Hi-8 Digital Camcorders vs whats on the market today - huge jump in quality ?

Question

I'm more or less aware of Digital camcorders having become more compact as a result of omitting the tape recording mechanism and relying on tape as a medium, but I still use a Sony DCR-TRV 110, and it delivers nice results. Was purchased in the fall of 99, and does all I want it to - only complaint/worry would be if im missing out on conveniency, in terms of the new smaller compact digital camcorders available today.

You got DC's that record onto memory card/sticks, DVD, hard drives and if im not aware of it already, maybe DC's that record and transmit footage over a network to a server heh.

Despite all this, just how much of a jump in quality are we looking at when comparing digital camcorders of the late 90s early 00's that were still recording on digital hi-8 tapes, to todays digital camcorders ?

and If i were to make a transition to a new cam, what would you suggest ?

Answer 1

If you want a big jump in image quality, you will be leaving the standard definition world and getting into the high definition world. Four times more information in high-def results in a much clearer video image - especially when played back on a HDTV.

Be advised that while there are newer storage technologies for consumer camcorders, this does not necessarily mean better imaging. If you start with the premise that more video compression = more discarded video data = reduced video quality then you will understand why most of the pro rigs continue to use miniDV tape - even for HDV. The flash memory cards (Panasonic HVX200) and external hard drive (FireStore, Sony) the pros use also store using DV and HDV.

The consumer flash memory and hard drive camcorders save in very highly compressed MPEG2 or AVCHD files and their video quality is not where MiniDV tape is with DV and HDV.

DVD based camcorders apply the most compression and are not worth whatever they want to charge for them. They make fine paperweights.

The Canon HV20, HV30, Sony HDR-HC7 and HC9 are great consumer grade, high definition (and standard definition) , camcorders with good manual and auto controls and 1/8" (3.5mm) mic-in jack.