Comments for Camcorder Carnival

Comment on I Have A Hitachi Dvd Camcorder Dz-mv550a Ntsc And I Can’t Figure It Out? by snowwill

snowwill — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:19:27 +0000

I recommed you to use Leawo Free DVD CreatorI think it is the easiest software i have ever tried, to burn video to dvd with menu.You can find Leawo Free DVD Creator here:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&newwi…
It must can help you, good luck!

Comment on I Have A Hitachi Dvd Camcorder Dz-mv550a Ntsc And I Can’t Figure It Out? by Kody

Kody — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:09:48 +0000

Once you have finished recording on your DVD you have to Finalse the disk you do this on your camera, through the menu. it now produces a disk that will play in most DVD players including the one on your computer.
put the DVD into your computer (do not do it unless you have a tray loading DVD drive, never do this if your dvd player is on its side or a slot that the dvd slides into)
open the dvd and look at the files/folders. There will be one called Video_TS copy that to your hard drive, providing your editing software will cope with the file formats you can edit them. if not you will have to convert them.
Go here for a converter its free and works well.
http://www.handbrack.fr
install and then you can use it to convert the video into almost any format you want.
Hope that helps
RR

Comment on I Have A Hitachi Dvd Camcorder Dz-mv550a Ntsc And I Can’t Figure It Out? by Rugratzz

Rugratzz — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:40:14 +0000

MINIDVD
If you have a mini dvd camcorder….
You will have to finalize your dvd in the camera and then put the dvd in your computer’s DVD burner (top loading only) and then you will have to convert the files (I downloaded http://www.handbrake.fr/ or http://www.any-video-converter.com/downl… file converter free) and import them into your editing program. Use the HELP feature in your editing program to learn about editing. Usually you would import your videos and drop them in to the timeline, add transitions, menus, music, etc. Once you are ready to burn, your project will be burned to a different DVD and you can file the original away.

Comment on Mini Dv Camcorders? by evilgeni

evilgeni — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 06:21:38 +0000

miniDV media type is undeniably the best in tape media category (and even compared to dvd type).
viewing is the same as a vcr – plug-in the rca cables and you’re set to go.
transferring videos to the computer is simple – connect it using a firewire cable, open the preloaded WMmaker (or any editing/capturing software) and you’re set to download. viewing is possible through any video player (WMplayer, nero, etc)
transferring to a dvd – after video has been uploaded to the computer, burning to a dvd is a sinch by using any dvd burning software (lots of free editing and burning software at the net). Some miniDV camcorders can transfer & burn directly to dvd burner.
The only advantage of a dvd camcorder over the miniDV is being ‘on the go’ type but records only for 30minutes of video (hey, that’s why it’s on the go type, hahaha); also doesn’t record really good/clear videos with the same length of time; and most of all price range of both the dvd camcorder and minidisc are really expensive.
suggest you go get a miniDV (with 1.3Mpix resolution) camcorder like jvc gr-d350or370, sony dcr-hc26or36 or canon elura100, and you’ll surely won’t regret it.
happy shopping!

Comment on Mini Dv Camcorders? by Mr. Spin

Mr. Spin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 06:00:59 +0000

minidv is best as in quality. but in quality AND ease of use, dvd beats it. dvd cams offer slightly less quality than mindvs, but some higher end dvd cams will beat the lower end minidv cams. since you said you dont want to do anything fancy, a dvd cam will probably be better for you, because you can pop them into a dvd player right after recording, and they are small and compact. if for some reason you do decide to go minidv, remember its more of a format for amateur filmmakers, and a lot more complicated as in transfering and burning onto dvd. hope this helps!

Comment on How Fragile Are Hard Drive Camcorders? by hal55

hal55 — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:48:50 +0000

rugratzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz is correct – but keep in mind that “fragility” is only one technical problem with hard disc drive (HDD) based camcorders.
The four issues that also count (at least in my book):
1) HDD cannot handle prolonged, high levels, of vibration. The source of the vibration can be loud audio – loud music (whether amplified or not); loud crowds, loud engine noise… even vibration from a vehicle’s passenger compartment if the camera is not mounted properly to shield the camcorder from that vibration. The result is the HDD heads will park in an effort to protect the HDD platters. The workaround is to disable the drop-sensor (which can result in a crashed hard drive) or remove the camcorder from the vibration (which can result in no video capture opportunity). If you continue to try capturing video in the high vibration environment, the camera will report a “Buffer Overflow” error message and not record.
2) High altitude (generally over 9,800 feet) usually results in very low air pressure. The hard drive head needs air to “fly” over the platters. When air pressure is too low, this cannot happen. The camcorder will not work. The resolution is to remove the camcorder from the low air pressure environment – which means you could miss the video you wanted to capture.
Neither flash memory nor miniDV tape have these vibration or altitude problems.
3) Consumer HDD based camcorders save their video files to very highly compressed MPEG2 (sometimes modified MPEG2) standard definition files – or if high definition, a very highly compressed consumer version of “AVCHD” (MTS) file types. Since video compression = discarded data = reduced video quality, and this happens at the first step, anything past this can never be “best available video quality”. For that, you need to start with less compression. In the consumer space, this means DV for standard definition or HDV for high definition. In the consumer space, this means miniDV tape. Even the external hard drives and flash memory the pros use write to DV and HDV (Focus Enhancements’ FireStore; Panasonic HVX200 P2 cards). There are a couple of AVCHD- based pro-grade camcorders from Panasonic – but there compression rate is not as severe as the consumer version AVCHD (24mbps vs 17mbps). Consumer flash memory camcorders use these same consumer video data file formats.
4) What are you expecting to use to archive the video captured by the HDD camcorder? What happens if you have not transferred video from the HDD and the camcorder is broken or stolen? With miniDV tape, if you do not re-use the tape, that tape is the archive – fill the tape, take it out, lock it, put in another tape, resume capture. Flash memory is not an acceptable archive media, but fill the memory card, take it out, lock it, put in another card, resume capture, applies. If the camcorder is stolen, you are out only the memory card or tape you left in it – not potentially hours of video captured to the hard drive. If the camcorder is broken, typically, take the tape or card out and use another equivalent camcorder – with HDD, that internal drive is not easily removeable – and you want to know that DriveSavers can recover your data, but they are expensive (maintaining clean rooms is not cheap).
Good luck.

Comment on Mini Dv Camcorders? by Ken

Ken — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:41:27 +0000

MINI-DV is the best quality for what you need.
Advantages:
– Fast response. You turn it on, and in seconds you are recording., compared to MINI-DVD, which takes time and has to finalize the disc and erase rewritables forever.
– Longer recording times on tape compared to a mini-DVD
– Excellent video quality, compared to DVD
– You can edit without losing any quality. Add music, FX etc… by transfering the video to a RAW file, which can take many GB of space.
Disadvantages:
– “1 to 1″ transfer time to PC. If you have a tape that has 1-1/2 hours of video, it will take 1-1/2 hours to transfer
– To transform the tape to DVD, you need to capture the video as a an MPEG2 (specific for DVDs). Then use software to make a DVD, Like Nero’s DVD wizard for home movies.
If you want quality and don’t mind learning a few things, then MINI-DV is right for you.
If you want to record directly to DVD with limitations and lesser quality, and don’t mind buying a stack of mini DVDs, and don’t like to EDIT stuff, then the DVD-CamCorder is for you.

Comment on Mini Dv Camcorders? by abby00uk

abby00uk — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:26:53 +0000

I used to have a mini-DV camcorder and I strongly urge you to reconsider. It is a pain to record on them because you always have to find the end of the tape where you last recorded. And you can’t play them directly to your TV without the camcorder itself. You can easily now get a camcorder that takes a mini DVD disk. It is random access, so no more skipping forwards and backwards to find blank space. You can put the disk directly in your DVD player to watch it, so no more transferring from DV tapes to DVD. It is WAY better.

Comment on How Fragile Are Hard Drive Camcorders? by Little Dog

Little Dog — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:22:03 +0000

lets just say I wouldn’t want to bang one very hard. Ok in a camcorder they are protected by lots of plastic, so that will help. 3g isn’t very much, don’t take it on a fair ride, most exceed that.
As long as you don’t trow it about you should be ok
Good luck
RR

Comment on Mini Dv Camcorders? by Earl D

Earl D — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:14:24 +0000

You don’t need to transfer to your computer unless you are doing lots of editing. What is your purpose of transferring to DVD? If it is for sharing and viewing and then making copies for family, then just purchase a DVD recorder with firewire. Only thing is the DVD recorder will only allow limited editing. By the way make sure the camcorder has the firewire option. My camcorder has the firewire and the analogue option for archiving older Hi8 or 8mm tapes. I would stick with MiniDV as I hear it holds up OK for viewing on HD. (I haven’t tried this)