Is still worth to buy a miniDV camera?

[Soulman]

Hello folks,

I am planning to buy a camcorder. Here in Brazil, there are 3 possibilities:

(1) miniDV
(2) miniDVD
(3) Hd

The cameras that record direct to HD is still too expensive, so it's out of my plans.

I tried a Samsung miniDVD camera and hate it. Wrong colors, macroblocks, only 30min of recording.

The last choice is a miniDV camera. I would like to know if still worth to buy one. For how long I will find miniDV cassetes for sale. What is the lifetime of a miniDV recording head ?

Thanks a lot!
Andy

[mats.hogberg]

Not MiniDVD for sure.
Let your budget decide between the other two.

/Mats

[edDV]

Hello folks,

I am planning to buy a camcorder. Here in Brazil, there are 3 possibilities:

(1) miniDV
(2) miniDVD
(3) Hd

The cameras that record direct to HD is still too expensive, so it's out of my plans.

I tried a Samsung miniDVD camera and hate it. Wrong colors, macroblocks, only 30min of recording.

The last choice is a miniDV camera. I would like to know if still worth to buy one. For how long I will find miniDV cassetes for sale. What is the lifetime of a miniDV recording head ?

Thanks a lot!
Andy

MiniDV is still very viable even though the format is now 10 years old. Picture quality is far superior to MiniDVD MPeg2 depending on the quality of the camera section and lens.

MiniDV tape should still be avaliable as long as there is demand. 8mm and VHS-C have been obsolete for 5+ years yet tapes are still widely available.

One advantage to going MiniDV is the wide availability of high quality used models.

I haven't noticed head performance degradation in any of my camcorders. Some are 10 years old.

[Marvingj]

Mini Dv YES YES YES!!!! VERY STABLE & PROVEN!!

[MJA]

and MiniDV cams are cheap too.you can get a nice canon(ZR800) for less than $200

when choosing cameras its best to stick to these brands:
sony
canon
and panasonic.

Samsung cameras don't really score too well

[JohnnyMalaria]

MiniDV all the way...no question.

[lordsmurf]

Canon MiniDV

[turbolover1352]

Hi

Hello folks,

I am planning to buy a camcorder. Here in Brazil, there are 3 possibilities:

(1) miniDV
(2) miniDVD
(3) Hd

The cameras that record direct to HD is still too expensive, so it's out of my plans.

I tried a Samsung miniDVD camera and hate it. Wrong colors, macroblocks, only 30min of recording.

The last choice is a miniDV camera. I would like to know if still worth to buy one. For how long I will find miniDV cassetes for sale. What is the lifetime of a miniDV recording head ?

Thanks a lot!
Andy

Hi,
For at least 2 years of experience of working on mini dv camera i can say that it is still worth paying for . Of course you should know what you are going to do and it detemines what you should pay for. I am still satisfied with my mini dv camera and the edition process related.

[pepegot1]

I recently purchased a Panasonic GS500 Camcorder. It uses MinDV and is a very good camera. It is still a SDVD world inspite of all the push for HDVD. I have all the software and hardware to make movies, etc. HDVD is the future, but not today. It requires new hardware and software-all of which are not available today. When I make a movie, I don't need extra steps of downconverting to play on an SDVD player. What about the availbility of discs and other hardware? I don't see how HDVD camcorders are so much better in picture noticable quality via downconverting. My Panny does a great job! Be patient-stay with MinDV.

[MOVIEGEEK]

My old Sony miniDV camcorder still works great,as was mentioned the tapes are readily available.
Depending on your budget here are some features to look for:3CCD,A/V input for analog pass-through,sensor size,minimum LUX.

[pantsdavies]

I agree, rarely will you find an experienced camcorderist who will choose
minidvd over minidv.

I have owened 4 different sony digital camcorders over the years and never had a problem, picture quality has been great.

You may want to buy one with the most features you can afford.

Sometimes paying extra for
1) DVin and DVout(for sending edited footage back to tape)
2) Accessory Shoe(for external lights etc.)

are worth it in the end

[racer-x]

Bottom line: if price is an issue, go with mini-dv. If price is not an issue, go with HDV. Don't go with AVCHD unless you like experimenting as it's still very dificult to work with. Mini-DVD should be avoided.

The thing with HDV is you can shoot in HDV and export in either HDV or downconverted mini-dv if you want, yet keep the higher quality HDV on tape for future use. It's a no-brainer.............

[Undead Sega]

i would say it actually depends on wheather u own a camcorder before.

if so, and it was an 8mm tape, like video8 or Hi8, then i would recommend to go for a Digital8 camcorder, one that can playback your older tapes and the advantage to digitze them as well.

also, not to forget to mention, Digital8 is technically exactly as MiniDV, only difference is the physical appearances. Alot of people here will disregard Digital8 because they think its obsolete, which is not exactly true. Because they are still available around, and they are slightly cheaper than MiniDV tapes as well.

also, from my experience, because MiniDV is basically smaller that would mean that most of the time that their cams are small as well, this is a disadvantage because if a cam is too small, it will literalyl pick up all the shakiness from your hand, no matter how steady u try to keep it and even with an OIS on, and heck, it can go as far as having the button really tiny. even zoom is an issue and not a large enough CCD implanted compared to some of the consumer Digital8 camcorders.

hope that helps.

[zoobie]

saw a HD cam for $600 somewhere...

[MJA]

the dude lives in Brazil

[CrayonEater]

Yeah, I'll add that standard-format MiniDV is still great and will be around for a very long time. I haven't noticed any tape degradation and quality is excellent. I've had some tapes for 8+ years. I not very knowledgeable about the other formats, except to say that the major manufacturers do not produce decent MPEG-2 encoders, so it's not surprising that MiniDVDs look like crap. It might be a different story if someone built a camcorder around a Leica lens and used a Canopus encoding chipset, but that hasn't been done AFAIK, and, giving the trend of the industry towards HD, it's probably too late in the game for that anyway. I do not know much about the HD camcorders or formats, except to say that you'll pay substantially more, and not just for the camcorder either. If you're going to produce hi-def discs to give out to friends and family, you'll have to consider the cost of editing software, possibly even HD-DVD or Blu-Ray burners if you want to burn-to-disc, players, etc. which are all out-of-sight right now, and unless you are willing to store your shoots on tape, card, or your hard drive, until the prices come down, I don't see the advantage of it. Unless, of course, you are willing to make the compromises racer-x pointed out.

If your goal is to just shoot nice video and make DVDs so you can give them out to friends and family, your best bet is a decent MiniDV cam (I have a Some TRV-900, which, while very good, I won't buy Sony products again for other reasons). Use a Hauppauge card to import the video if you don't want to do any editing (or are willing to do edits that don't require re-encoding). Most SD MiniDV cams support fireware too, so you can import raw video either to a computer or straight to a set-top DVD recorder.

[Rudyard]

From personal experience I would steer clear of the mini DVD cameras. 2 people I know bought them and both have lost footage due to the mini dvds getting errors and being unable to be put on to the computer.

One of those was a contiki tour but one was the last moments spent with a dying father.

I managed to get the footage through an analogue capture using a cheap DVD player which managed to play through the errors but that is hardly ideal or a valid option for the format.

[2Bdecided]

miniDV, or HDV if/when you can afford it.

Personally, I don't think miniDV will be a "mass market" product for much longer - it's nearly obsolete.

However, it's the best choice now, and will be (at least supported) for quite a while - lots of semi-pros still use it, and HDV is based upon it, so there's more life in the tape format there.

Cheers,
David.

[stantheman1976]

Stay with a tape based camera as long as possible. Unfortunately these newer DVD cameras and hard drive cameras will push MiniDV off the market someday but not yet. MiniDV will still be around and readily available for a while to come. Like edDV pointed out, VHS-C and 8mm have been out of standard for quite some time but I can still walk into Wal Mart any day of the week and buy tapes and those tapes.

I absolutely do not trust this new generation of tapeless cameras. My MiniDV tapes will most likely still be working in 10-15 years while I most footage shot on those MiniDVD camcorders will be corrupt or unuseable because of poor storage and handling.

[mats.hogberg]

If I would dream, I'd dream about a HDD (or memory card) based DV camera, with at least the capacity of a tape based. It's not like tapes are something to long for - it's the DV format as such that makes DV the best choice.

/Mats

[Rudyard]

If I would dream, I'd dream about a HDD (or memory card) based DV camera, with at least the capacity of a tape based. It's not like tapes are something to long for - it's the DV format as such that makes DV the best choice.

/Mats

Just on that, are the newer HDD cam's that use HDV what you are after (except in the HDV not DV version)?
They are exactly the same as mini DV tapes recording HDV right, just to a HDD instead of tape. Maybe they can also record in DV format like my sony HC3 can (it has the option to use DV or HDV)?

I understand the mini dvd cams go straight to DVD MPEG2 standards rather than the high bitrate MPEG2 that HDV uses so they are lower resolutions.

[edDV]

If I would dream, I'd dream about a HDD (or memory card) based DV camera, with at least the capacity of a tape based. It's not like tapes are something to long for - it's the DV format as such that makes DV the best choice.

/Mats

Just on that, are the newer HDD cam's that use HDV what you are after (except in the HDV not DV version)?
They are exactly the same as mini DV tapes recording HDV right, just to a HDD instead of tape. Maybe they can also record in DV format like my sony HC3 can (it has the option to use DV or HDV)?

I understand the mini dvd cams go straight to DVD MPEG2 standards rather than the high bitrate MPEG2 that HDV uses so they are lower resolutions.

I have yet to see an internal hard drive in a consumer DV or HDV camcorder and there is no reason why not. A 40GB HDD would record over 3 hours in either format.

[JohnnyMalaria]

I like HDD but only if the drives are interchangeable and use a standard physical form and logical format. 2 1/2 inch drives formatted as NTFS.

Built-in/non-removable are no good for long shoots - e.g., on a safari. I got through 15 tapes - that's a huge hard drive.