After 16 years of service our old jvc vhs-c camcorder has bit the dust. We are looking to buy a new one in the $300-400 range. Ive read that mini-dv is the best quality in my price range but Im wanting to stay away from tapes now. I like the idea of the miniDVD but some people say its impossible to transfer your minidvd to the computer and then copy to a full size dvd. Others say its as easy as DVDDecyrpter read iso, write iso, done. Is the quality of the miniDVD really that bad? Will I loose even more quality by trying to copy to full size dvd? Im leaning towards the miniDVD for the fact that the re-write dvd disc can be used over and over. (thats if I can figure out how to copy to full size dvd) Any ideas or suggestions about recorders in my price range would be much appreciated. What should I look out for, stay away from etc... thx
MiniDV tape is far and away, still the best way to go for quality of the picture. MiniDVD's and hard drives don't have the same quality. I purchased a Sony DCR-HC96 in January. It uses the MiniDV tapes, and I am very happy with the product that I get from this camcorder. I video in widescreen.
ok 2 votes that say minidv is the way to go. How are you goes going about getting the minidv(tape) onto a dvd.
Most definitely download via firewire. Roxio, Nero, Windv, and many other programs will capture from your camcorder.
I doubt I have a firewire port on my computer but I could probably add the card. Any suggestions on witch camera to buy for around $350. Anybody have the canon zr850?
I have read about a number of problems with both Canon and JVC, in other forums, as of late. I would stick with Sony or Panasonic right now. There may be something in the $350 price range, but I don't know how good they are. Do a google for reviews on camcorders.
I have both the Canon Elura 100 and the ZR800. Both take excellent videos. Havent had any problems yet.
If you shoot widescreen, don't capture as mpeg2. It will drop the 16:9 flags, but I am not sure if that happens always or just with Vista.
PFloyd- Is it really that simple. could you expand on settings with Windv and I guess just convert avi to dvd with nero?
I bought my wife a JVC HDD camcorder for xmas simply for the ease of use and no extra tapes or discs to carry around. When I finally got around to capturing the video I was pleasantly suprised that "My Computer" recognized the HDD and I was able to open the files directly from the camcorders HDD with DVD Flick or ConvertXtoDVD to create my new DVD compliant files which burned flawlessly with Imgburn. I know the quality isn't the best, but for ease of use I don't think it gets any better.
The quality on HDD video cameras is good, so for yours and your wife's ease of use, you made the right choice. When I say that MiniDV tape is still the best, I don't mean to imply that the others are not good. They are.
I know that the miniDV are superior Bruce, but the quality of the HDD were good enough for me and the simplicity was the deciding factor. I also did my research before my purchase so I knew what I was getting format wise...no need to backpedal buddy.
Not a backpedal. Enjoy doing the video work. I just wish they had the good stuff when my kids were growing up. I use my video camera to video as much as I can of the grandkids, and my wife does too. Life is good.
