Digital Camcorder format?

Question

Where is the clever money being spent on digital camcorders nowadays? Is it DVD, mini DVD, SD, Mini DV (whatever that is!) or something else?

Answer 1

Don't forget HDD!

Answer 2

You've got two issues to consider - video format and recording medium.  On the format front you've got Digital Video (DV), MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and the high def formats.  

DV is only lightly compressed so it has the best video quality and is best for editing.  Because it needs a lot of storage space you can only record to tape - a MiniDV system.  This is what the pros use.

MPEG-2 is the format used on DVDs.  It's highly compressed, so you can use mini DVDs, hard drives or memory cards as the storage medium.  The quality of the compression is variable, though it's getting better, and it's not a good format for editing.  On the plus side, you can access and transfer your video files very quickly, and the technology is seen as being s**y.

MPEG-4 is a more modern format than MPEG-2 and allows higher compression for similar video quality.  It hasn't caught on commercially yet, though it's being used by some of the cheaper memory card based camcorders.  It's got the same pros and cons as MPEG-2, but more geeky than s**y!

The high def formats are based on MPEG-2, but you can record to tape with some systems.  Editing can be a nightmare, though some people think this is a small price to pay for high def!

Where's the smart money?  For me it's still MiniDV, but I guess high def on hard drive is what a lot of people are aiming for.  Longer term I think we'll see seriously high capacity  semi-conductor memory coming on the market, capable of storing lightly compressed high def video.  I'm not holding my breath though!

Answer 3

Wait.... here come the Hybrids - combo HHD & Flash Media

http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-elect...

For reviews:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/ratings.php

Answer 4

Mini Digital Video - MiniDV is still the best for quality at the moment. When you fill a tape, you pop it out, stick in a blank one and continue shooting.

With a hard drive, you have to transfer the contents before you continue shooting and SD cards and similar solid state devices don't hold that much video unless it is heavily compressed and much of the useful picture and sound information is lost. DVD and miniDVD are just fads. It will be a while before Blu-Ray camcorders are a reality and even longer before HVD camcorders are available.

Hi-Def camcorders continue to use the tried and trusted MiniDV format though Hi-Def tapes are beefed up to hold the extra digital info required for HD pictures...

My money is still on MiniDV until solid state catches up in terms of capacity and low cost.