Digital Cam-Corder....what to buy? What do you have?

[Naniwan Kid]

My wife is pressuring me to buy a digital cam-corder. However, I hear they can be worse quality than normal video-tape recorders. Some have mini-DVD's and some have memory cards. Can I edit the video on my computer?

Thanks for any help.

[emperor]

For reviews: http://www.camcorderinfo.com

mini-dvd (discs) are convenient, but the recording time and quality compared to mini-dv is not as good

how much you wanna spend?

[kotatsuneko]

i have an old sharp dv viewcam [it was free!], but the colour is awful, would love a decent 3ccd model, but by the time i get round to updating it, i dv will probably be dead.. then again if we can make a mini kots then i`ll naturally snap one up right away

afaik, a mac along with finalcut pro is the best way to edit the video, hands down. otherwise, if you use a pc, sony vegas 6 is the best editing app i have used on that platform.

[mr. sparkle]

For quality: Go with a 3CCD miniDV camcorder. Don't get a DVD Recordable one. I have an older Canon ZR-10 that is over 5 years old and still runs fine.

Best bang for the buck: Panasonic makes good ones for the money

Drive Space: You will need a lot of drive space. A portable FireWire 400 drives works out well. Make sure it has a Oxford 911 Bridge and spins at 7200 RPM min.

Connectivity: If you don't have a Mac, you'll need a FireWire PCI or cardbus adapter

Software: PC=Vegas, Avid DV Xpress or Premiere, Mac=Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express or even iMovie.

Other gear: Powered Speakers and a video monitor OR a decent TV with S-Video Connections to monitor your stuff as you work.

DVD Burner: You should have a burner to burn DVDs of your stuff

DVD Authoring Software: Mac=iDVD or DVD Studio Pro. Not sure for PC folks.

Tripod: Get a fluid head tripod for steadier shots. Your viewers will thank you.

Light(s): A video light or a small kit makes a world of difference when lighting a subject. Natural sunlight and a bounce card made of fabric or foamcore will do in a pinch.

Lessons: You should take a basic class on video editing to learn the ropes. "Learning by doing" is often a big waste of time as editing is more learning a craft rather than learning an app.

If you have a Mac and Final Cut Pro, please check out my book!

[mr. sparkle]

but by the time i get round to updating it, i dv will probably be dead..

DV IS dead. Haven't you heard of HDV?

[Caustic Saint]

DV IS dead. Haven't you heard of HDV?

That's kinda chunky. (The cam, not the girl.) Have a look at what Sony just rolled out:

[mr. sparkle]

Hey, not bad for a single chipper.

[Ketou]

My wife is pressuring me to buy a digital cam-corder. However, I hear they can be worse quality than normal video-tape recorders. Some have mini-DVD's and some have memory cards. Can I edit the video on my computer?

Thanks for any help.

I have a Sony Handycam PC-350. It has both MiniDV and a memory stick.
Movies recorded to the memory stick though have a lower res than those recorded to the MiniDV. Movies on the MiniDV can be quite easily downloaded onto the computer using something as simple as Windows Movie Maker.
Have a look at internet prices first before you go to the shop.(I was going to say kakaku but it seems to have been the victim of a trojan attack.)

[FG Lurker]

(I was going to say kakaku but it seems to have been the victim of a trojan attack.)

Holy shit! Man, they really lost everything to whoever got in. Hope they were taking regular backups of their data.

What a mess. They'll have to rebuild it all from scratch or at least go back quite awhile in their backups to get a site they can be sure isn't compromised. If it was me though I wouldn't want to recover the systems from backup, only the data.

[quote="Symantec.com]On May 15, 2005, the company Kakaku.com acknowledged that their Web site may have been compromised between May 11-14, 2005. During this time, Trojan.Jasbom was installed on their Web server. Computer users who accessed this Web site with unpatched versions of Internet Explorer may have had this Trojan downloaded to their computers between these dates.[/quote]

Kakaku's site says they are not yet sure when they will be back online.

[FG Lurker]

My wife is pressuring me to buy a digital cam-corder. However, I hear they can be worse quality than normal video-tape recorders. Some have mini-DVD's and some have memory cards. Can I edit the video on my computer?

Thanks for any help.

I don't have a specific model suggestion, but I have a bit of input.

Quality wise any decent one will be better than home-use analogue recorders. The ability to move said data from tape to DVD (with computer editing and recompressing in between) is also valuable.

You *can* move analogue video to DVD too of course but this tends to involve quite a bit more work. The resulting quality will also depend quite a bit on the capture board you have. This may have improved over the years since I have tried to do it though.

That's my two bits worth. Good luck with the purchase.

[mr. sparkle]

You *can* move analogue video to DVD too of course but this tends to involve quite a bit more work. The resulting quality will also depend quite a bit on the capture board you have. This may have improved over the years since I have tried to do it though.

Old analog VHS tapes can be captured through your DV Camcorder so you don't really need a capture board these days.

Might be time for that Mac Mini, eh? Some models come with a DVD burner and iMovie is very cheap. iMovie's become quite sophisticated lately, it's hard to dis it. Final Cut Express is only $299 as well. iMovie and FCE does HDV. Does that cheapo Windows Editing Program do it? Me thinks....uh, no!

[FG Lurker]

You *can* move analogue video to DVD too of course but this tends to involve quite a bit more work. The resulting quality will also depend quite a bit on the capture board you have. This may have improved over the years since I have tried to do it though.

Old analog VHS tapes can be captured through your DV Camcorder so you don't really need a capture board these days.

The analogue board was really only a comment for if he ended up buying an analogue camera.

As I found out the hard way too, not all DV camcorders support recording from an analogue source... Maybe most do now though -- I bought mine 5 years ago.

[Blah Pete]

Check the 2nd hand stores as sometimes you can find cameras in good condition at decent prices. With the prro economy people trade in decent stuff for cash.
The store Hard-Off has some decent stuff but you need to know about what the original price was because sometimes they difference is only about 20% from new which is not worth it.

[mr. sparkle]

As I found out the hard way too, not all DV camcorders support recording from an analogue source... Maybe most do now though -- I bought mine 5 years ago.

Most do, but some don't--you're right. If this is important to ya, you should surf the camcorder forums that were mentioned earlier in this thread. Even if camcorders do have analog pass-through, it's often better to just make a DV dub of the analog material. That way, you can restore an old project from scratch using with the Tape Number and Time Code from the dub.

Another important add-on I forgot to mention is a decent powered microphone. They have some good, cheap Audio-Technica Stereo Mics at Llaox or the like.

[Naniwan Kid]

Wow! I knew I could count on the FG's for some good information. Although the prices are nice (almost too nice...) for memory card recorders, it seems that the disc is a better way to go. My wife is obsessed with the Sonys, but the prices seem high, and the reviews are not always the tops, especially since we want to spend less than $700US, (less than $500US would be even better). We just want it to record personal events (no, not THOSE personal events, sickos), so "simple is best" in our house, but I do want to be able to edit fairly simply on a P.C.

Again, thanks for the input and ideas, and any other thoughts are always appreciated.

[mr. sparkle]

Although the prices are nice (almost too nice...) for memory card recorders, it seems that the disc is a better way to go.

What you talkin' about Willis? A Disk based DV Camcorder? Not one of the DVD based ones, I hope.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo....

Go with a cheap MiniDV camcorder. I swear it's what you need.

[Naniwan Kid]

When I said "disc" I think I meant the mini DVD disc. I gotta get my terms right.

So you are saying I should NOT get the mini DVD one? What the difference between a mini DVD and mini DV?