camcorder help?

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  digimon900 Posts: 4,249

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  22/04/08 - 20:43 #2

  If you want convenience of being able to playback what you record immediately on a home DVD player then yes.
  Generally camcorders that record to DVD are poor value for money, not just because the discs store very little footage and need frequent changing, but just have poor quality record quality and higher risk of errors due to disc failure and finalization not working.
  A better bet is a compact miniDV camcorder it records on a miniDV tape, which has little or no errors but is fiddly because you need to download the footage to a PC in real time or record to a home ~DVD recorder.
  I notice that you chose a hi-def model...
  Look at the product range of hi-def camcorders that have built in hard drives.

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  [Deleted User] Posts: 1,302

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  22/04/08 - 22:26 #3

  Hey, digimon900 makes good points about this camcorder.
  
  Because it records to DVD, which has limited capacity, the high definition video is only recorded at a maximum quality of 12 megabytes per second (most 2 hour movies are recorded onto retail DVDs are recorded at 7mbps I think).
  
  However, a high definition camera that records onto MiniDV tape records at a maximum quality of 25 megabytes per second (for example, my camcorder, the Canon HV20). So tape format gets the most out of high definition quality.
  
  But the ultimate question is what you need the camera for. Do you want the full benefits of high definition, and the best quality footage possible to edit with; or are you just wanting the camera for the ease of use that the record to DVD option does provide?

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  digimon900 Posts: 4,249

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  22/04/08 - 22:44 #4

  I didnt know it was the data speed in mbps that was the issue. Working with footage I thought for some reason that it was the frames per second that had been reduced to 15 in order to get the data on that small disc. Its definitely much lower quality and skipped frames are obvious in editing programs from those cameras.
  Although you can get a better capture if you playback on the device through firewire than if you import by inserting the disc in your dvd reader.

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  JudithS Posts: 49

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  17/05/08 - 13:30 #5

  I recently bought a Hitachi DZ-MV5000E DVD-camcorder. It's great for Luddites like me. It's now £179.99 at Argos and Curry's Digital.

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  [Deleted User] Posts: 794

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  17/05/08 - 19:53 #6

  I find Sony's quite simple to use. I was given one by my Headteacher and he didn't need to tell be how to use it.

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  digimon900 Posts: 4,249

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  17/05/08 - 21:38 #7

  JudithS wrote: »

  I recently bought a Hitachi DZ-MV5000E DVD-camcorder. It's great for Luddites like me. It's now £179.99 at Argos and Curry's Digital.

  
  what is a luddite?

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