Camcorder Formats

Before you think about brands and models of camcorders to choose from, first, decide which camcorder format suits your purpose. The 3 main camcorder recording formats are:
- Mini-DV
- DVD and
- Hard Disc Drive (HDD) camcorders.

In the video tutorial below, I explain why the Mini-DV camcorder is the way to go.

Mini-DV, DVD and Hard Disc Drive (HDD) Camcorders record their videos into different medium using different recording formats.

The Mini-DV tape stores the video files in the .AVI format.
The DVD stores the video files in MPEG-2 format.
The Hard Disc Drive (HDD) camcorders also stores in MPEG-2 format although there's some new high-end ones that are starting to store in an improved MPEG-4 format.

Of all those 3 formats, the .AVI recording format is by far the highest and purest in quality and accuracy. That is the reason why I strongly recommend going with Mini-DV camcorders.

Next: Single-Chip (1CCD) or 3-Chip (3CCD) camcorders?

Next: Single-Chip (1CCD) or 3-Chip (3CCD) camcorders?

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Myrtha:

Really enjoyed your site and mini video suggestions; especially on video formats. But if you are using .AVI format, how much storage space on your computer you should allocate for saving/editing the footages? I am currently looking to buy a new camcorder but really confused about which one I should buy for image quality, convinience, portability and simplicity to edit on my laptop.

Thanks,
Mike

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Dear Mike,
You picked up well that high quality translates to large files. 5 minutes of video in .AVI format takes up 1 Gig. An hour of video is almost 13 Gig. I have 160 Gig on my PC, I also bought a 120Gig external hard drive from Costco for less than $100 that plugs right into my USB port.

About choosing a camcorder, if you plan to do any editing, and quality is important for you, go with a mini-DV camcorder. Read the guide on http://simplevideoediting.com/buy-camcorder/
It talks about the three steps: 1. Narrow choices 2. Read Reviews 3. Find Best price.

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Dear Myrtha,

Thanks for the comments. One issue remains - if 5 minutes of video on .AVI format takes up to 1 Gig, the 50 minutes of .AVI video will takes 10 Gigs. How I can burn the standard 4Gig DVD single disk using my laptop for this footage?

Thanks,
Mike

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When you burn the video on a DVD, the DVD-writer software (I choose Roxio MyDVD because it comes free with most computers) compresses the AVI file into an .mpeg file so that a 4Gig DVD can fit about 2 hours of video.

Though this .mpeg file is 'compressed', it looks great on TV and PCs but not for video editing. As a rule, I save the .AVI video file just in case I want to edit that further or incorporate that into another video at a later time.

Hope that helps.

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Myrtha,

I recently bought a DVD camcorder and have found editing to be extremely difficult. If I am looking for very simple editing and we will only be using the camcorder for home movies, is an HHD recorder a good option. I obviously want good image quality, but would be willing to sacrifice a bit of it for simple editing.

Thanks,
Jake

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Hi Jake,
DVD camcorders are great for when you don't plan to edit. Insurance companies buy it for documenting damages, home owners buy it to document their assets, or folks who want to shoot, and send the dvd away unedited.

The HDD (I think you meant hard-disk-drive) is a much better fit for you if you plan to edit. Many benefits: first of all, you can delete video footage you capture you don't like, just like you delete a picture on your digital camera. When you want to edit, just plug the cable to your computer, and your computer recognizes it as another hard drive, similar to when you plug
in a thumb drive.

You can also use Windows Movie Maker -free software - to edit your footage. Here's link to a HDD camera. I'm not promoting this camear, I want you to read the COMMENTS because you will learn a lot. The Amazon page has a long
url, so I shortened it for you: http://www.snipurl.com/hdd_camera The link will take you to the amazon Review page
for a Panasonic HDD camera, where you will see long detailed stories of how hdd cameras work.

Good luck.
Myrtha
p.s. If you are looking for a quick way to learn Windows Movie Maker, check
out my site at: http://www.makehomemovie.com

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Myrtha,
I am about to shoot some green screen footage for a project. I took care of the lighting, now i just need to know the best camera to use. I have access to HDD,MiniDV, and DVD. Does green screen use affect my choice of camera?

Thanks
Oscar

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Dear Myrtha,

Found your web solutions very interesting and useful. I bought a Sony Handycam dcr DVD605 two years ago, assuming that its going to be very user friendly. I was also supplied with Nero DVD burning software with this machine. I use Sony DVD - RW 2.8GB discs (two sides) to shoot the movies. I need advise on how I can transfer the video data from both sides of the disc to a standard DVD disc. I tried to transfer the files in to two different directories (one from each side of the disc) on to my computer and burn them onto a standard disc using Nero s/w. While copying Nero finds both directories having same file name, and want to overwrite the existing one. Even changing the file name in each directory did not work.
Both Sony and Nero are not helpful in suggesting a solution.

I hope only a wizard like you can show me a way.

Many thanks for reading my story.

Regards,
Sudesh.

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Did you find a solution to this?
Thanks,
Kathy

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