Consumer camcorders and editing software?

Question

I am starting out in digital video production as a hobby. I was wondering what is the best type of camera to use in terms of transferring video to my editing software: miniDV or hard disk? That is, is it easier to work with unedited footage if my source is tape? hard disk? My editing software will be Final Cut. My intent is to produce video for web use only. Thank you.

Answer 1

For the most part, best video quality is from DV format - the same format captured to miniDV tape.

In the Macintosh environment, ALL Macs beginning about 10 years ago came with a firewire400 port standard. The only exception is the new Mac Air. You will need to buy a 4-pin (camera DV port) to 6-pin (Mac's firewire port) firewire cable. With the camcorder in Play/Edit/VCR mode (it depends on the manufacturer and camcorder model you get), iMovieHD or FinalCut pro will "Import" the video directly. For DV, this is real time; for HDV, this can be less can real-time, but how fast depends on your Mac's CPU.

If you get an HDV camcorder, you may need to manually install the Apple Intermediate codec so the QuickTime components that iMovieHD and FinalCut use can deal with the HDV format. (AIC is not needed for standard definition DV).

Just because you are producing "video for web use only" does not mean you want to reduce quality. And for video, in general, video quality is only part of the equation - audio plays a huge role, too.

Since we don't know where you will post your video, or what "genre" you will be working with, all bases need to be covered.

Most consumer internal hard drive (and flash memory) based camcorders save the video data files to a very highly compressed MPEG2 format. In the Macintosh world, this typically means converting the video to something the video editing application can deal with. In this case, you may need to convert using StreamClip

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/vi...

(free download and use). The conversion will take a bit of time. If you go the high definition HDD or flash memory route, that typically means having to deal with AVCHD. The most current versions of iMovieHD (referred to as iMovieHD08 - but it is really iMovieHD07 that ships with iLife08) and the most current versions of FinalCut Pro2 and Express can deal with AVCHD encoded data files.

You also need to know that HDD video data files can be broken into 20-minute increments... so, if you record for 45 straigh minutes, you will have 2-20 minute files and 1-5 minute file. There is no dropped frame, just a file segmentation. MiniDV tape does not do this - shoot for 45 minutes results in a single 45 minute file.

In any case, you will quickly learn that getting the camcorder mics close to the audio source is not always what you want to do. It is sometimes helpful to have the camera back off a bit - but that means the built-in mics are far away and may not pick up the audio in the way you want it recorded. This is why many folks make a big deal about having external mic connectivity. Most camcorders do not have an external mic jack (in the consumer area, typically a 1/8" or 3.5mm stereo jack). Just because there is a mic jack does not mean the camcorder has manual audio control.

If audio is too soft, the camcorder's auto-mic gain circuit will listen for sound. The recording has a characteristic "whooshing" sound. If the audio is REALLY LOUD, the camcorder's auto-mic gain circuit will be over-driven and the resulting recorded audio will be clipped and sound very muddy. Manual audio control, used properly, can eliminate both of these sound problems.

The least expensive camcorders with a mic-in jack are the Canon ZR800, ZR900 and ZR930. They do not have manual audio control.

The least expensive camcorders with a mic-in jack and manual audio control are the Canon HV20, HV30, Sony HDR-HC7 and HDR-HC9.

If you are only producing video for sites like YouTube or MySpace that do a lot of compression for posting, then the video quality is not that big of a deal so high compressed MPEG2 or AVCHD video is acceptable. If you are posting for your own private site or for sites like vimeo.com that allows for up to high-definition video uploads (or if you want to watch decent quality on your home TV), then the video quality does make a big deal and the least amount of compression when digital video is stored to the camcorder is desired (miniDV tape).

I use a Macintosh iMac G5, iMovieHD05, FinalCut Pro and miniDV tape based Sony HDV/DV camcorders (HDR-HC1 and HDR-FX1).

Answer 2

I would use a miniDV camera that records onto a SD card which you could just put into your computer and edit it whenever. That would seem like the best/easiest thing to do.