Camcorder Help

[MiknMinMouse]

I'm getting ready to replace my Camcorder. I have the Sony that you hold and look at the screen while filming rather than a viewfinder.

I really don't want anything with a tape ~ I figure tapes wear out and I'm going to transfer to DVD anyway so I want to save the gobetween.

My choices are a Sanyo C1 (if I can find it, a friend has one and LOVES it) and a burn straight to DVD (not sure which brand). Anyone know any pros and cons I should consider before purchasing? I know with the straight to DVD you can't edit, but I rarely edit anyway. I've heard some reviews of cameras similar to the C1 that says the photo quality isn't as good.

I take mostly vacation videos (at WDW) and videos of the kids. Any suggestions, help, advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MOmousefan]

I read an article in PC Magazine explaining the compression method used by CD camcorders. They take a full image at the start of the recording and only save the difference as they record. This makes editing difficult as the full image is not on the entire video. Just what I read.

 

[MICKEY88]

I think digital tape allows longer recording times...and is rather simple to upload and burn to dvd...

 

[Razor Roman]

Generally the DVD camcorders hold 30 minutes per disc, and the discs are more expensive than the 1 hour MiniDV cassette counterparts.

The DVD's are more-or-less "uneditable" at least not in any "professional" way... wouldn't recommend if you want to do editing.

Also, unless you use the more expensive DVD-RW's you can't "tape over" things. From what I understand you can delete sections, but it just makes those sections unplayable, you don't actually get the space back.

 

[MiknMinMouse]

It's actually very rare that I edit any tapes. I'm in the process now of having all of my tapes put onto DVD. That's why I thought I'd just skip the middleman (tape) and go straight to DVD. That's another reason the disk is so appealing to me because I can upload to my computer then burn the DVD, it's just the quality that I'm concerned about. I hate these kinds of decisions

 

[MICKEY88]

here's another option...


Hard Drive
Cost: $800 to $1000

Upside: Can hold a lot of video that's easy to edit and copy

Downside: Relatively expensive; unproven technology

The new kids on the camcorder block use a hard drive instead of a tape, DVD, or memory card. Models such as the $800 JVC Everio GZ-MG30 employ the same hard drives that high-capacity music players like the IPod use. This means they can store a lot of video. The GZ-MG30, for instance, has a built-in 30GB hard drive that can hold up to 10 hours of video. It's enough for even the most ardent video users to record what they want without ever changing tapes. And editing the video is a breeze: Just connect the camcorder to a PC via the USB port and you can copy video to the PC's hard drive with a couple of mouse clicks. Now you're ready for editing and burning DVDs.

 

[MICKEY88]

It's actually very rare that I edit any tapes. I'm in the process now of having all of my tapes put onto DVD. That's why I thought I'd just skip the middleman (tape) and go straight to DVD. That's another reason the disk is so appealing to me because I can upload to my computer then burn the DVD, it's just the quality that I'm concerned about. I hate these kinds of decisions

if you're going to upload to your PC anyway, why not go with digital tape, which gives you 90 minutes record time as apposed to 30 minutes for dvd

check out this site...Dissecting Digital Camcorders

 

[MiknMinMouse]

Thanks for that info. I read about one of those hard drive cameras yesterday. I printed out the article and will read it. I really appreciate all of the input

 

[NotTooGoofy]

I've also read that the DVD format some digital camcorders use may not be compatible with your DVD player or DVD drive in your computer. So what you record may not be viewable until you also purchase a compatible player.

 

[LordAthens]

It's actually very rare that I edit any tapes. I'm in the process now of having all of my tapes put onto DVD. That's why I thought I'd just skip the middleman (tape) and go straight to DVD. That's another reason the disk is so appealing to me because I can upload to my computer then burn the DVD, it's just the quality that I'm concerned about. I hate these kinds of decisions

As long as you go with a MiniDV or Digital8 format, you will loose 0 quality when you transfer it to your PC, as it's all digital. You can "upload" your footage directly from your new camcorder over a firewire connection and edit away or you can simply burn it to DVD.

If you want to get really simple, a number of standalone DVD Recorders now have Firewire interfaces, where you can literally plug in your camcorder via Firewire and record straight to DVD, no compuer or anything else involved.

Also, digital tapes don't "wear out" nearly as fast as the old analog counterparts that you're use to, did.

HTH