OT: Would you guys recommend a mini-DVD cam?

Ptero wrote on 12/1/2005, 6:48 AM
I've been looking into upgrading my (Digital8) camera and having asked various people I'd pretty much fixed on a miniDV tape model (in particular the Sony HC42 or HC90). Originally I was considering one that uses mini DVD-R but I was told that because of lossy compression, the quality on these isn't as good as miniDV. Since I really want DVD quality that'll look good even on fairly large screen (e.g. 42" widescreen) that put me against the mini-DVD option.

Yesterday someone else told me that what I was told about mini-DVD wasn't true - that in fact the data is stored in DV format just the same and in fact, mini-DVDs are better in some respects (no dropped frames on capture, for example, as you can drop the disk into your DVD player and copy the files to hard disk directly, and less risk of data degradation than tape).

So now I'm confused, and hence this post - I decided to come and ask the experts. What do you guys think?

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 12/1/2005, 6:56 AM
You were lied to. The data on a mini-DVD cam is stored as MPEG-2 VOB files. While you can extract this data with some time and effort, it is more compressed than DV and is generally more difficult and a lot slower to deal with.

The only real advantage of a miniDVD cam is for those folks who want to simply take what they've shot and pop it in the DVD player for instant viewing without ever doing any editing.
Ptero wrote on 12/1/2005, 7:16 AM
...and that makes a lot more sense for various reasons. Thanks - I am now un-confused again and back to miniDV. The guy wasn't really "lying" in that I'm sure he *thought* he was telling me the truth - I think he was just ill-informed (he knows a lot about still cameras for sure but I can't speak for how well he knows camcorders).
Tim L wrote on 12/1/2005, 9:48 AM
A second strike against the mini-DVD cameras is that they only hold about 30 minutes of video per disc, although I think you can get longer record times by recording at a lower quality.

For me, a max 30-minute record time is a showstopper, for trying to record kid's band concerts or school programs or whatever.