Camcorders forum: flash drive vs hard drive

"Best" has different definitions.

Best video quality comes from least compressed digital video stream - which means DV and HDV - which, for consumer based camcorders, means miniDV tape. MiniDV tape provides an "automatic archive" if you do not re-use the tape and store it in a cool, dry place. It continues to be the storage media choice of the pros because it is cheap, stable and the video formats are mature and can be used by nearly all half decent video editors. Connecting a MiniDV tape camcorder requires the computer to have a firewire port - if your computer does not have one, hopefully it has an expansion port because they are easy (and cheap) to add. MiniDV tape comes in 60 and 80 minute recording lengths. Fill a tape, remove from the camcorder, lock it, put in a new tape - keep doing this until you run out of power.

Consumer Hard disc drive (HDD) camcorders can have problems with vibration (this can be caused by loud audio from sources like big crowds making lots of noise, loud motors - cars, planes, boats, etc - loud music, whether amplified or not... among other audio sources) and can have high altitude issues (over about 9,700 feet) because of lack of air pressure. If you drop/break the camcorder before video has been transferred getting to that video may mean working with a data recover service like DriveSavers - be prepared to open you wallet wide. HDD camcorders can record for hours before filling the drive. When the drive is full, you stop recording - either transfer video to a computer or start deleting "less important" video files. Transfer is usually using USB (some JVC HDD cams use firewire). There is an extra step to archive the files BEFORE editing starts. Video quality is not as good as MiniDV tape. This does not mean it is bad - just not as good.

Flash memory based camcorders save to the same formats HDD cams do - either highly compressed MPEG2 files or REALLY highly compressed AVCHD (for high definition) files. Some video editors cannot deal with AVCHD unless the editor is the current version - in a few cases, the video editor can't deal with AVCHD camcorders from one manufacturer, but not another. Storage shelf life for flash memory video is not quantified. Because flash memory is still relatively expensive, the normal process would be to copy the file (using USB) and take that extra archiving step like the HDD cams.

I would suggest you narrow your search to miniDV tape or flash memory based camcorders - but keep in mind it is not just the camcorder - other factors (computer capabilities, video editor, long-term storage...) should be part of your decision-making process, too... the camcorder is just a part of the entire process flow.

Set a budget... Sony, Canon and Panasonic are the usual suspects in the consumer camcorder environment.

It stripped out the link in my last comment comparing flash to hard disk camcorders. If anyone is interested, here is the article:

http://www.thecamcorderreview.com/flash-camcorders-vs-hard-drive-camcorders/

It mentions things like battery life, size, weight, and some other interesting points.

My assumption is that the lenses, imaging chips and all that stuff is approximately equivalent across cameras in a similar price range... It would not be fair to compare a Flip, Canon ZR930, Sony DCR-SR85, Canon HV20, Panasonic HVX200 for the purpose of defining the "best" one.

The file types are generally the same very compressed video so the video quality is the same assuming the lenses and imaging chips are the same size in the different camcorders.

And we presume by "HD" you mean HDD (hard disc drive) to compare camcorder video storage types and not "high definition" video format...

For video quality, lowest compression is "best" and in consumer camcorders, that least compression is still miniDV tape DV/HDV format. Not high compression AVCHD compression to MOD/MTS files. In this case, newer does not necessarily = "better".