Looking for a decent video camera

[jayanath]

Lets pretend the budget doesn't matter for a bit... I dont know what storage medium to use.. Tapes are definitely out of the picture cuz it sounds pretty annoying. So my choices are:

1. DVDs: If i use dvds how much recording will one disc last. And also how about when I have to upload to the computer to edit, is it easy as the hard drive or the tape. I mean do i have to rip the dvd or something like that or can i just take out scenes separately and edit. If i can take out scene by scene is it convenient or annoying..

2. Built-in hard drive: Don't see much trouble here except the higher the memory the higher the price How much mins/hours will forty gigs record? I suppose they don't make ones with a built in hard drive + optional DVD support when memory runs out

3. Memory cards??? (don't know bout how useful it can be...) I have no idea what the point of using memory cards on a video camera is considering the amount of space videos will take up...

Oh yea and what sensor(ed) camera should i use? i know quality wise they're all the same.. but what about price wise? (i know that i said budget is not a problem but still)

I'm buying outside the US so discount prices online are not much help for me but would be helpful if someone can point to a link or website to look at. I'm also not in a hurry to buy this one cuz i'm thinking of getting replacing my compact camera with a dSLR first

thanks for your help sorry its too long

 

[Fardringle]

In my opinion, Mini DV (tape) is the most convenient of any of the options. A $3 tape holds 60 minutes of video and when it's full, just toss in a new one. Storage is virtually unlimited as long as you have tapes and you can get them at any grocery/department store and even at a lot of gas station convenience stores. Video transfer to computer is just as easy as any other method.

The DVD recording cameras are interesting in that you can (theoretically) just toss the mini recordable discs in a DVD player and play them directly, but they are expensive and I haven't found many places that carry them (I admit that I haven't really looked closely). From what I have seen, the DVD recording cameras are also larger physically than the other options.

A camera with a built in hard drive has probably the fastest transfer from camera to PC, but when you run out of storage space on the hard drive, you are done recording and can't do anything else until you get to a PC. This usually won't be an issue if you only record small amounts at a time, but if you are at a long event (like a wedding) or on vacation somewhere, it could be a problem.

Flash drive cameras have the same convenience as Mini DV tape and DVD cameras, but flash memory is a lot more expensive than the DV tapes. Depending on the video quality and compression method used, might get about an hour of video on a 4GB memory card.

 

[jayanath]

So tapes it is..

I wasn't expecting to solve the problem with one reply anyway so what about the quality? Can the tapes record at high resolution... or should the question be will Mini DV tape cameras record in higher resolutions as the hard drive equipped ones... I know that the tapes can mess up over time but that wont be a problem as i can back them up
And also what brand should i look into.

DVD's are not an option anymore thanks for narrowing it down

 

[RanDum72]

If you go HD, DV (or HDV) tapes have better quality than harddrive, flash or DVD format camcorders, at least in the consumer market. Less compression, higher bandwidth. But they are bulkier than flash players and there is wear and tear on the tape itself and video head mechanism. Also, there is no instant access to a specific portion of the recording. And transfering to PC means hooking up to firewire or USB.

I think flash-based camcorders will be the ultimate platform. Lighter, less moving parts (shockproof), etc.. And flash memory has been getting cheaper and capacities are getting bigger.

 

[jayanath]

Hmm the size doesn't matter that much cuz i probably wont save that much packing space and i tend to drop small things cuz my hands aren't that small... I probably wont use the same tape over and over again either since the tapes aren't expensive. I don't need to skip the only time I'll be reviewing the tape will be when I'm uploading them and I'm not a big fan of flash cards either. I can get more recording time on the tapes for the same time. The USB or firewire part doesn't bother me.

So i guess its time to look into those HDV tapes
Thanks for your help guys