camcorder

i am thinking of investing in a camcorder of around £180-300 (to take some footage of my up and coming ring trip)

can anyone advise me of the pros and cons are of a mini dv or dvd media camcorder

i have asked in the usual superstores but they try to push me into buying whatever is on special at the time.

thanks for any info.

these sites may prove more useful than my opinions....

http://www.simplydv.co.uk/infobase/about_formats.html

http://www.cnet.com.au/camcorders/camcorders/0,239035915,240 061716,00.htm

another thing to watch out for on the mini dvd is the power issue.  when sonys first dvd camcorder came out the dvd only held about 45 mins of footage but the battery only lasted for a half hour.

other than this i cant offer any other advice, i've only ever used mini-dv.

D.

generally not or if there is it's usually very basic

nearly all camcorders can be used to produce videos for youtube and suchlike - if its analogue you'd need a capture device to transfer the data to the computer, if its mini-dv then you'll need a cheap firewire card (usually less than a tenner) (although most relatively modern computers have firewire already, also known as ieee 1394 and i.link)

at the most basic level windows movie maker will suffice for editing your video, then you'll need to encode it to a format suitable for youtube - my commentary videos were encoded with apple quicktime pro and they came out in surprisingly good quality considering the compression involved....

http://www.perry1976.demon.co.uk/commentaryvideo.htm

be aware that video editing takes up a monstrous amount of hard disk space and that a powerful computer is a must for the more advanced video editing programs - personally i use adobe premiere pro 2 but pinnacle studio is a cheaper and easier alternative

feel free with any other questions

Edited by stephenperry

I recently got a JVC GZ-MG57EK Hard Disc camera. It has a 20Gb HD, Good for 7Hrs on the highest quality (although battery life is about 1 1/2-2Hrs on a standard battery, but bigger batteries are available) and the picture quality is good. Childsplay to use also.


I went for the HD type, because there is no need of a separate media, you just keep recording and then transfer the video to your computer for editing. Once edited, I burn the finished DVD

Steve

TRACKPIG wrote: if i was to go with mini dv, could i edit out a section from a full tape and then host that section of footage on you tube using windows movie maker?

yes, more information here:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=windows+movie+mak er+youtube&meta=

TRACKPIG wrote: (is windows movie maker a free download?)

it's supplied as part of windows xp and vista already (depending on the version).... check your start menu, there is an update available for it via Windows Updates.... again check your start menu

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviema ker2.mspx

TRACKPIG wrote: i will require a firewire card as my dell pc doesnt have one!

any computer shop or pc world/currys/comet should be able to oblige - you're looking for a PCI Firewire Card.... this fits inside the machine in a white plastic PCI slot - you should have at least one free, but Dell being Dell.... you can get external firewire capture devices that work through USB 2 though if you don't feel confident with opening the machine

which model of Dell do you have?

Edited by stephenperry

are you sure it doesn't have firewire?  some of the dimension 5000s do - have you got your service tag handy so i can check on dells site?  (should be a sticker with a serial number/service tag)

you're looking for a socket like this (this is 6-pin firewire)...

or this... (4-pin firewire - but more commonly found on the camcorder)

 

i dont see any ports like that on the pc. i do have a free white plastic pci slot (i think its a pci slot).

my service tag :  j7wnm1j

just been to look at the camcorder but the equivilent sony wasnt there and i wanted to compare.

 

is the cannon a better camcorder than the sony?

http://www.jessops.com/Products/ProductDetail.aspx?SkuId=480 65

TRACKPIG wrote: is the cannon a better camcorder than the sony? http://www.jessops.com/Products/ProductDetail.aspx?SkuId=480 65

the sony doesn't have as strong an optical zoom (20x instead of 30x - forget digital zoom rating - thats a cheat and just blows up the image digitally, it will look pixellated)

it doesn't have external mic input either