Hard drive Camcorder file format

tomas tinyo wrote on 4/13/2007, 7:17 AM

I am (newbie) considering investing in a (midlevel priced) camcorder and have been researching the Sony line, both in dv and HDv. From what i've read, the file formats are in MPEG-2 which is already highly compressed and difficult to edit.
May I ask for suggestions from those who use or have had experienced camcorders (other than Sony) that offer file formats in AVI or MOV as an option ?
If I stick with Sony/MPEG-2 , this site suggest downloading the DebugMode Plugin Pac to convert. I would like to see if I can skip this part,
Thanks in advance,
T

Comments

AlanT wrote on 4/18/2007, 4:48 AM

Hi T,

I have a JVC Camcorder with a 30Gb HDD and wouldn't go any other way now. The JVC produces .MOD files, but their really just MPEG2 with a different name.

I love the fact that you just plug it into the USB port on the computer and drag & drop all the files onto your PC's HDD.

IanG wrote on 4/19/2007, 1:49 AM

MiniDV and HDV are general standards - they're not specific to Sony (DVCAM is, but that's another matter altogether!). MiniDV is slightly compressed, but it's not MPEG. HDV uses the same MiniDV tape, but it does use MPEG-2. If you want HD then there's no option, otherwise you'll get the best quality by going with MiniDV.

As an aside, VMS doesn't care what make of camcorder's been used, though Sony do make good ones.

Ian G.

tomas tinyo wrote on 4/19/2007, 8:38 AM

thank you for the suggestions.

There are lot of quality Camcorders out there and I base my brands of choice as recommended by a certain 'consumers research' magazine which rated the Sony and Panasonic with the least problems (reported).

I have recieved (and read) quite a few suggestions recommending miniDV. I am about to borrow one from an In-law and see the advantages. I just wished that harddrive camcorders was just as 'user-edit' friendly as the miniDV.

Thanks,
T