Camcorders or VCRs with PIP? General questions...

[The Fred]

Good evening there folks,

I don't know much about this sort of thing any more.
I have a few questions - please answer them at your leisure and convenience.


First of all I'd like to know how I could record two angles at the same time.. Ideally I'd like to have the main angle with the second view in a little PIP type box (and have them perfectly synced)

So the best thing I imagine would be a camcorder with PIP... if they make those and they don't cost a million bucks. That way all I would have to do would be to connect one camcorder to the other one see.

Also if they are making PIP vcrs that would work fine.


I would also like to know the story on "HD".. I saw some camcorders at a pawnshop that said "High definition" on them but they didn't look all that whippy to me.. And how on earth could it be HD with that little tape in it?


Lastly, is it possible to get a VHS to hard drive transfer that looks at least as good as the taped video?





Thanks,
The

[kschang]

The answer to your question is... PIP is a decision made at edit time, since you can never know if your PIP is covering up something vital. You'll just have to get two cameras, then edit the two together at edit time.

As for HD... I doubt true HD camcorders have made their way to pawn shops yet, as they are just now entering the market. On the other hand, without specific model numbers it would be difficult to guess.

Finally, you'll basically need a very good digitzer AND encoder. The hardware MPEG1/2 encoders in modern PVR cards do a decent job given a clear signal.