Buying new camcorder?!?! Mini Dv, or dvd?!!?!?

Question

I know mini DV is the best, but do you think it will still be available to buy the tapes for a long time or will the rubbish dvd take over?!?!!?

Answer 1

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER... especially if you are expecting to do ANY editing - this include just transferring to a computer for upload - the video quality will be terrible. DVD storage for the first step in the video acquisition process is bad. That is why you don't see any professionals doing it. Ripping their video is a pain and at 20 minutes per side for recording, they don't record very long, either.

Pros want best video quality (DV compresses a LOT less than any of the other currently available media), cheap long-term and stable archive capability (digital tape is THE acceptable form of long term storage for compter data centers), easy to use and affordable. MiniDV tape meets all these requirements.

When removable flash memory proves itself with long shelf life and becomes more affordable, it will be something to look at - especially if they start using a lot less compression and record using DV and HDV formats like miniDV tape does.

Answer 2

DV uses the same identical tape as HDV so it is not obsolete any time soon. Also DV is widely used for broadcast and commercial applications, so that will keep the demand high for a long time.  Broadcast formats generally last more than 25 years in common use. And besides you can still get Beta tape, i have a couple of brand new cases if you are interested. I doubt that there will be another significant tape format developed for video, or audio for that matter.

Answer 3

i think that flash memory will be the next big thing.

in the mean time mini dv offers the most in terms of overall goodlyness.

- better archiving

- better resolution

- cheaper than all other formats

- hdv support

dvd is the worst of all the formats.

hope it helps!