Muffleman

I've managed to resist the camcorder thing up until now, but with plans afoot for a rugrat - we'd like to get a camcorder.

So, what's the difference between...

Digital DV
Digital 8
Hi 8
Video 8
VHS-C and
Micro MV !

Beats me ! And which one is best ?

Cheers



Matt

imlach

Digital DV (also known as MiniDv) is the best out of your list.
It is about 520 lines.

The rest are either analogue or pseudo-digital, or less lines.....

Muffleman

Just what I wanted to know - cheers !

Nimbus

Digital 8 is also true digital and is also 520 lines...

Nimbus

Digital DV
Digital on DV tape


Digital 8
Digital on Hi8 or Digital 8 tape (8mm)


Hi 8
Analoge on Hi8 (8mm) Tape (better image than Video 8)


Video 8
Analoge on 8mm tape


VHS-C and
Same as VHS tape but in a compact casset


Micro MV !
I think this is the same as DV but uses an even smaller tape.

imlach

Micro-mv is also stored compressed is it not?????

Nimbus

Not sure what you mean by compressed. I don't know much about microDV.

Correction.. DV is 720x576 resolution (PAL)

[Edited by Nimbus - 10/28/2003 5:23:19 PM]

imlach

it is stored compressed as mepg2/mpeg4

Muffleman

Ok, so MiniDV is the best and Digital 8 is second ?

So would it be better to get a good spec Digital 8 or meagre spec MiniDV for general births and beadle moments ?

Cheers


Matt

Diesel

DV is DV – a format of its own and not a form of MPEG AFAIK? There is a ‘broadcast’ sister spec called ‘DV Cam 25’ which uses higher tape speed for better res – or, rarely, DV Cam 50 for really good pics…

Go on prices when choosing mate – you will be pushed to tell the difference between Mini DV, Digital 8 or (cheapest) Hi 8 on a domestic Telly. The ‘worst’ Hi 8 is MUCH better quality than VHS for example…. However if you want to connect your cam to a computer etc you must go DV so you get ‘Firewire’ connections.

Your best decision if you REALLY want quality is a 3 chip CCD camera attached to any of the above recorder ‘back ends’.

Dont listen to anyone in Currys/Comet/Dixons. Come here!

D

paulr

Dont spend too much though,i have a camcorder and tbh hardly ever use it.

Muffleman

Yeah that's what I'm worried about. If this turns into ANOTHER expensive gadget gathering dust, babies won't be a future problem !

I do want to connect to the PC though, does that have to be MiniDV ? Or does Digital 8 use firewire too ?

And believe me, I stopped listening Currys\Dixons etc a LONG time ago !

Cheers


Matt

paulr

A vote here in favour of Sony.I dropped mine from about 8 foot and amazingly it still works perfectly.

imlach

Diesel - Micro-DV is MPEG2 - check out the specs if you don't believe me.

Mini-DV is DV (uncompressed).

Fuzz

I had a discussion in here not so long ago about the output of my
DCR-TRV340E it's a digital 8 format.

this model can output both dv quality (via firewire connector)
and slightly "lesser" quality (via USB 2.0)
best of both worlds

It has it's uses but I must admit it's been sat on the bookshelf a lot more than it has been used !

edit : found the receipt £549.99. (last Crimbo)

Andy

[Edited by Fuzz - 10/28/2003 6:58:20 PM]

DaveD

iTrader: (2)

If you go for a DV format, the next two things to consider are camera size and lens quality....
DV is DV - ie, recording quality between one camera and another should be broardly similar. (If you wanted to go Hi-8 route, remember that this analogue method can suffer colour distortion like VHS, wherease DV won't.)

MiniDV taps are about half the size of an 8mm cassette, and therefore cameras are also generally smaller.

The next most important thing to consider then is lens (and ccd) quality. Bigger lenses are generally better - they let more light onto the ccd (so you can record in darker conditions), and they also tend to cause less distortion in the image.

If you are going to just record fond moments, then you probably won't want absolute quality - a model towards the bottom of the range (with DV out) should satisfy your requirements.
I bought a bottom of the range jobbie for £350 around 18 months ago, and it has met all my expectations (and I'm quite finiky about picture/sound quality!!)

Look around and see what you can get for your money....remember that more gadgets doesn't necessarily mean a better camera!!

Nimbus

I bought a camcorder a couple of years ago for the same reasons. I ended up with a Sony Digital8. Maily because I had some Hi8 stuff I had taped with my brothers cam earlier. If I was starting out from scratch I would go for a MiniDV. As mentioned above though, check lens size. My D8 has a larger lense than my brothers miniDV and produces a better picture. Downsize is that my camera is bigger/heavier (but not by loads). My D8 can outut both DV and analoge recording via a firewire card on my PC.

After purchasing the camcorder, I next purchased a firewire card, Video edditing software, encoders, second HDD (DV takes up huge space), a DVD burner.... etc, You get the picture. Once you get into it there's more to discover

ozzy

Which is best depends not just on the technology, but the ease that you can access any old tapes. It's OK now, but 10 or 20 yrs down the line and your kid wants to see their clips will your camcorder still work or can you still access the tapes if they haven't rotten away

I went for the Mini-DV last year coz it was nice and compact, tapes are dirt cheap and it's pi$$ easy to use. I did spend a bit more dosh for a Panny with a good Leica lens and made sure it had DV In/Out so that I could dump stuff on the PC, organise it and then dump it straight back onto tape in a good order.

Also makes adding any commentary a bit easier with a PC. Also means, I can stick it on a DVD once the prices for a writer have dropped.

Stefan

Nimbus

That's what I waited for. You can now get dual format DVD writers for the £100 mark. That was enough for me so got one at the weekend. Currently completing a Wedding project that I taped about 10 months ago Oh well, they can have the DVD as an anivesary present

Next stage is to go through the rest of my tapes and start on those...