upgrading mini-dv

Newuser12345

Have had a mini-dv for the last 7 years and it has broken down.

I was transferring from tape to PC using firewire, editing in Pinnacle and then creating a DVD.

I am 7 years out of date with the technology.

I want a camera that I can capture amateur family footage, trim, add music, photos in Pinnacle and output to DVD.

I remember limitations like firewire cables, movie lengths to squeeze onto DVD previously so just want to be aware of caveats

My other concern is that the movie format I capture will be difficult to edit

I am thinking of something along these lines, and would appreciate feedback

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/11681057/art/sony/hdr-cx190-high-definition.html

m83

That would be a fine upgrade for your purposes. You may also consider going with HDV as it should be easier to edit than AVCHD (less intensive) and you can record to your MiniDV tapes just like you've been doing all along. Also, if it's family footage it's nice to have that stuff on tape. MiniDVs are an excellent long term storage medium, something I cannot say about memory cards/external hard drives, etc.

ScumLord

Even the most basic camcorders are getting pretty good these days, it's hard to complain when you've got a €300 camera that can do HD. I don't think your that out of date as regards how you store video, I still use a firewire cable and miniDV and I'm still hip and cool. USB has only very recently caught up with firewire.

I'd look for a recent top 10 round up of consumer cams to see what's good at the moment. There's always new cameras coming out so you want to see what's the best value for money that particular month.

Newuser12345

Thanks for that- I want to move away from mini-DV as I would bring it to events and get tape dirty messages and I considered it to be unreliable

My laptop has 400GB HD 2.6 GHZ proc and 4 gig ram so hopefully AVCHD can be rendered

m83

If you're having performance issues you can always uncompress the footage. Check out MPEG Streamclip. It's top quality and free.

ScumLord

Newuser12345 wrote: »

Thanks for that- I want to move away from mini-DV as I would bring it to events and get tape dirty messages and I considered it to be unreliable

My laptop has 400GB HD 2.6 GHZ proc and 4 gig ram so hopefully AVCHD can be rendered

There are many advantages to other storage formats but miniDV is tried and tested and widely used which is probably why it's still around even though it seems archaic in this day and age.

I'm using SD with a go pro hero 2 camera and it is much, much more convenient just more expensive and of course still prone to weather damage so you will have to take care of your cards, they're easier to lose and sit on too.

HD video is very intensive and a laptop is restrictive in that it's more limited in upgrade options. What you can do is cut up your clips into smaller parts to work with.

You may want to consider newer software like Premiere elements that will be able to handle modern video formats and make full use of your computers processing power.

Freddie59

ScumLord wrote: »

Even the most basic camcorders are getting pretty good these days, it's hard to complain when you've got a €300 camera that can do HD. I don't think your that out of date as regards how you store video, I still use a firewire cable and miniDV and I'm still hip and cool. USB has only very recently caught up with firewire.

I'd look for a recent top 10 round up of consumer cams to see what's good at the moment. There's always new cameras coming out so you want to see what's the best value for money that particular month.

Same here. I use Mini DV (Canon HV40) and it's an excellent medium. OK - you have to capture in real time but that's not really an issue for me.