Which type is better?

Question

I am buying a camcorder tomorrow and I don't know the first thing about any of them. I am just filming my son and family vacations. I don't want to spend alot like no more than 500 and also I am leaning towards a minidv or dvd, but I really don't want to buy any software and also I really want to put it on my computer and burn it onto a dvd. Please let me know how this works. Thank you...

Answer 1

It may seem that miniDVD camcorders are much more convenient as you can instantly view your footage on a DVD player, however I discourage you from purchasing them. The miniDV camcorders are much easier to edit, therefore much more practical for many applications. With miniDV camcorders, you would not need to buy additional software, as it is compatible with almost any program out there, including the default ones on your computer, Windows Movie Maker on PCs and iMovie on Macs. The only program I have found to work with DVD editing is the one by Ulead.

The process of uploading from miniDV to computer is simple, the only additional equipment need is a firewire cable (sometimes called iLink). All you need to do is this:

     (1)Plug in the firewire into the firewire port (usually in the back of the computer).

      (2) Plug the other end of the cable into your camcorder. It is very important that the camcorder is OFF when you plug it into the firewire cable. If power is running through the camera the same time power is running through the computer, you could destroy your firewire port in the camcorder. Your computer may be on though

     (3) After the camcorder is connected to the firewire, turn on the camera to VCR mode

     (4) a window should appear letting you know that your camcorder has been recognized via firewire, and will allow you to capture the footage. Should this box not appear, launch the program and once it is opened, locate a "Capture" button, opening the capture window, allowing you to record footage from your miniDV tape in the camcorder to the computer for editing.

   (5) Once you are finished editing, there should be a button that says something like, "save movie to computer" (in Windows Movie Maker at least), which will turn your project file into a standard movie file (.avi). You can now burn to DVD

Regarding which camcorder you should choose, looking at cameras currently available, I like the Panasonic PV-GS320 for its 3 CCDs ($400). I would consider upgrading to the PV-GS500 for its external microphone input, meaning you could upgrade the sound with an external mic (shotgun, lavalier, etc), however, it is $600, therefore out of your price range. I also like the Sony DCR-HC96 ($500). The Canon ZR-800 is a fair choice; it is cheap too ($230), but I really don't like many Canons in consumer camcorders; some are prone to tape problems (like the ZR40). Whatever your decision, I have a few words of advice:

    -Do NOT let anyone fool you into thinking super high optical zoom is a sign of a good quality camera; you really don't need all that much (12X or so would be sufficient)

    -I would buy a camera with a microphone input; audio quality is never good on the built-in microphone. Of course, you may not need this

    -look for cameras with good resolution! I don't necessarily mean HD, as they are much more expensive, but the more pixels the better (and I'm not talking about still picture capturing). Also look for low lux capabilites (for low light situations)

Good luck!