A Hi8mm owner wants to know what Mini DV is! (1 Viewer)

DV is the current consumer camcorder standard. It's digital, so there's no degradation when making copies (until the tape starts to go bad, like with D-VHS). It uses a compression scheme similar to DVD. With a FireWire/1394 connection on your computer, there is no capturing per se; data is copied directly to the computer, which again means an exact copy. (With analog, there's a analog-to-digital step, which can vary in quality.) The frame size is identical to DVD, and there are more and more programs specifically designed to make the DV-to-DVD transition easy.

According to one technical overview of DV, DV is rated 9 out of 10 in quality, while Hi8 is only 5.5!

MiniDV is just the DV format in smaller cartridges, like 60 or 80 minutes instead of 2 or 3 hours for full-size, at SP. You can do LP, which gives you 50% more time, but that reduces cross-player compatibility. Actually, the mini size is much more popular than the full; the pros have other better DV-like formats, while the consumers prefer the small size.

//Ken

We have about 30 of the full size DV recorder decks at work ($3000 each). RON I have been shopping for a semi pro mini dv camcorder to record my daughter's wedding in Nov. The links are posted below. These are heavier camcorders than what the average person would use, but the quality is astonishing. 3 separate CCDs and a minime format.
Supposedly the MiniDV format is the only consumer true digital camcorder from front to back. I can never get a definitive answer on that, but that seems to be the case.
We used these at the university with great success. An alternative is the Sony CD recorder cameras. They can record MPEGS and JPEGS with sound. Very convenient for short videos. These were actually more practical for road use, and we did not need to do any conversion to use the MPEGS for web sites etc. We had a dependability problem on the ultra small camcorders with hard use. They tended to overheat and break.

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_g...3191e9dd9ff18c

Sony's MVC-CD500 Digital Still Camera isn't just 20% slimmer than its predecessors; it also features massive 5.0 megapixel resolution (effective) with a Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar 3X optical/4X digital zoom lens and the ability to write to inexpensive optical media.


http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_g...3191e9dd9ff18c
The DSR-PD150 is a compact DVCAM digital camcorder offering refined picture quality, features and operations suitable for professional use. It is designed for event videography, news acquisition, corporate video, the independent film community and production. Main features include DV/DVCAM recording, 1/3-inch 3CCD camera system, 12x optical zoom lens with 58mm filter diameter, 2-channel XLR connectors with +48V power supply, and Memory Stick® media slot, all packaged in a lightweight and robust magnesium die-cast body.


http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_g...3191e9dd9ff18c

JVC GR-DVL920 Digital Cybercam, featuring high-band 530 line processing and unique NightAlive low light shooting ability the GR-DVL920 is a remarkable camera. NightAlive combines a high-sensitivity 1.02M pixel CCD with slow-shutter and digital signal processing to achieve bright vivid full color pictures unlike other low-light solutions.


http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_g...3191e9dd9ff18c

The world's first DV camcorder designed from the ground up for professional ENG work, the GY-DV500 combines the convenience and cost-effectiveness of Mini DV with the performance and features you need. It incorporate three 1/2" CCD's for superior picture performance (equivalent to 750 lines of resolution) a superb sensitivity of F11 at 2000 lux and minimum illumination of 0.75 lux (LoLux mode). Ruggedly constructed with a rigid diecast magnesium housing providing the durability professionals need, the GY-DV500's compact design and light weight (less than 11 lbs. fully loaded) makes it extremely portable.
Additional features like the menu dial and Super Scene Finder assure ease-of-use and shooting flexibility, while the IEEE-1394 and RS-232 interface allow integration into various non-linear and post-production systems. A professional camcorder in every sense, the compact, lightweight GY-DV500 redefines acquisition for corporate, educational, cable and broadcast production, as well as wedding videography and multimedia applications.

http://www.nextag.com/serv/main/buye...3000&x=37&y=12

1/3.6-inch 1.33 Megapixel CCD
F1.2 Aspherical Super Bright Lens for High Quality Images
540 Lines of Resolution with Super High-Band Processor
4 Digital Still Image sizes (1600x1200/1280x960/1024x768/640x480)
NightAlive for Full-Spectrum Low-Light Shooting

ROn,

if you want to be able to play your older video-8 and/or Hi-8, you may want to consider Sony's D8 format. It uses the same motion-jpeg codec, but recorded on Hi-8 tapes rather than miniDV.

Yes, the camera is larger, but I personally never liked tiny cameras' ergonomics.

David has an excellent point!!!
If you are going to continue to use one camcorder for all your stuff that Sony unit is a good deal. Panasonic makes good stuff also. Many have taken that route as a transition. I decided to dump all my VHS stuff a long time ago and my JVC/twin cam camcorder is next. I can always play my old stuff in an antique vcr and patch it over to my hopefully new minime.

Ron, there has been a lot of discussion in the past about this topic in the After Hours section, you may want to do a search there.

Digital8 may be a good idea for you, but keep in mind, it's a very small part of the market, and very backward-looking IMO. Comparable to buying a Pioneer LD/DVD player in 1998 instead of keeping an old LD player and buying a DVD only unit. It's a Sony prorietary format (though other companies have licensed it). DV is the present and future of the camcorder market.

I have a DV camcorder and I love it. I can make DVDs on my computer with the digital output and it's slick as you can get. Some DV camcorders have A/V inputs and will act as an A/D converter, so you can plug your analog camcorder into the DV camcorder, then capture the video on your PC just as if it was DV. This is a great way to go IMO. I wish my DV camcorder did this.

Hi Ron,

I bought a sony DCR-PC101 for the birth of our first child a few months ago. I love it. Very small, easy to use and the quality of the video is superb. Since buying this model, guess what happened, yes, Sony has come out with a newer model, the DCR-PC105. Check this model out, better features and less list price. With DV, you cannot go wrong. Editing is a breeze.

Marc

Unfortunately, most of the consumer mini-DV cameras are rather limited by optics and low quality CCDs... the DV formats are capable of a better picture than the camera optics can deliver. However, the generational loss you experience with Hi8 is non-existant.

If you can afford the pricier 3 CCD cameras, go for it. They usually not only have better color due to the extra CCDs, but they also generally have better lenses onboard.

-Scott

Circuit City has Sony camcorders on sale plus you can get $100 back in MSN dollars (it is really a 20% deal but with a $100 max so any $500 or more camera maxes the rebate). This is an online deal only and you have to use a MSN wallet. For example, the TRV33 is $749 [plus the $100 credit]. Note you get the credit in Aug. They had a similar deal at Christmas the last few years and added this one for Fathers Day.

I don't know about MiniDV vs. Hi8, but given bright light, MiniDV units produce much better video than regular ("low-band") 8mm ones.

When Consumer Reports evaluated camcorders, they indicated that digital models as a group were not as good at handling low light as Hi8 models. So if you get a MiniDV camcorder, you might want to hang onto that Hi8 unit.

My MiniDV camcorder has a fuinction called "Gain-Up" that makes very low light camcording work really great. Grainy, but really great.

Much of the problem with low-light digital video is that the cameras have to compress the grain on the fly. All low-light photography has grain, but compressing that grain is not easy to do. The result is a poorer picture in low light conditions.

Ron, if you have no desire to edit, your Hi8 camera isn't far behind in picture quality as compared to the consumer digital models. In your situation, not needing to edit, I would stay with the Hi8. Wait another year... there are some amazing things on the horizon. Tape is becoming a thing of the past...

-Scott

Ron,

I am in a similar situation -- older Sony Hi8mm camcorder and a big trip scheduled for this summer. I looked into some of the MiniDV camcorders, but it's hard to justify the expense if you do not plan to do any editing (I do not, and it sounds like you do not either). DVD-RAM based camcorders are starting to appear, so I am not sure if this is the best time to jump into a tape format. I have decided to hang onto my Hi8mm camcorder for this trip, and instead used the money to add a Canon PowerShot G3 digital camera to my photographic arsenal.

I second (or third) the Sony Digital8 option. Sure, it's a proprietary format, but Sony is not exactly an obscure company either. Plus, how often are you going to be playing your tapes in someone else's camcorder? Once the information gets to your hard drive (where you probably eventually turn it into a DVD), it doesn't matter which format it came from, it will remain as AVI on your HD and you can convert it to whatever you wish in the future. I would go with D8, significantly cheaper. Additionally, they use standard 8mm and Hi8 tapes, which at least a couple of years ago were far less expensive than their MiniDV equivalent.

--
Holadem

With me, the second most important reason in choosing D8 over miniDV (or worse, microMV) is just the size.

Maybe my 2" 24-track 30ips background gave me this mindset, but I just don't trust anything that is tape-based which is that tiny. Just more margin for errors. Something I'd like to avoid when taping my daughter growing up.