Camcorder with native codec compatible with windows?

[sgparkin]

Hi - I need advice on buying a digital camcorder - nothing fancy, just SD preferably HDD or SDHC storage. The main problem is being able to distribute video taken on it to a number of people who will only have standard xp/vista codecs installed and won't be technically capable of fixing this.

I either need something which will record in an avi/wmv format with a standard windows codec or something which will automatically convert to such formats when plugged into the PC. DVD is out as XP doesn't have MPEG2 decoders as standard. I don't want to be having to convert all the files myself. Several people will be using the camcorder to record, and most will not be technically capable of anything complicated (or have the time).

Is there anything which has user customisable codecs at a reasonable price - less than £500 UK or $1000 US?

[filmboss80]

A lot of people with MiniDV camcorders capture the footage to PC with Window Movie Maker, saving the video as a .wmv file. It is one of the easiest things to do with video on an XP or Vista computer.

[tmw]

Doesn't Casio have like the youtube compatible video function on some of their point&shoot digital cameras? Sure, I'd never want it, but it might be what you are looking for.

[jojosly]

I'm new here. I my sons & I enjoy making home videos & using adobe to edit them. I need to purchase a new camera but have no idea which one. I know I want miniDV, I want to attach wireless mic and some type of lense filter to make video look retro. What is the best camera? Please help.

[sgparkin]

The problem with using mini-DV is that it's still too complicated - someone has to connect it up, put the camcorder in the right mode, boot up the software, locate the video to transfer, start the transfer (which could take a long time) and then specify the compression settings - which couldn't be done on the fly with the computers we're using. We also haven't got space to store uncompressed DV footage as avi files (about 20-30GB per hour I seem to remember).

If further compression has to be done on the PC after transfer it has to be no more complicated than - plug it in (software boots automatically), select videos to transfer, then software does everything else automatically. We'll have different people using this every few months and I don't have time to train them.

I'm suprised there still isn't anything on the market that can encode using standard windows mp4 codecs.

[MJA]

I'm new here. I my sons & I enjoy making home videos & using adobe to edit them. I need to purchase a new camera but have no idea which one. I know I want miniDV, I want to attach wireless mic and some type of lense filter to make video look retro. What is the best camera? Please help.

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic358831.html


no need for Thread hijacking

Forum rules / Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)
Do not hijack topics.

Please try to stick to the author's first post in each topic, if you want to discuss something else, create a new topic.

[redwudz]

I'm suprised there still isn't anything on the market that can encode using standard windows mp4 codecs.

There's not much that's 'standard' about MP4 codecs. It sounds like you need a fairly compressed format, and you should know that if you need to edit that, it's not so easy. And with most any MP4 format, you will have to install codecs to view or open the files. One alternative is to use VLC Media Player as it uses it's own codecs and can play most all formats. It's also freeware and easily available.

Probably the most universal codec for Windows computers is WMV, then MPEG-1, then MPEG-2. But converting from a MP4 codec to one of those also involves some time and added software.

**************

And jojosly, please don't hijack others topics. Continue in: https://forum.videohelp.com/topic358831.html#1903168

Moderator redwudz

[sgparkin]

It sounds like the answer to my question then is ..no.

There isn't anything that will record in a format that will play on any xp/vista pc without the need to installl additional software like VLC.

Could anyone recommend software that could automatically find and batch convert avi's to WMV?

[MJA]

how you going to distribute the video?


how about adding free software player to every video you are selling/giving away ?

[tmw]

Why not go for mpeg2 then? Any computer that can play a DVD can play mpeg2 files. You are right it's not standard on XP, but how many computers don't have DVD software with the codec?

[sgparkin]

the video will be on a network drive - it's a company with several thousand pc's. most users haven't got adminitrative rights and wouldn't be comfortable/able to install additional software to play the videos.

XP has no MPEG2 codecs. None of the PC's here can play DVD's without third party software/codecs installed - just barebones commercial licence XP.