My new HDV cams arrived today!

[Adam Mason]

And I just have to share my excitement with the world!

Sony HVR-V1E/V1p - they are a little heavy but they feel GREAT - robust yet tactile and the features / performance are much better than I expected! Now I just need to find some more cock to film ;-)

GayDemonJunior... you want to help me test my new babies :D :D :D

[Adam Mason]

In fact, Bjorn, I think it's time HD did you true justice too 666

[DirtyRatStudios]

Wow the fun really starts for you now then, working with HDV ;)

[basschick]

and then the REAL fun starts - encoding HDV *LOL*

[BentleyRace]

This is an interesting thread... I am buying a new video camera this year and wondering what is best. One of the guys at my camera store told me that I should stick with miniDV tapes because there is one less processing step you have to go through before you have the video in a state you can edit in (he's comparing to hard drive cameras).
I would like to get something that will give me better quality videos without having to go to some large piece of equipment (ie. it has to be held for long periods so smaller is better).
Any tips on what's good ?
Ben

[withmarcello]

I have just bought a canon XHG1/XHA1 and its great love it nice and light and easy to use
cheers Marcello ..

[Adam Mason]

This is an interesting thread... I am buying a new video camera this year and wondering what is best. One of the guys at my camera store told me that I should stick with miniDV tapes because there is one less processing step you have to go through before you have the video in a state you can edit in (he's comparing to hard drive cameras).
I would like to get something that will give me better quality videos without having to go to some large piece of equipment (ie. it has to be held for long periods so smaller is better).
Any tips on what's good ?
Ben

I guess it's as much about what you are used to as much anything else. I ordered a Sony HVR-A1E HDV pro-sumer cam and hated it. It felt lightweight, plasticky and horrid when compared to my old cams... but then the new, way more expensive cams which arrived yesterday are much nicer :D

[Adam Mason]

I have just bought a canon XHG1/XHA1 and its great love it nice and light and easy to use
cheers Marcello ..

Good luck... I bought 3 Canon cams a few years ago... every one went wrong within 6 months... with one having been sent to the repair shop every 6 months there-after. Hope you don't get the same experience!

[BentleyRace]

So can I assume you guys are preferring recording to MiniDV tapes rather than moving to the hard drive cameras?
I like the tapes because I can keep them aside for future projects rather than only having a soft copy.

[DirtyRatStudios]

Bentley I'm not sure if you are talking about standard MiniDV or high definition?

Most of the hard drive camcorders seem to use MPEG4 compression. Compared to MPEG2 for the tape camcorders. MPEG4 is heavier on the processor and the editing software and there is much less choice of editing software.

As far as standard DV is concerned, the MiniDV format is fantastic for editing and easy. It uses a variant of MPEG2 and providing you don't add filters or title, or crop etc. you lose no image quality due to editing.

The 'high definition' format HDV also uses MPEG2 compression and tapes, but it is more heavily compressed and the way it is encoded means editing always involves recompression. It is a lot more time consuming to handle than standard MiniDV.

If you get a tape dropout on HDV it wipes out 6 frames instead of just being a flash on one frame. Just one example of the kind of issues there are in working with it.

Whatever I am shooting on, whether I keep the master tapes or not, I always make sure I have a full copy of all footage on at least two DVDs. Suppose you buy an HDV camcorder and three years from now it breaks. If you haven't stored your footage off-tape you will have to buy another HDV camcorder to play the tapes and that may not be the best use of your money then.

[DirtyRatStudios]

I guess it's as much about what you are used to as much anything else. I ordered a Sony HVR-A1E HDV pro-sumer cam and hated it. It felt lightweight, plasticky and horrid when compared to my old cams... but then the new, way more expensive cams which arrived yesterday are much nicer :D

If that is your primary consideration for choosing a camcorder you could be in serious trouble. lol

[BentleyRace]

Thanks very much DirtyRat. You have filled a few gaps in my understanding. I'm a couple of months away from purchasing so I have some time yet to read some reviews. Without killing quality I will still lean towards smaller cameras because of the amount of outdoor and travel shooting I'm doing.
Cheers!
ben

[gaybucks_chip]

If you can still find one, the Panasonic PV-GS300 (and I think there's a 320 and 340) are probably the best quality small (palm-sized) camcorders that shoot standard DV format to tape. They are 3 chip cameras which are noticeably better for color accuracy and contrast than the single-chip cameras that most of the palm-sized camcorders use. I think the GS300 is about $500 or so new.

The next step up would be something like a Canon GL2 (or whatever its current replacement is). A very fine camcorder that's somewhere between 1200-1600 last I looked.

Next step beyond that would be something like the Canon XL-2 or Panasonic DVX-100B. I'm personally partial to the DVX because it's a little smaller and better weight balanced, plus, honestly, I think it's very slightly better optically, but both are excellent choices.

Hope that helps.

[Adam Mason]

If that is your primary consideration for choosing a camcorder you could be in serious trouble. lol

There were plenty of other considerations too... stability, weight distribution, ease of use, picture quality, performance, features... but hey, if it doesn't feel right in your hand then it's not right for you!

[DirtyRatStudios]

Plasticky is definitely a problem if it creaks and squeaks ruining the soundtrack :-D