Off Topic (sort of): Digital Video Cameras

Depends what you are after. If just shouting and watching then DVD unbeatable – straight from camera to player. HD very convenient because you do not need to carry any media. However HD has one huge disadvantage – imagine what happens with your 30hr footage when you drop camera. Both DVD and DH coding video inside camera, thus make it not so good for editing – simple editing like cut unnecessarily stuff usually OK, but recoding highly NOT recommended. This is where DV shines – you will be much better off using DV if you plan extensive editing.

Cheers
Serg

I have no doubt that DV is the best format, Most users start of by saying they only want to point and shoot and dont want to edit or anything extra.

That usually lasts for the first 2 or 3 uses then they want to cut, dub etc and DV is far superior... You ever wondered why Film crews still use Tape ??? :-)

There's always the

I think most people take a video camera with them. You may not intend to do much editing but you will end up with much more watchable video if you do. Have you ever been subjected to hours of video and photographs where most of it is just rubbish? Some selective editing can make your video watchable and interesting and most importantly not over long. We often take 5 DV tapes worth on a trip or about 60Gb of data. Our 5 tapes (or 5hrs of standard video) is usually reduced to a one hour DVD. Much more enjoyable for anyone who wants to watch the video. No views of the floor or ground. We also usually produce a DVD with 5 sec displays of pictures with background music and subtitles. We then put it on and people who are interested can watch.

As for media, it depends on where you are going. I don't think hdd would be keen on days of vibrations, similarly direct to disc may have skip problems if used in car over vibrations. We use DV for this reason, the vibrations were fine re the tape but we have had a few issues with the camera so I suggest using a pelican case or similar for a hi def video camera.

You may want to look into the codec for hi def also as I think it uses a look ahead algorithm which may require quite expensive editing software. Not sure about the details of this as I read it when looking for an answer for another issue.

Most of the forums I have seen revolve around the software or operating systems as just about all serious users edit to produce the final product. There is quite a big Ubuntu forum dedicated to video as well as the packages like Ulead etc.

I don't think there is a best per sec, just best for you, how you are going to use the camera and your hip pocket.

Steve

goodday gb
we have gone thru most forms and now have a 30g hdd jvc we also bought a dvd recorder jvc but found we could not edit so i now couple the camera to our 80g dvd recorder we can watch what we have recordedwhile saving to the dvd recorder then i can edit(my missus takes miles of roadside scenery cause it keeps changing)and when ready record onto a dvd
if you want to by a dv camera i have 1 for sale (price by neg)2 years old because we moved to hdd technology

steve

after 15 years without a camcorder, i too have entered the quest for a new machine for a trip next year.
i foolishly thought it would be a simple task but here's what i have 'learnt' this week.
i wanted a big hard disk, but apparently these are prone to vibrations. the camera will stop filming if its too rough or damage the disk. hhhmmm.
advised to stick with tapes (and better quality on tapes i'm told).
going for HD camcorder using HD tapes now.
good luck.
ps guys in camera house seem clued up if you are in perth.
the best storage medium seems to depend on your individual needs.
good luck

Thanks everybody. Excellent feedback.

For some time I've been looking at the Sony HiDef HDRHC7. It uses Mini Dv tapes, 16:9, 6 meg still photos.
On the Sony website it has an rrp of about $2100 (I think) and it is in the current Camera House catalogue for $1599 after $100 cashback so I'm almost ready to part with more of our kids inheritance.

God knows they've lost a fair bit of it recently. Hope it makes the little wretches work harder. LOL of course.

Greetings - i use a video camera a lot on my travels as well as digital still camera.

Video camera is JVC Evario with 40 G hard disk. i now have a second battery that i bought online(ebay) for it for $9.00 + $9 shipping ( if bought locally in stores it would have been $98.00.

I have about 5 hours recording time now, and with a cable i connect to my Laptop i can pull the files from the camera to laptop and start recording again - ( also have in car / caravan charger 12v) Same laptop i use as a GPS via its inbuilt bluetooth and a separate GPS receiver that sits on my dash board

I then edit it when i get home with a program called Pinnacle Studio Plus - That way i can tell the missus and kids to film what ever they want - and i can just edit out the crap later very easily ( unlike the direct burn to disk )

i end up with home movies that are pretty good and not boring to watch

I've been in the video industry for near on 20 years, I have had hard drives fail and lost everything, on occasions I've had DVDs become unreadable and only good for coasters, but when I've had tape damage or breakage, we've always managed to splice and recover with minimal loss.

The earleir DVD based HD cameras were not compatible with standard DVD players, so they weren't my choice. H/Drive based systems are ok but let me tell you if they fail as often as the drives in an Ipod you could be unlucky as they are still a mechanical device subject to knocks and internal failure. I ended up buying the Sony HDR-HC7e which is the tape based HD camera. 63 minutes per tape. I have never had a tape fail and at the end of the day I dump what I want onto my PC and archive it. Bear in mind that most of the HD video systems are 1080i and not 1080p unless you spend more, mine delivers great quality video for the price but 1080p would have been better.

Your computer can be a great base to begin understanding resolution and interlacing vs non-interlacing or progressive etc. For example your PC may be running 1024 x 768 Resolution, that is 1024 dots/pixels across and 768 lines down. Now for those of you that run this resolution and can see "flicker"that means you are running 60Hz or Interlaced 1024 x 768 (Only applicable to CRT monitors as apposed to LCD). LCD screens do not suffer flicker.

The interlacing can be very disturbing , mostly on PC's. On your PC select a refresh rate greater than 72Hz to to achieve Non-Interlaced or without flicker. (Click on properties on your screen and select video settings etc etc)

Hitachi have had to refund people who bought their 50"Plasmas because Hitachi promoted them as true High Definition 1920 x 1080 . In reality the 1080 was 1080i or 1080 Interlaced and therefore not true High Definition 1080p, I suspect Hitachi are not the only ones, my Sony Video camera is sold as high defintiion and is 1080i.