Topic: Help buying a new digital video camera

[Mitchell (Jake and Sawyer's Dad)]

We ar looking for a new video camera, and I want a digital one.  Any recommendations?  Is miniDVD, miniDV or the ones that record to memory better?  Any recommendations on brands/models or what I should look for?

I like the miniDVD ones because when you are done, you can just use the DVD in a regular player.  I also want to be able to usb/firewire the camera to my computer for backup and to edit video.

Any help would he greatly appreciated!

[Tyler McGhee]

how much do you have to spend?

[Mitchell (Jake and Sawyer's Dad)]

how much do you have to spend?

I would prefer to keep it around $600 or so, but will go upwards of $1000 (but SSSSSSHHHHHHH - dont tell my wife!)

[Nate]

I have the Sony Mini DV HC 32 (?).  It was $499 at best buy, so the extended warranty was maybe $50-75 (since it was under $500).  It has AV in and out...which is HUGE feature for me....or if you ever want to run a signal to it or use an external lense (helmet cam).

bought it this past spring and have put about 50 hours on it..in all types of situations....perfect.    It also comes with a little cradle and firewire out for doing transfers at real time.

You can get a battery that will run the thing for 400 mins on ebay for about $20.

I'm super happy with it, for the money.   It's tiny and works great.

nate

[Tyler McGhee]

I use the canon XL2 exclusively on my work and am quite fond of the canon video products.
i think you could get a GL1 for about 5-1000 used...a new GL2 would run you about 2200.
they're great cameras though.  I don't know much about consumer type cameras though...
we had this little cheapie canon mini dv that the quality on was pretty poor.

i would highly suggest going with mini dv though. it's the most popular format
out there....which means you'll have no trouble finding tapes at reasonable prices.
(the cheapest i've seen is 2.99 per tape)

one thing...if you choose a mini dv camera, purchase one tape brand and stick with it.
different brands use different lubrications on their tapes and if you swtich
around a lot you'll land yourself with some tapes that have digital dropouts later.
just an fyi..if someone can learn from my mistakes.... 

[Mitchell (Jake and Sawyer's Dad)]

thanks guys!  Yeah, I dont really need a commercial level video recorder    So, neither of you recommend the miniDVD?  Why is that?  They seem very, very convenient and you can keep the DVDs to watch later on the DVD player just like we used to keep video tapes!  That is most important to me - being able to have a medium that I can just plop in a player (not a computer) and play it for people.  We are expecting our first child, so I want to be able to take the tapes to relatives, etc., and just plop them in and play the tapes for them without having to hook up the camera, etc.  Can you do that with the miniDV?

[Tyler McGhee]

the only problem i see with mini dvd is that it uses mpeg 2 compression which is a VERY lossy
compression.  Granted if you were going to edit anything and put it down to dvd it's
going to be mpeg 2 compressed, but at least you have the option of how much compression.
you may have options on the camera to choose how much compression as well (ie, 30 min of video
per disc vs. 120 min of video) if you aren't worried about that at all, mini dvd may be the way to go!
on the other side of that coin, mini dvd discs may outlive mini dv tapes, but it's a toss up.
good luck!

[Cooker]

get miniDV. you won't regret it. 

i have digital8 and while it's nice because the cam is back-compatible with hi8 and video8, it's also got a lower runtime per tape.

and nate's "helmet cam" can be very useful in our little world too

[Mitchell (Jake and Sawyer's Dad)]

get miniDV. you won't regret it. 

i have digital8 and while it's nice because the cam is back-compatible with hi8 and video8, it's also got a lower runtime per tape.

and nate's "helmet cam" can be very useful in our little world too

so, you would take miniDV over miniDVD?  Why?

[jessedscott]

you sure you want to film the placenta?

[Mitchell (Jake and Sawyer's Dad)]

you sure you want to film the placenta?

eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww................  I am NOT doing that...........

How goes it Jesse?  Havent talked to ya in a while. 

[Cooker]

because DVDs are compressed. and we all know recordable Discs don't have the shelf life of tapes.  plus if you want to make copies you're still sittin at the computer. 

we got our to film the birth too. it's something you are gonna want to edit anyway.. unless you like hearing the midwife(obstetrician?) say "push" 4,326 times.  we're horrible about using it, i don't think we've filmed anything at all except for her birthday party in over a year.

[jessedscott]

you sure you want to film the placenta?

eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww................  I am NOT doing that...........

How goes it Jesse?  Havent talked to ya in a while. 

well, it seems that I have sperm that is strong like bull!   hint hint...I hate being told what to do on demand

[SuperDave]

Yo Mitchell,

I'd go with the Minidv as well.  Even the single chip cams(as opposed to 3 chip) look really good.  If you're gonna back up the video anyway, you might as well burn the tape to dvd via your computer and keep the tapes as backup.  Also, as mentioned before, the dvd camera video is compressed as it's sharpness and depth leave something to be desired.  If you ever need me to burn your vids to dvd from tape, you can always send them my way.  Being that's what I do for a living.

Hope this helps.    

[Mitchell (Jake and Sawyer's Dad)]

Yo Mitchell,

I'd go with the Minidv as well.  Even the single chip cams(as opposed to 3 chip) look really good.  If you're gonna back up the video anyway, you might as well burn the tape to dvd via your computer and keep the tapes as backup.  Also, as mentioned before, the dvd camera video is compressed as it's sharpness and depth leave something to be desired.  If you ever need me to burn your vids to dvd from tape, you can always send them my way.  Being that's what I do for a living.

Hope this helps.   

OK already!  It sounds like the miniDV is the way to go, then.  I just had it in my head that it would be nice to just pop the miniDVD out and through it in a case on the shelf, then throw it in the DVD when we want to watch something.  I guess I can just take that extra step and DL it to the computer as  backup then burn it to a DVD.