Is this a good Camcorder ?

Question

I need a DVD cam but I'm not sure if this a good brand.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&MSCSProfile=3C79F0C7EA3162B2F284847AD36A6DE62F945D0DB939372677305B524C61403E8AD47FC9FC359294D74830F7804A1136BCE1A6349BB5D36739EA72E8C092D8DB6EC8D7D284A3E0D6D462129E31771E6D94B4CE46CA91D2F4AA9581E2F452C28BD5D2C30548D0A8966331A89399D8E4A872D70664841E2F7B&sku_id=0665000FS10085095&catid=#

Answer 1

Yes, it is a good one. I like Canon.

Answer 2

PLEASE DO NOT BUY A DVD CAMCORDER.

Highest compression of the available storage formats results in lost data = poor video quality... especially if you have any intention of ever editing. The DVD based camcorders will compress into a VOB file typically not useful directly by most video editors. That typically means ripping the DVD or using the analog AV cables that come with the camcorder and transferring low-quality analog video through a analog/digital bridge.

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

The BEST quality video comes from camcorders that use miniDV tape (which record into DV format for standard definition video). There is very little compression applied and if your computer has a firewire port, DV can be editied by pretty much any video editing application. You will use the DV port of the camcorder connected to the firewire port of your computer - using a firewire cable (firewire, i.Link, IEEE1394 are all the same thing).

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

Higher video quality than DVD based and not quite miniDV tape based camcorder video quality are the hard drive and certain higher-end flash based camcorders - they typically compress a lot into a MPEG file format. Most (not all) video editors can deal with this with not additional codecs - but the translation apps are available for all editing apps to deal with them.

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

When you use MiniDV tape, it is your "archive". Fill a 60 minute tape, pop out the tape, put in a new one and start rolling. I can use around 5 seconds from the time I press stop, replace a tape and am recording again.

When you use a hard drive based or flash memory based camcorder, what happens when you run out of memory? You need to transfer video to a computer, delete the files from the camcorder and start shooting again. Yes, they hold many hours of video - you have to be sure to clean it out each time - just like you need to remember to carry blank tapes.

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

Video is only part of the whole ecosystem. Most low-end and mid-range camcorders do not have any manual audio control and have to rely on an auto audio leveling circuit. For the most part, this auto-audio gain mechanism cannot deal with loud sounds - including loud music - this can be loud from a marching band or loud from amplified instruments. The resulting audio will be muddy and not usable. You can either find a Sony camcorder (DCR-HC28, DCR-HC96) that has a menu selection for normal or low gain for the audio or you can use an external device to control the gain (like a BeachTek XLR adapter - but you would be using a camcorder with a mic-in jack and XLR mics) or you can find a camcorder with manual audio control. The least expensive ones I know of are the Canon HV20 or Sony HDR-HC7.

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

If you get a miniDV tape based camcorder, you will use firewire to transfer video to your computer through the DV port. If you get a hard drive or flash memory based camcorder you will use USB to copy files to your computer.

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.