I know this isn't a filmer forum necessarly, but i'm hoping maybe someone here can help me out.
I've recently been thinking about getting into filming local bands in my area that are open to filming. I've heard from a few ppl that mini DV cams are better than DVD cams and some say that DVD cams are better than mini DV cams. I'm curious to you guys what you think is better, i've read up on em and i still can't really make my mind up. Obviously the dvd is easier, it goes straight onto the dvd and plays in your dvd player no problem, however i read somewhere that you need to mess with the settings on it or something to get it to go onto the dvd as a video_ts folder because it can go on there as VRB or something like that rather than VOB and then you have a hard time copying the dvd, cause programs can't read it or something like that. Also I read that you can't edit the video without re-encoding the video itself off of the dvd, which loses quality. I read taht mini DV cams generally have better quality and because it's on a mini dv tape you can edit the video and stuff using software (not that I really know how to do that anyway, but I might learn in the future). However the tapes themselfs cost quite a bit (like 15 for 2 tapes), where as with the DVD camcorder I could get dvdRAM discs and just record a show, use my pc to copy it and then use the dvdRAM disc over again, so from that aspect it would save me a lot of money.
Also I have a friend who's looking to sell his dvd camcorder shown here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/Hitachi_DZMV270A/4507-6500_7-20097660.html?tag=tabfor 225, with a carrying bag, and some other stuff. He said it originally cost him like 500 or so, and is perfectly fine, he's just selling it because he thought he'd get into filming shows but decided to just stick with audio.
I don't planning really getting into filming majorly, just doing it as a hobby on the side and dont really want it costing a whole lot of money, however I don't really want the stuff i'm filming to turn out like crap or look crappy. Anyway if anybody has any ideas on what I should do, and if my friends cam is a good deal please let me know as i'm not necessarlly really knowledgable on this stuff yet haha. Thanks again. - Scott