Q. A friend of mine is having a baby (my first pregnant friend I feel like i'm growing up!) and I want to get her a camcorder for the babyshower present. I think it's a good gift so she can capture her baby's growth after its born! Anyways, I have done a bit of research on the subject, but not sure what is the best type of camcorder to get. From what i can tell, there are three major kinds: DVD, flash drive, and hard drive. Can anyone tell me a little about the pros and cons of each of these and what they think would be the best one to get? Thanks! : )
when i said flash drive i meant to say flash memory.
when i said flash drive i meant to say flash memory.
A. What's your budget and what video quality are you expecting?
Is the plan for her to be able to edit the video?
You identified the 3 common consumer-grade media types. The fourth, still used by a few consumer grade camcorders (but more commonly used in prosumer and pro grade) is digital tape.
DVD camcorders use recordable DVD blanks. The standard def cams record to very compressed VOB files. Single sided miniDVDs store only 20 minutes of high quality video. Double sided can stoer 40 minutes. In either case, the video is VERY compressed and not meant to be edited. If the video is ripped from the DVDs for editing the video quality is generally very poor. No one should ever waste money or time with these. Ever. They barely make useful doorstops.
Hard disc drive and flash memory standard def camcorders record to MOD or MPG video files. Use a USB cable to get these files to a computer, convert the files to a format the video editor can use, edit, save as or export. These files are not as compressed as the DVD VOB files, but they are still compressed a lot. Hard disc drive and flash memory high def camcorders record to TOD or MTS video files. Use a USB cable to get these files to a computer, use and editor that can deal with MTS files or convert the TOD files to something more editor friendly, edit, save as or export. These files are compressed a lot. A relatively new computer with a FAST CPU is required to edit, transcode or even watch this video. Need lots of RAM and computer hard drive space too. Since the expectation is that once the video is transferred form the camcorder to the computer that the camcorder hard drive or flash memory is cleared for the next video to be captured, what happens to the computer hard drive when it is full? One way is to use a RAID1 multiple hard disc array in a NAS. Another is to burn data DVDs... Archiving video that was not used can be expensive.
Then there is miniDV tape. Digital tape. Relatively inexpensive $ per gig when compared to other storage methods, DV and HDV video quality is least compressed when compared to the other video formats. The digital video stopred on digital tape is just as digital as that which is stored on the hard disc drive, flash memory or DVD media - just less-compressed...
But it all starts with your budget... so before anyone can thow manufacturers and model numbers at you, we need to know what you are willing to spend.
Pocket cams: Flip, Xacti, Zi8 up to about $300
entry level consumer cams: Canon ZR960 (miniDV tape), FS200/300 (flash memory): standard definition: up to about $400; Sony HDR-CX100 series, Canon HF R series up to about $600
mid range consumer cams: Canon HV40 (miniDV tape), HF 100 up to about $1000
high end consumer cams: Canon HF S series; Sony HDR-CX500 series
Prosumer and pro-grade go up from here.
I don't recommend hard disc drive cams becasue their hard drive is not replaceable, they have known issues with vibration, it is too easy to fill the drive and be stuck - and they have known issues with high altitude. With flash memory or miniDV tape, just keep blank media around. They do not suffer form the vibration and high altitude issues.
With miniDV tape, the computer must have a firewire port for getting the video from the camcorder to the computer. If there is none or none can be added, then your only real choice is flash memory.
Is the plan for her to be able to edit the video?
You identified the 3 common consumer-grade media types. The fourth, still used by a few consumer grade camcorders (but more commonly used in prosumer and pro grade) is digital tape.
DVD camcorders use recordable DVD blanks. The standard def cams record to very compressed VOB files. Single sided miniDVDs store only 20 minutes of high quality video. Double sided can stoer 40 minutes. In either case, the video is VERY compressed and not meant to be edited. If the video is ripped from the DVDs for editing the video quality is generally very poor. No one should ever waste money or time with these. Ever. They barely make useful doorstops.
Hard disc drive and flash memory standard def camcorders record to MOD or MPG video files. Use a USB cable to get these files to a computer, convert the files to a format the video editor can use, edit, save as or export. These files are not as compressed as the DVD VOB files, but they are still compressed a lot. Hard disc drive and flash memory high def camcorders record to TOD or MTS video files. Use a USB cable to get these files to a computer, use and editor that can deal with MTS files or convert the TOD files to something more editor friendly, edit, save as or export. These files are compressed a lot. A relatively new computer with a FAST CPU is required to edit, transcode or even watch this video. Need lots of RAM and computer hard drive space too. Since the expectation is that once the video is transferred form the camcorder to the computer that the camcorder hard drive or flash memory is cleared for the next video to be captured, what happens to the computer hard drive when it is full? One way is to use a RAID1 multiple hard disc array in a NAS. Another is to burn data DVDs... Archiving video that was not used can be expensive.
Then there is miniDV tape. Digital tape. Relatively inexpensive $ per gig when compared to other storage methods, DV and HDV video quality is least compressed when compared to the other video formats. The digital video stopred on digital tape is just as digital as that which is stored on the hard disc drive, flash memory or DVD media - just less-compressed...
But it all starts with your budget... so before anyone can thow manufacturers and model numbers at you, we need to know what you are willing to spend.
Pocket cams: Flip, Xacti, Zi8 up to about $300
entry level consumer cams: Canon ZR960 (miniDV tape), FS200/300 (flash memory): standard definition: up to about $400; Sony HDR-CX100 series, Canon HF R series up to about $600
mid range consumer cams: Canon HV40 (miniDV tape), HF 100 up to about $1000
high end consumer cams: Canon HF S series; Sony HDR-CX500 series
Prosumer and pro-grade go up from here.
I don't recommend hard disc drive cams becasue their hard drive is not replaceable, they have known issues with vibration, it is too easy to fill the drive and be stuck - and they have known issues with high altitude. With flash memory or miniDV tape, just keep blank media around. They do not suffer form the vibration and high altitude issues.
With miniDV tape, the computer must have a firewire port for getting the video from the camcorder to the computer. If there is none or none can be added, then your only real choice is flash memory.
video camera /camcorder?
Q. My daughter recently had a baby and I would like to purchase a cam corder for her. She does not have a computer.I do not understand all the technical aspects. Is there a recorder that I can purchase to capture moments of the baby, and then view them on the tv or another method?
A. All camcorders can connect to a TV if the TV has AV inputs (like those used for video games or a VCR or a DVD player).
Since she does not have a computer, there is no place to store or transfer video captured by a hard drive (HDD) based camcorder, so this is not a good solution.
What is your budget?
MiniDV tape and flash memory are removable, so when the tape or the memory card are full, just take it out of the camcorder and put in a new one. Flash memory is still pretty expensive - but either MiniDV tape or flash memory camcorders will do.
For a real camcorder, the Canon ZR900 or ZR930 miniDV tape based cameras are good options.
For a pocket camera that takes stills and some video, the Canon PowerShot family works pretty well.
PLEASE do not bother with a DVD based camcorder. They barely make decent doorstops.
Since she does not have a computer, there is no place to store or transfer video captured by a hard drive (HDD) based camcorder, so this is not a good solution.
What is your budget?
MiniDV tape and flash memory are removable, so when the tape or the memory card are full, just take it out of the camcorder and put in a new one. Flash memory is still pretty expensive - but either MiniDV tape or flash memory camcorders will do.
For a real camcorder, the Canon ZR900 or ZR930 miniDV tape based cameras are good options.
For a pocket camera that takes stills and some video, the Canon PowerShot family works pretty well.
PLEASE do not bother with a DVD based camcorder. They barely make decent doorstops.
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