Upgrading from mini dv camcorder to HD

[Sabrefan]

I am thinking about upgrading our current Sony camcorder which is a mini dv one to a newer camcorder, all the ones I find are now HD, so no little DVDs to buy...but I love the dvds. I can format my dvd and pop it right into my dvd player to watch home videos. What do you do with a HD camcorder? Where do the movies go and how can I get it onto a DVD to watch later?

 

[Shutterbug]

Well most HD camcorders should have a set of cords to connect the camcorder directly to your TV.
What connections do you have on the back of your tv?

 

[LynnTH]

We bought a Sony DVD Direct (it was $200). We can then put our SD card in the system and make a DVD (same with pictures). We initially got it so we could convert all of our old Camcorder Tapes to DVD (you hook the camcorder to the machine). It was well worth the investment and very easy to use.

 

[sam_gordon]

The new cameras should record on SDHC cards (like what go into a still camera). You take that card, put it into a card reader on your computer and use (the probably included) software to edit & publish to disc.

 

[Carl]

Actually, almost all the current cameras record in HD on internal memory or an SDHD card. There are several options for viewing them. The method I use is to import the video to my computer and edit it with iMovie. I then save the HD video to a USB drive. My Blu Ray player accepts the USB drive and plays the video to my HD TV.
If you put the video onto a DVD, you end up with a low resolution version of your video. You can burn the video to a Blu Ray disk to retain the HD, but I haven't done that.

 

[Charade]

I bought our first camcorder before going on our "European Vacation" (think Chevy Chase!). It's a Canon HD that stores the video on an internal hard drive. I have to hook it to my computer to transfer them. That's not a problem as I can view them on my PC in full HD. Or I can hook the camcorder to my HDTV via an HDMI cable. The quality is excellent! The problem is, however, converting them to burn on a standard DVD (we don't have BluRay (yet)). I have yet to find a converter that makes the conversion to my satisfaction. They're not bad. Most people would be satisfied but I think they should/could be better. I've tried MANY programs.

 

[Carl]

I bought our first camcorder before going on our "European Vacation" (think Chevy Chase!). It's a Canon HD that stores the video on an internal hard drive. I have to hook it to my computer to transfer them. That's not a problem as I can view them on my PC in full HD. Or I can hook the camcorder to my HDTV via an HDMI cable. The quality is excellent! The problem is, however, converting them to burn on a standard DVD (we don't have BluRay (yet)). I have yet to find a converter that makes the conversion to my satisfaction. They're not bad. Most people would be satisfied but I think they should/could be better. I've tried MANY programs.

That's because DVDs and DVD players are not HD, so no way to get HD out of them. Well, I say "no way," but you can put some HD on a DVD, but only about 20 minutes and it must be played on a Blu Ray.

 

[sam_gordon]

That's because DVDs and DVD players are not HD, so no way to get HD out of them. Well, I say "no way," but you can put some HD on a DVD, but only about 20 minutes and it must be played on a Blu Ray.

Yes, you DO get HD out of DVDs & players. But, you need to either use the component (red, green, blue) connections or HDMI.

 

[ChrisFL]

Yes, you DO get HD out of DVDs & players. But, you need to either use the component (red, green, blue) connections or HDMI.

It all depends on your definition of HD. It is nowhere near 1080P quality that Blu-Ray offers, closer to 480P I believe for the average DVD.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

Hey Folks!!

DH is a filmmaker, here's the professional word:

480 isn't HD, it has to be 720 or higher to be considered HD.
Carl is right, that's the best way to go. You can up your resolution on some devices, but it won't be the same.

I know change is sometimes difficult, especially when you love the equipment you are using now, but you will thank yourself later! We switched professionally to an internal drive camera about 3 years ago and it has made our work flow so much easier! And now we are also shooting with the Canon Mark II and it's amazing!

 

[sam_gordon]

It all depends on your definition of HD. It is nowhere near 1080P quality that Blu-Ray offers, closer to 480P I believe for the average DVD.

I didn't say it was 1080P. My DVD player puts out 1080i (according to the 'info' button on my TV). I believe I can also set the player to 720p (still 'HD'... maybe 'HDLite', but still HD).

If you're getting 480P out of your DVD player, it's hooked up wrong.

In fact, I just looked up the specs for my DVD player... it will put out 1080p (upconverted).

 

[Carl]

I didn't say it was 1080P. My DVD player puts out 1080i (according to the 'info' button on my TV). I believe I can also set the player to 720p (still 'HD'... maybe 'HDLite', but still HD).

If you're getting 480P out of your DVD player, it's hooked up wrong.

In fact, I just looked up the specs for my DVD player... it will put out 1080p (upconverted).

but the DVD itself is not in HD.

 

[Sabrefan]

Okay so it sounds fairly simple to move the video from the internal harddrive to a dvd, so here is my next question...when run out of room on my DVD camcorder I just pop in a new DVD, what about when I run out of room on the HD camcorder? Especially if I am some where that I cannot upload the videos and free some space? Like when we are in Disney?

Also, how do I know how many GB's I need? It looks like these cameras price is pretty much based on the GB and I see them going from 8 to 32 The 32 is over $1000, kind of pricey, I think I only paid $500 or $600 for my DVD camcorder and kind of wanted to stay in that price range but will spend more if I need the extra room for more movies. I'd hate to run out of space in the middle of our vacation and miss something.

 

[daannzzz]

I just went through this as well. I had a mini dv and wanted my videos (mostly vacation and Disney parks) to be widescreen HD. I transfer ALL of my video onto DVDs to save for later viewing and I love the editing process so researched and studied for months. It was all very confusing. I have and Imac and I wanted to make sure that the HD video would load correctly into iMovie. I wanted a good camcorder but didn't need a huge amount of bells and whistles. It ended up that iMovie would not work they way I wanted and so I had to buy an editing program that would edit ad burn HD Bluray. Then (because the iMac couldn't burn Bluray) I had to buy a Bluray burner. I bought the Canon HF m500. I bought a couple of SD cards as I take lots of video. It has no internal memory and is not wifi but it does what I need. All in all we were stunned by the beautiful video I was able to get.

 

[Carl]

The above poster is correct. Your best bet is to purchase an HD camcorder that uses SD memory. That way you never have to run out of space. You just pop out one SD card and put in another. I also have a Canon that I am very satisfied with. It has both 64 gigs of internal memory and two SD slots, so no chance of running out of space.
As I indicated in an earlier post, I chose not to go the Blu Ray route, as I also have a Mac and Apple does not support Blu Ray. I just put my video on usb drives and plug them into the Blu Ray player to view them. Also, this way I can still use iMovie to edit my video.