Which Camcorder to Buy

[VinMan]

Hi Vinman, and welcome to the forums..

That could depend on how you intend on using it, and your budget? Are you going to be doing professional videograhpy work, or just for home, hobby and family?

You keyed on one important spec, and that is the ability to record in DV (digital video) AVI. The old (now) models of Sony's DV camcorders (DCR-TRV... record to tape(Hi-8/Digital in DV format. The videos can be transfered/captured to a computer using a Firewire (Sony iLink or IEEE1394) cable. Most if not all will come with a USB but not a Firewire cable. The USB should not be used to transfer the video. It's primary use is for transfering images or using the camcorder to stream video as a webcam, with low resolution video.


Another thing to consider is are you wanting to record HD (High-Definition), or would you be satisfied with Standard Definition?

I would start by writing specs for what I want the camcorder to do, how much money I can spend, and any "bells and whistles" I may want. Then I would start doing searches on camcorders and read the specs on each. You could then eliminate those that don't meet your specs.

By the way I use a Sony DCR-TRV120. It's outdated, but still does a great job for what I need it to do. I use it for recording my grandchildren, and as a pass-through to transfer my old VHS, and Betamax videos to my computer to produce DVDs.

Ron P.

Hello ok the camcorder is just for home, hobby and family, I tak alot of footage of my son as his only young just turned 3 years old in may.

So i thought of the harddrive type as no cost on media - But the ily down side to that is that i now think of is if we were on holiday and run out of harddrive space!!!!! what would i do!!!!!!!!

My budget is about £900,

Bells and whistles well i want wide screen and 5.1 Sound
Quality pic, (Day/Night)

[lespurgeon]

Generally Hard Drive type provide lower quality video than DV. Much lower than HDV, but still better than DVD based ones.

[VinMan]

Generally Hard Drive type provide lower quality video than DV. Much lower than HDV, but still better than DVD based ones.

Hello
If the Quality of a hard drive type is better than the DVD type why is the quality not as good as DV I thought the DVD types superseeds the DV type?

if the hard drive type is alower quality in which aspect are you reffering to?

In that case is the HighDef quality anybetter ?

also can you Use a High Def and Burn to DVD and play on A normal TV?



Cheers


Vinman

[skier-hughes]

HDD adn DVD cams both use mpeg compression to record. It will depend on the inbuilt encoder as to which is best and you may find the differ from make as well as model.

DV is compressed at about 5.1, Mpeg is about 20.1. This is the main difference, then you have others, such as GOP's which mean you can't cut an mpeg2 at any frame, only i-frames, which may be as few as 8 frames apart, but could be seconds!!!!

Hi Def comes in different flavours as well, so it depends on what youa re talking about. HDV, which is in the consumer market, and what has een refered to above, is a compressed form of Hi Def. It will be better than dv, but at present, there is minimal ways of getting HDV onto a HD-DVD, unless you have plenty of money
So, HDV would be down converted to SD, to enable you to edit and produce your dvd's.
Depending on when you intend getting a hd dvd player and tv set, I doubt HDV will be around long, with the advances being made in SDHC cards and ever smaller in physical size hdd's.

You can burn HD to a normal dvd, but the number of players around to play tehm I believe can be counted on one hand, so not really an option.

[VinMan]

Cheers skier-hughes

thanks for your help mate

[jchunter]

Skier-Hughes wrote:

This is the main difference, then you have others, such as GOP's which mean you can't cut an mpeg2 at any frame, only i-frames, which may be as few as 8 frames apart, but could be seconds!!!!

Where in the world do you get your information? This is simply not true. You can get frame-accurate cuts every time in mpeg2 files with video studio 10+. (When a GOP is decompressed, it is a sequence of I-frames.) I suggest that you read the high definition tutorial at http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=13872. Try it first.

As for DV being "better" than Mpeg2 because it is compressed 5:1 instead of 20:1, this also is incorrect because in order to put your DV on a DVD disk you have to transcode it to mpeg2, which puts both workflows on the same basis.

Your statements about video not being high definition unless it is uncompressed are also not true. As a practical matter, it too time and resource intensive to transmit and store uncompressed video. See mpeg2 tutorial : http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/papers/pap ... r_14.shtml , which explains how picture quality is maintained while reducing the storage requirements. There are numerous excellent forum threads if you are interested in learning more about high definition See http://www.sonyhdvinfo.com and www.highdefforum.com

[sjj1805]

Somehow the question of which camcorder should I buy has somehow turned into another discussion regarding the differing opinions of chopping and piecing together MPEG files.

Where in the world do you get your information? This is simply not true. You can get frame-accurate cuts every time in mpeg2 files with video studio 10+. (When a GOP is decompressed, it is a sequence of I-frames.) I suggest that you read the high definition tutorial at http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=13872. Try it first

Now who wrote that?
Not a very good idea referring to something as a reference to prove your point if it’s only something you wrote yourself earlier
“It must be true because I said so before”

As for gobbledygook links that look like something from Dr. Emmett Brown’s time travel laboratory

OK I give up what does this mean in simple language?


I much prefer links that ordinary people can understand such as
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-2

Now it seems simple enough to me chop a GOP header in two and throw a piece of it away and you’re heading for trouble.

[skier-hughes]

Skier-Hughes wrote:

This is the main difference, then you have others, such as GOP's which mean you can't cut an mpeg2 at any frame, only i-frames, which may be as few as 8 frames apart, but could be seconds!!!!

Where in the world do you get your information? This is simply not true. You can get frame-accurate cuts every time in mpeg2 files with video studio 10+. (When a GOP is decompressed, it is a sequence of I-frames.) I suggest that you read the high definition tutorial at http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=13872. Try it first.

I haven't used Studio 10+, but note the tutorial is also written by yourself, so I will read some more information from other sources and get back to you on this one.

As for DV being "better" than Mpeg2 because it is compressed 5:1 instead of 20:1, this also is incorrect because in order to put your DV on a DVD disk you have to transcode it to mpeg2, which puts both workflows on the same basis.

Here you are adding to my statement, my statement is that dv is better than mpeg2 because of the compression of mpeg2, nowhere did I say it would be better than mpeg2 when on a dvd. Now we could also get into the debate of Mpeg2 being lossy and if you have to re-encode an mpeg2 file which would reduce the quality.... but thats another story... and again nothing to do with my statement.

Your statements about video not being high definition unless it is uncompressed are also not true.

Again I did not say this. I said it is a compressed form of high definition, known has HDV high definiton video.

So you would say all Mpeg files are equal then? Of course you wouldn't, Mpeg 1 is poorer than Mpeg2, Mpeg3... Mpeg 4????? The variants of Mpeg4, the way Mpeg2 is encoded, the consumer encoders compared to hollywood encoders.........

I could go on, but in essence HDV cannot be compared to HD in quality.


What about this link to the HIdef forum........
Well here is their bit about HD camcorders,
High Definition Cameras & High Definition Camcorders (36 Viewing)
Discuss the latest High Definition Cameras and HD Camcorders including the new HDV Camcorder. Ask questions, post reviews, etc.
Now if HDV and HD are the same why have they decided to split them up.... remember this is your link of your proof they are the same!!!!!!!!

Now for the sony link, Oh, it's a link to HDV not HD As Sony make your cam, I assume they know best..... I rest my case and willl not be replying to any more posts on this, as it has nothing to do with the OP's question.

Graham