MiniDV Camcorder or DVD Camcorder

[psxiso]

Hi.

Currently I have a miniDV camcorder, i'm not sure if that's what you call it, on the tape, it say miniDV digital video cassette. Anyway, I plan to get a new Video Camera for my trip to Vietnam.
I have look in the ads and see MiniDV Camcorder and DVD Camcorder, $500-$700 is the budget i'm willing to spend. Now i have trouble deciding which one to buy, I know MiniDV Camcorder is cheaper but i don't mind about that.
Can you give me a brief important area between the two?
Which one give better quality? i'm looking somewhere near or = DVD and so far i'm happy with the miniDV quality. since i don't have a dvd camcorder i can't compare the two.
Since i'm on the trip and most of the time is filming while i'm on the go, so what about the battery? Which one would last longer, which one is have cheaper battery so maybe i would buy 1-2 spare.
i know MiniDV tape is cheap and i can afford 10 and whiich is quite enough but i can always buy more in VN. What kind of DVD is a DVD camcorder use? will it cost much for having 10 DVD?
Is there any important reason I should choose one over another?
Which brand is better and which model if you recommend either one?

thank you.

[shredhead]

The problem I see with the DVD camcorders is that the camera will pretty likely be encoding the video to MPEG2 or MPEG4 for you on the fly, so you will not get the uncompressed video. You have to decide whether the convenience factor of having the video burned to disc for you is worth the tradeoff of not getting DV / uncompressed video. You might check into the hard drive based cameras as an alternative. The high def ones of those are $1300 or so, but there are still SD versions and I think they are within your price range. [I still use a Hi8 digital I have had for about 7 years!]

[JohnnyMalaria]

DV *is* compressed, just not as much as MPEG2. In particular, DV doesn't use interframe compression (each frame is a self-contained object), whereas MPEG2 does.

Hard drive camcorders typically record to MPEG4 (or similar).

To maintain maximum quality, DV is the most sensible choice. It's also the most mature format and there is a huge amount of hardware and software for Windows, Macs and Linux PCs.

If, however, you don't want to do anything to the original and just create a DVD, then a DVD camcorder may be just right for you. Shoot your footage, finalize the DVD and pop it in your DVD player (if it can play DVD5).

[mats.hogberg]

IMO, DVD camcorders are for those who just want to record, put the disk in their standalone player and watch. Period. If you're intersted in doing any editing and stuff, get a DV or HDD camera.

/Mats

[psxiso]

Looks like MiniDV is the choice after all. Currently I use standalone dvd recorder to transfer my DV to DVD and re-author them for menus and cutting etc...

[pepegot1]

MinDv is best. DVD quality not as good (not my opinion, as I have no practical experience with it, but by Expert Reviews from varying sources).. Must finalize-cannot switch rapidly. I just purchased a Panasonic GS500 MinDV and it is very good.

[Marvingj]

will record for an hour (LP - recommended) or 1.5 hours (SP - not recommended). As I understand it, a single side of a miniDVD disc allows 20-30 minutes. If you use a double sided miniDVD disc, you record for 20-30 minutes, stop, pop out the disc, turn it over, pop it back in.

For hard drive-based camcorders, they will record for hours, but you should probably be pretty disciplined to get all your recording off the hard drive to get edited (so you can free the hard drive space for the next project) and you don't get the "automatic archive" that comes with using miniDV tape. The other issue I have with hard drive based camcorders is that hard drives (an electromechanical device like the one in your computer) storing data are destined to fail. I would hate to have the bad luck of recording away and at some point have the drive fail. With a miniDV tape camcorder, if the tape fails, pop in another one and if the tape mechansm fails, use another miniDV-based camera.

If you have never had a hard drive fail in a personal computer, please let me know what the next set of lottery numbers are.

I guess it is all about trade-offs... for me, the best image quality available, combined with the built-in archive of tape, without the potential expense of having to contact DriveSavers to recover data and reduced possiblity of missing a shot (because I ran out of media), continues to keep me in the miniDV tape camp.

If I could not have a miniDV tape based camera, I suppose my second choice would be hard drive based... but I would still need some sort of archive method - preferably to tape. I have worked with miniDVD based camera discs - and I just cannot recommend those cameras based on the image results I have been forced to work with.

That miniDV tape is ten year old technology is actually good news - as it continues to provide the best quality image available - the manufacturers have had a long time to work through the quality issues. I use a Sony HDR-HC1 and [1080i] High Definition on plain old miniDV tape is awesome.

[SingSing]

DVD camcorder is easier to work with. The video on them are already in DVD video, and it can work with many existing DVD video tools. It also can be copied to distribute right of the camcorder.

miniDV is more robust for long term storage, because you only lost a small segement if the tape has some damage. miniDV will be unusable after the point of damange/scratch.

If you have not already invest in miniDV setup, I would said DVD camcorder is easier to work with.

But capture quality is mostly depends on the optics and imaging sensor and ..., and often that become a decisive matter.

[psxiso]

Oh yeah, one more question on MiniDV tape. How many type can I overwrite the old video and remain good/great quality before I need to buy new MiniDV tape? DV = Digital Video? if it's Digital, then it can be overwrite without quality being reduce? I know VHS tape does, but does it apply to MiniDV?

I use a Sony HDR-HC1 and [1080i] High Definition on plain old miniDV tape is awesome.

You mean as long as the Camcorder support 1080i DH then can use any miniDV and shoot at 1080i HD video? If yes I should get a good one this time coz I got a plasma TV at home

[Marvingj]

The Sony Handycam HDR-HC1's real draw is its ability to record 1080i HD video on standard MiniDV cassettes; it uses the recently implemented HDV format, which employs MPEG-2 compression rather than DV.

[turk690]

Since DV tapes are inexpensive, if you are really serious about a shoot you should buy new ones ALL the time. These are original videos you are going to shoot that you might want to come back to in the future for some reason. In this sense therefore, it is not comparable to time-shifting shows off the air on VHS where about the only goal is watch the stuff later and then reuse the VHS tape till it dies.
DV tape does degrade when you use it many times, and also when you use it in LP mode instead of SP. But since it's digital, degradation is different than VHS. The most common is dropouts while playing back, represented by rectangles cluttered over the picture, Assuming the tape heads and mechanism were clean when recording was done, when these dropouts do appear, the tape should have been chucked away about 5 recordings ago. Unlike VHS, DV picture quality IS identical in SP & LP modes. However, tracking is more critical in LP mode because the video tracks are narrower. When an LP-recorded tape is played back on another machine probability of mistracking (and therefore dropouts) rise.
Although DV tape is also used in HDV mode with HDV camcorders, HDV is MPEG and therefore with the same resources is not as easy to edit as DV. It's dandy to connect your HD camcorder direct to your HD monitor and watch all those awesome HD shoots but any attempt to edit requires the latest greatest Core2Duo with Premiere Pro CS3, for example, just to get off the ground.
IMHO, DVD camcorders are the attempts by manufacturers to sell something on the sexy idea of recording directly to disc, never mind that one side of a 3" DVD is merely 15 or 20 mins at the highest quality, and requires finalization. DVD was never meant as a domestic acquisition format, but the general public is largely not aware of that and so rush out lemming-like. Currently, manufacturers are easing off and have now began to promote HDD camcorders, which, of course, neatly sidesteps the 20min limitation of the 3" DVD.

[SingSing]

I use miniDV tapes from Sony, Fuji, and Maxell.

So far, my miniDV tape failures are all due to roller and cover issues. My miniDV tapes has lasted at least 5 to 10 times taped over, without any hints of de-grading.