Can someone please tell me the difference between a mini dvd camcorder and a regular

[Sherri]

size one?

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Mini-DV tapes are what you see in consumer camcorders. DV tapes are much larger and, as far as I know, have never been used in consumer camcorders. I think the full sized DV tapes are almost 5 inches long and about 3.5" wide. Mini-DV tapes, on the other hand, are something 2.5" by 2". They both use the same recording format (DV) and the same 1/4" tape. With a full sized DV tape, you could record about 4 1/2 hours compared to 1 hour with a mini-DV tape.

There are other variants, including DVCAM (Sony pro-gear) and DVCPRO (Panasonic pro-gear). Sony also used to make camcorders that recorded in DV format on 8mm tapes and called it Digital8. There is also a new format called HDV. It's not all that similar to DV but camcorders that use it record to mini-DV tapes.

When you talk about video formats, you're really talking about two different things - the way the information is encoded and the media on which it is written. The actual information stored on a Digital8 tape is identical to the information on a mini-DV tape and totally different than the information written on an old 8mm or Hi-8 tape.

It gets really tricky these days because you have mini-DV camcorders, compact flash card camcorders, secure digital card camcorders, mini-DVD camcorders, and hard disk camcorders. While the mini-DV ones generally all use the DV format, the others typically use either MPEG2 or MPEG4. All of that is for standard definition camcorders; it gets more complicated when you start looking at HiDef.

 

[Claire L]

I think a mini DVD camcorder takes smaller DVD's and they cannot go straight into your DVD player. Thinking back to the 90's and cd's there were mini cd's and they had a larger disc they could slip into for putting into your cd player not sure if there is something similar for mini DVD's.

Anyway I would personally go for a mini DV camcorder that records digitally onto tape as the picture is then much more versatile and of better quality.

Ultimately in a short while High Definition camcorders will be reasily available, but so far I have only seen one Sony one.

Claire

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Oops, I misread mini-DVD as mini-DV.

The mini-DVDs hold less video then regular DVDs, but they should be able to play in almost all DVD players and they don't require a special caddy. If you plan to just shoot and watch, they are OK, but if you plan to do any computer editing, you are probably better off with mini-DV tape. I would also be concerned about the longevity of mini-DVD recordings. The tapes will probably last decades, the disks will probably start to go bad after 5-15 years unless you buy special archival disks.

 

[miss missy]

Isn't there a digital camcorder out there that tapes on a reg DVD? My very old vhs camcorder used vhs tapes and I could pop it right in the player Is there on that I can do this for DVD?

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I don't know about camcorders that shoot on full-sized DVDs, but you should be able to play the mini-DVDs in just about any DVD player. The only exceptions I know of are those with sliding trays that are vertically oriented.

 

[miss missy]

I don't know about camcorders that shoot on full-sized DVDs, but you should be able to play the mini-DVDs in just about any DVD player. The only exceptions I know of are those with sliding trays that are vertically oriented.

Interesting that a dvd player will take the mini's. Do you think either of these is a good choice for home movies? The cheaper the better

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4767701

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4767702

 

[miss missy]

????

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I don't have any experience with either. You might try reading reviews on them at www.camcorderinfo.com.

 

[miss missy]

I don't have any experience with either. You might try reading reviews on them at www.camcorderinfo.com.

will do thanks

 

[miss missy]

Ok settled on a mini dv that uses tapes. Now do they come in pixels too? how can I tell what the best video quality is? I see 10x zoom for more expensive than 30x zoom? will 10x be ok?

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-DCR-HC96...=pd_bbs_2/102-6422498-7216114?ie=UTF8&s=photo