Provided your PC is fast enough to support a firewire connection (practically speaking, this means 1GHz+, with probably a 7200 rpm HDD with 20G of free space), then mini DV is definitely recommended.
DVD camcorders record in .mpg rather than native DV (to make the files smaller) and this gives compromises on quality and ease of editing. But, admittedly, it is handy to be able to just drag and drop video files from a mini-DVD on your computer.
I consider myself definitely an amateur, and I wouldn't consider a DVD camcorder at this point.
I am about to purchase a digital camcorder and am would like to know what I have to do to convert miniDV's to DVD,s. I just want to make some videos for my Mom to watch on her DVD player.
Anonymous
Posted on
How do i convert my recording in miniDV cassette to DVD directly on pc. I had installed the CD
I have a question about the longevity of the Mini-DV media. I was at BestBuy the other day and the guy working the cameras said that the DVD format would be around longer.
I'm personally leaning toward a Mini-DV anyway, and if the media dies, I'll just buy a bunch of discs before they all go away.
Travis: By longevity, do you mean how long the tape itself will last before it goes bad, or do you mean how long the format will be around before everyone goes to DVD?
If you mean how long will tape hold up vs. a DVD, I have VHS tapes that are 24 years old that look as good as the day I shot them. Keep your tapes rewound, upright and in a household temerature location (neither too hot or cold) and they should last a long time. DVD's also have to be handled and stored correctly or they can go bad. They haven't been around long enough to give it a track record like tape, but I'd guess they should last as long or longer.
If you meant how long will the mini dv format be arround, I'd guess a long time. The problem with DVD cameras is that they are not good for editing. They're best for shooting and playing back quickly and random searching. I'd buy the Mini DV. You can always make DVD's from a Mini- DV. The reverse can be done too but it's not as easy. Hope this helps.
To add to that. There is another brilliant idea from camcorder makers. The hard disk drive! I believe JVC makes them now, from the Everio series. This makes it esier for us users to just simply make movies, save it to the hard disk in the camcorder and just transfer it to any media we choose.
Anonymous
Posted on
How do I transfer my digital video onto a dvd so I can watch the movie on my TV. Please give me all the steps from the begining!!
Whenindoubtgive
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Hey Anonymous, in regards to transfering from MiniDV to DVD, i connect my camera into the firewire port of my laptop, then using Pinnacle Studio (software), edit it, and then directly burn my edited footage to DVD (an option within the software). Im sure if you search on Google, you will find quite alot of Free Video Editing Software, as well as a demo of Pinnacle no doubt.
Anonymous
Posted on
I'm trying to decide whether to purchase a mini dv camcoder or a dvd camcoder. It appears to me that the dvd camcorder is the future; however, I would apprciate some thoughts as to the wiser purchase between these two types of camcorders.
The DVD camcorders offer ease of point, shoot, ship mini dvd to grandma, play.
MiniDV offers the advanced user to opportunity to edit the lossless source video and save in any format (.mpg, .w4v, .mov, .wmv, .etc) without generational losses.
-o
Ben Kohlbeck
Unregistered guest
Posted on
i was looking at the sony dcr-hc42e and found that because minidv and dvd save their footage in dv format when you upload them to the computer they have to be decompressed meaning loss of quality so i looked around at the new HDD JVC camcorders for £50 more than the sony (£400) you can get a jvc camcorder with 20gb harddrive with 1megapixel resolution higher than that of the sony and saves both video and audio on hard disk video in mpeg 2 format and sound in dolby digital. So i came to the conclusion that the jvc will give me much better quality picture and sound due to the higher resolution, saving on hard disk and saving in mpeg 2 format meaning that i do not have to decompress the files when they are put on to the computer stopping loss of quality that happens with minidv and dvd. HDD is the way forward if you want crystal clear sharp film.
Ben Kohlbeck
Unregistered guest
Posted on
i was looking at the sony dcr-hc42e and found that because minidv and dvd save their footage in dv format when you upload them to the computer they have to be decompressed meaning loss of quality so i looked around at the new HDD JVC camcorders for £50 more than the sony (£400) you can get a jvc camcorder with 20gb harddrive with 1megapixel resolution higher than that of the sony and saves both video and audio on hard disk video in mpeg 2 format and sound in dolby digital. So i came to the conclusion that the jvc will give me much better quality picture and sound due to the higher resolution, saving on hard disk and saving in mpeg 2 format meaning that i do not have to decompress the files when they are put on to the computer stopping loss of quality that happens with minidv and dvd. HDD is the way forward if you want crystal clear sharp film.
My Mini DV camcorder (Panasonic PV-GS250)does not support firewire. It is USB 2.0. From what I understand, this could compromise my quality when tyring to capture video to put into DVD format. Is this true?
Ok so what exactlu is Firewire? how do I know if my laptop has it? I have a Compaq Presario from about 2002? 2003? Is this something that I would probably know was there if I had it like USB port?