Q. Are there certain camcorders that I should look at to use with my Mac, or will my Mac be compatible with any decent camcorder?
I have a 24" iMac, as well as a mac mini.
I have a 24" iMac, as well as a mac mini. I plan to record my daughter's softball games and transfer and edit on my mac.
I would like to spend less than $500 on a camcorder.
I have a 24" iMac, as well as a mac mini.
I have a 24" iMac, as well as a mac mini. I plan to record my daughter's softball games and transfer and edit on my mac.
I would like to spend less than $500 on a camcorder.
A. If your Mac is one of the MacBooks or MacBook Air laptops with no firewire port, then you need to stay away from camcorders that require a firewire connection. This includes any miniDV tape camcorder. ALL other Macs made in the last 10+ years have a firewire port.
If your Mac is running a PPC chip, then you need to stay away from AVCHD/MTS high definition flash memory or hard disc drive camcorders.
Other than these specific items, since we don't know which Mac you are using, what your budget is or what you plan to use the camcorder for, it is difficult to make any specific recommendation.
If your Mac is running a PPC chip, then you need to stay away from AVCHD/MTS high definition flash memory or hard disc drive camcorders.
Other than these specific items, since we don't know which Mac you are using, what your budget is or what you plan to use the camcorder for, it is difficult to make any specific recommendation.
Any recommendations on a HD Camcorder that will work well with a Mac G5 PPC.?
Q. First off, very new at video/editing.
According to what I have read, the latest and greatest HD cameras record in the AVCHD format which can be used with Macs that have an Intel chip. I am unable to get an Intel mac.
No one has been able to help. Apple Store, local camera shops, etc... Anyone have a recommendation...hopefully from personal experience?
Thanks!!
According to what I have read, the latest and greatest HD cameras record in the AVCHD format which can be used with Macs that have an Intel chip. I am unable to get an Intel mac.
No one has been able to help. Apple Store, local camera shops, etc... Anyone have a recommendation...hopefully from personal experience?
Thanks!!
A. I've edited HDV format video on my G5 PPC, 2GHz, 2 gig RAM, 17" iMac, using iMovieHD '06 (also referred to as "iMovie version 5.0.2") for years (Sony HDR-HC1 and HDR-FX1).
I would not touch AVCHD. Too much compression.
Digital video compression = discarded video data = reduced video quality.
And since miniDV tape continues to the professional's choice, I'll stick with it - especially since the process flow for tapeless environments is still immature and there is no cost effective method to archive video.
I may not be a pro, but I can use the same stuff they use, and that would be capturing to DV and HDV video formats... not consumer-grade, highly compressed, anemic, AVCHD.
The least expensive, currently available, high definition, consumer camcorders that will work in your environment are the Canon HV30 and HV40. They also happen to be the least expensive HDV camcorders available with a mic jack and manual audio control.
The Sony HVR-HD1000U is a shoulder mount cam with lenses and imaging chip about the same size as those found in the Canon HV series. The Sony HVR-A1U is a hand-held camcorder with similarly sized lenses and imaging chip. While these are both in the Sony Pro line, for the most part, they are - in my opinion - "consumer" or "prosumer" grade. The HDR-FX7 and HDR-FX1 are in the Sony consumer line, but their larger lenses and imaging chips do a much better job in lowlight conditions - and while they have only a 1/8" audio-in jack, they should be considered "prosumer" or low-end pro.
The Canon XH and XLH series camcorders are their pro offerings. The Sony HVR line rounds out their pro offerings - unless you jump to DVCAM or HDCAM or XDCAM formats. The Panasonic AG-HVX series and the JVC GY series fill the pro lines for those companies. Panasonic is the ONLY company with any "pro" AVCHD flash memory. I have seen no real pros using any of them. Their HVX series uses P2 cards that write to DV/HDV/DVCPRO HD. The Sony HVR-Z7U use compact flash to write to DV/HDV/HDCAM formats. There are no prosumer or pro grade AVCHD cams that have an internal hard drive. The prosumer and pro grade cams using a hard drive (Sony or Focus Enhancements' FireStore) are all miniDV tape based camcorders and the drives are external - writing to DV/HDV format (no AVCHD).
Importing and editing video is a realtime activity. 60 minutes of standard definiton DV takes 60 minutes to import. 60 minutes of HDV format video takes about 2.5 hours to import in my configuration. I save all the active video project files to a couple of external 500 gig drives connected to my iMac. You will need to do a manual, custom, installation of the Apple Intermediate Codec. It is a QuickTime component and is on the OSX system discs. Editing is pretty straightforward once the video is imported. Rendering transitions, titles and special effects can take a bit of time, but if you are patient, the results can be very satisfying. Rendering out to h.264/720p computer readable files can take a bit of time, too. Downsampling to standard def and burning DVDs using iDVD is a breeze... but the downsampling and compression to DVD VOB format can take time.
I would not touch AVCHD. Too much compression.
Digital video compression = discarded video data = reduced video quality.
And since miniDV tape continues to the professional's choice, I'll stick with it - especially since the process flow for tapeless environments is still immature and there is no cost effective method to archive video.
I may not be a pro, but I can use the same stuff they use, and that would be capturing to DV and HDV video formats... not consumer-grade, highly compressed, anemic, AVCHD.
The least expensive, currently available, high definition, consumer camcorders that will work in your environment are the Canon HV30 and HV40. They also happen to be the least expensive HDV camcorders available with a mic jack and manual audio control.
The Sony HVR-HD1000U is a shoulder mount cam with lenses and imaging chip about the same size as those found in the Canon HV series. The Sony HVR-A1U is a hand-held camcorder with similarly sized lenses and imaging chip. While these are both in the Sony Pro line, for the most part, they are - in my opinion - "consumer" or "prosumer" grade. The HDR-FX7 and HDR-FX1 are in the Sony consumer line, but their larger lenses and imaging chips do a much better job in lowlight conditions - and while they have only a 1/8" audio-in jack, they should be considered "prosumer" or low-end pro.
The Canon XH and XLH series camcorders are their pro offerings. The Sony HVR line rounds out their pro offerings - unless you jump to DVCAM or HDCAM or XDCAM formats. The Panasonic AG-HVX series and the JVC GY series fill the pro lines for those companies. Panasonic is the ONLY company with any "pro" AVCHD flash memory. I have seen no real pros using any of them. Their HVX series uses P2 cards that write to DV/HDV/DVCPRO HD. The Sony HVR-Z7U use compact flash to write to DV/HDV/HDCAM formats. There are no prosumer or pro grade AVCHD cams that have an internal hard drive. The prosumer and pro grade cams using a hard drive (Sony or Focus Enhancements' FireStore) are all miniDV tape based camcorders and the drives are external - writing to DV/HDV format (no AVCHD).
Importing and editing video is a realtime activity. 60 minutes of standard definiton DV takes 60 minutes to import. 60 minutes of HDV format video takes about 2.5 hours to import in my configuration. I save all the active video project files to a couple of external 500 gig drives connected to my iMac. You will need to do a manual, custom, installation of the Apple Intermediate Codec. It is a QuickTime component and is on the OSX system discs. Editing is pretty straightforward once the video is imported. Rendering transitions, titles and special effects can take a bit of time, but if you are patient, the results can be very satisfying. Rendering out to h.264/720p computer readable files can take a bit of time, too. Downsampling to standard def and burning DVDs using iDVD is a breeze... but the downsampling and compression to DVD VOB format can take time.
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