within this relatively cheezy product - and lose almost all the benefits you bought your Mac for in the first place!)
Hmmm.
by dsasser - 3/9/07 6:45 AM In reply to: Mac users get the short end of the stick ..... by twyrickI'm 99.9999% sure you're going about it the wrong way. If the wrong software is loading up it doesn't mean that the right software won't work.
The thing you want to consider is this: Can your Mac see the camcorder as a harddrive? It can, because you said it's treating it as a *still camera*. All you need to do, is treat as any other portable harddrive and copy your video files from the camcorders harddrive, then use iMovie etc.
If this doesn't make sense to you. Go to an Apple store with your camera and someone will show you how to do it correctly.
$3000++ ??? What!
by dsasser - 3/9/07 6:37 AM In reply to: What camcorder to buy? by jord9It's hard to imagine why anyone would suggest spending a ton of money on a camcorder for no specific reason. It's great that you "won't touch" anything less, I'm happy for you. But basically, your advice is unrealistic.
Tapes can be digital, most of them are. Why do you think tape is still a popular option for data backup? Let's get real about the downsides of tape, and at least try to leave the hype at home. Tape is less desirable because you can only access the information on the strip of tape in front of the reading heads. Remember VHS, fast forward, rewind, etc.
New tape technology is digital, so the image quality is as good as anything else.
When using a hard-drive based camcorder you gain quick access to any portion of your video, you also gain faster transfer rates to your computer. Hard-drives are also very rewritable, whereas tapes should be used once, no more than twice.
Your life using digital tapes should look like this:
A) Take sequential video (we all do this by default, press the record button, then press the record button).
B) Connect your camcorder to a computer (typically via firewire).
C) Upload the tape's entire video into your hard drive. (this takes hours)
D) Edit using your computer, preferably a newer Mac.
If you're interested in image quality, HD (as in hi-def not harddrive) is the feature to look for. I honestly can't see why you wouldn't want a tape, they are inexpensive enough that recording only once is not a big deal for most of us, and the time it takes to load a video into your computer for editing is as simple as: go to sleep, when you wake up, your video is ready for professional grade video editing. You can keep those tapes as a backup plan for your videos in the event that your harddrive fails or something like that.
My advice is this: DVD camcorders are for people that don't "do" computers. If you have a computer that can handle video editing, I would stear clear of DVD camcorders. They do give a quick and ready to duplicate product, but if you're going to edit (and who wouldn't want to) you loose everything you gain. DVD writing also uses up more battery than writing to tape. Hard drive based camcorders are nice, but if you have to choose between going Hi-def or harddrive I would suggest going Hi-Def, I think Hi-Def is the single most important feature to spring for these days. Hi-Def will give you something really nice to work with and will be worth all of the trouble, whether it's your family videos, your professional work, 2, 3, 10 years down the road you'll be happy you went Hi-Def. 10 years (or even one week)down the road you won't remember that you had to wait overnight to process the video into the computer. And it's not like transferring the data from a harddrive based camcorder would be instantaneous either.
mini dv versus dvd
by Steve in PA - 3/2/07 9:51 PM In reply to: Need help with camcorder buying decisions by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
mini dv is vastly superior to dvd. also, if u'r looking to replace your camcorder, try the High Defintion canon HV10, it's totally spectacular, and uses mini-dv tapes.
Tape for Digital Camcorders
by Bert37 - 3/2/07 11:02 PM In reply to: Need help with camcorder buying decisions by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I changed to digital 4 years ago using an upper class Canon MVX3i camera with great facilities and superb quality. Just recently I purchased a SONY HDR-HC3E as to move up to HDV with 1080i resolution. Both cameras work with the same Mini DV tapes that are cheap and reliable. The fact that the most modern cameras still are offered using DV tape prove that this recording media will not die soon. It needs less compression than HD recording and is less sensitive to shocks. The only drawback of tape is that it starts to be worn when it is played back and rewound frequently. However, a serious user will transfer the tape as soon as possible to the computer and not use it for shoe shining in the camera.
So for I never encountered trouble with my min DV cassettes.
Tape or Hard Drive
by lungjian - 3/2/07 11:21 PM In reply to: Need help with camcorder buying decisions by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If you're capturing and editing your recorded video on a computer, tape is much better than DVD. And with a DVD camcorder, a bump during filming can make the entire disc unreadable. Rarely happens, but still a factor to consider.
I'm curious as to why you're ruling out hard drive camcorders. The AVCHD format (MPEG4) as implemented in HDD and DVD camcorders is currently inferior to the HDV (MPEG2) format, but it's still very good and has the ability to improve, unlike MPEG2.
Capturing from tape is real-time only. One hour of video will require one hour to transfer to your computer's hard drive. A hard drive camcorder will transfer the video in a fraction of the time. The new large drive (60GB) camcorders can hold 5+ hours of hi-def video at the best quality setting.
Tapeless Future?
by FIBBLEFESTER - 3/2/07 11:59 PM In reply to: Need help with camcorder buying decisions by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Carol-
The future does appear to be in the favor of solid state or disc based HD camcorders. Sony has a couple of HD DVD camcorders but the length of recording time is limited. Panasonic has relased the HVX200 series HD camcorder that can use tape, an external HD or internal solid state memory cards. The cards are the least cost effective way of recording HP but they are also the most versatile. While mini-DV tapes for HD recording are cost effective modes of staorage, they have to be captured in a linear fashion, meaning they cannot just download a file such as in the Panasonic HD camcorder which uses memory cards, or the external portable hard drive. The majority of camcorders record at 1080i and are capable of creating some incredible imagery.
Stand alone HD firewire recorder
by deltajjj - 3/9/07 5:00 AM In reply to: Tapeless Future? by FIBBLEFESTERI capture my video with a Canon XL2 MiniDV camera. I purchased a firewire connected HD CitiDISK 40GB hard drive. If this system ever becomes the norm, it will be the best. I have had trouble with the CitiDISK drive acting like it was capturing video...all the lights indicating so and gone back to my computer and there would be no DV files to drag over into my iMovie program...that ain't good. I have always used the MiniDV tape...even when the HD is attached. I am sure when the new built in HD cameras are in the hands of computer savey
videographers, it will be the best way to go. The transfer time to move to the editing program is a dream come true...just like a time machine...zap and it blast over to my edit program and with my extra time(which is money) I am on my way. More internal HD cameras please...that goes for a Canon XL2HD...I like the sound of that.
DV vs DVD
by davidbachman2028 - 3/3/07 1:18 AM In reply to: Need help with camcorder buying decisions by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I encounter this question on a daily basis selling the equipment, and I tell most people to avoid the DVD camcorders. To put it bluntly, 30 minutes recording time, problems with editing and the added cost of the media are major reasons for avoiding DVD camcorders.
As for tape availability, you can still get old 8mm and VHS-C tapes now, and I don't see there being any availability issues with miniDV tapes for many years.
HDV camcorders are great, but I don't see the point in getting one just yet. There are so few devices that are High Definition compatible, especially when it comes to storing your edited footage. It will be a different story when Blu Ray/HD-DVD burners are commonplace and cheap, but at the moment they are quite simply too expensive.
MiniDv or DVD
by padillab - 3/3/07 3:18 AM In reply to: Need help with camcorder buying decisions by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
While it is clear that miniDv produce better images and editing, the good thing about DVD is the great ease of use. No one can beat the taking out of a DVD from your camcorder and trowing it in your DVD player
Basil
That is the exact reason why some people go for DVD.
by davidbachman2028 - 3/3/07 4:10 AM In reply to: MiniDv or DVD by padillabThat is the best thing about DVD camcorders. However, I have seen on almost a daily basis people struggle with the +/- compatibility issues and ask why DVDRAM disks wont work on their player. Thats probably not an issue with users here, but in the less tech savvy world its a big problem. When you have had to explain the principles of finalising and formatting disks for the tenth time in a week, you tend to develop a dislike of the products.
I totally agree with your point, and for some people DVD is the answer.
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