Used Jvc Hd Camcorders
What should I get or which is better? Mini DV or HD camcorders?
Hi, I am starting to film some shorts independently and I am wondering what type of camcorder to get. I was originally looking into Mini DV but now I found a Sony Handy cam HD camera for $459. I am wondering what I should do. I originally only wanted to spend $300 on a camcorder because I want to buy a computer too. I have a few questions regarding both types of camcorders:
1. Is there an HD camera that uses tapes rather than Hard Drive. Is there a difference? Which is better?
2. Can I still use regular blank DVDs to copy my projects on with an HD camera?
3. What are good models/makes (i was thinking JVC or Sony) for both mini dv and HD?
4. Off topic, but what type of computer should I get. Laptop or Desktop. What do you think about Macs?
Thanks.
If by “HD”, you mean “high definition”, responses in order:
1) Canon HV20/HV30/HV40; Sony HDR-HC9. HDV format video is less compressed than AVCHD compressed video. Less compression = less discarded video = better video quality.
2) Yes. If rendered to VOB format, then the high definition video will be downsampled to standard definition. If burned as a data file as a high definition video file, regular DVD players can’t play back the video.
3) Canon HV20/HV30/HV40; Sony HDR-HC9 are the least expensive camcorders that can record DV and HDV and have a mic jack and have manual audio control.
4) I used to be an IT manager. We had 500 Macs and 500 Windows machines across 13 offices throughout California. We were responsible for all the LAN/WAN connectivity, remote access, email and other shared services and printers… I had a staff of 6. Two and me taking care of the Macs with spare time to help the others take care of the Windows machines. My family member are Mac users – the last thing I felt like doing was coming home to do more tech support. For video, the integration and ease of use of the bundled iLife suite, especially iMovie-iPhoto-iDVD-GarageBand is amazing.
Do you need to be portable? If not, then an iMac – or even a MacMini. If you need to be portable – and if you get a miniDV tape based camcorder DO NOT get a new MacBook – there is no firewire port and no way to add one, so no way to import video from the miniDV camcorder… or get an older used one with a firewire port. I’ve been editing HDV on a 4 year old iMac 17″ flatpanel for years… If you decide to go with Windows/Vista, you will need to buy video editing software because MovieMaker cannot deal with HDV format video – Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere float to the top (the current version of iMovie can deal with both HDV and AVCHD).
JVC HD Camcorder Add
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Belkin IEEE 1394 4-Pin/6-Pin 400 Mbps FireWire Cable (6 Feet) $4.15 Quad-shielding400Mbps6′… |
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Panasonic AY-DVM60EJ5P MiniDV Tapes (60 Minute, Pack of 5) $4.95 Panasonic Mini DV Cassette MiniDV – 0.25… |
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Sony DVC-60 PRR/5 Premium Minidv Videocassette (5-Pack) $7.50 Sony DVM-60 PRR/5 Premium-Grade miniDV Videocassette… |
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JVC Everio S GZ-MS100 Flash Memory Camcorder w/35x Optical Zoom (Red) $399.00 Compact Slim Design; One Touch Upload to YouTube Konica Minolta 35x optical Lens and 800 x digital zoom Records directly to a SD / SDHC memory card (card not included) 1 hour recording at the highest quality (Ultra-DVD Movie) with a 4 GB SDHC memory card 2.7-inch 16:9 widescreen clear LCD; Auto LCD backlight control… |