MiniDV vs HD vs... Best video camera for home?
 

So I have a kid now, and I don't wanna lose his little monkey snorts forever.. So I now have a need for a video camera.

I was looking at the JVC Everio GZ-HD3 at a store here, selling for $1,399. I'm sure if I shop around I can get it for cheaper.. But is that the way to go? It has a 120gb HD in it.

I used to have a Canon GL-1, loved it. Had to give it up when I dismantled a business some years back. I wonder how this "HD" one would compare to a good semi-pro camera like a GL-1?

Again, it's just for family use, I don't have plans to attach a speculum and go anal diving or anything...

Is it wise to get a camera with a hard drive, versus using miniDV tapes? Any disadvantages?


Here is the HD3

http://www.teds.com.au/www/6/files/hd3.jpg

The HD7

http://www.productwiki.com/upload/im...rio_gz_hd7.jpg

Here is the Canon GL-1.. I see I can get one of these for sub-$1000 mark nowadays

Bit older I guess, but maybe still worth the dough? I think I paid $5,000 for it way back when

http://www.pubdef.net/uploaded_image...gl1-753137.jpg

I would steer clear of the HDD cameras...

for home use yes they are great.... for the grab and go on vacation ect ect.. IMO (i post a over 25 DV , dvcreator, DVInfo, ect ect boards, )tape is still the way to go.. then you will always have archive... no matter what.. your child saying da da is not something that you want to loose when the PC (or mac but unlikely) takes a shit now you loose everything unless you edit it and go to dvd right way and keep the dvd... and remember tape is always going to be better that dvd as far as clarity go's... DVD is a compressed version tape is raw... now you can get the HDV codec for cheap from either cannon or sony and the pic quality is amazing.. I personally shoot with z1u's but I recently had a chance to play with the HV30 from cannon and do side by side on the 56 inch 1080 dlp TV from the same source via HDMI and I was very very impressed with the hv30.. I got a deal with sony or I would get one so I am looking at the sony's myself for the wife to have to to a pos on the kids...

bottom line is the HDV codec will blow the gl2 away no questions asked even from a little handheld..

if you want to pick my brain a little more on the deal I will be in front of the comp for a while here just give me an icq 164317652

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...Camcorder.html

is a link for the hv30.. here is the good thing about it.. you will be shooting HD on a minidv tape.. so hd all day long for the 3 dollar tapes.. then you can archive for ever...

I was looking at this one for the wife

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...#goto_itemInfo

get a cam with the hard drive or like the one I have shoots to cards and hard drive.. the sony hdv 11 or something like that. shoots full rez too... great camera.. go to www.sonystyle.com and look around... -bmb

You can find good ratings/reviews of cameras here:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/ratings.php

I agree that HDV is a stronger format than AVCHD at this stage and think HV30 is the winner there.

cams shoot avi for SD and m2t for HD (or similar compressed format except for the higher end cams) same going to tape or hard drive. my cam shoots over 7 hours to a 60G drive of full rez hd

I got a DEAL on a 3CCD PanasonicHDC DX1. I never would have bought a camera that shoots to dvd except that this was on sale at frys for 350.00 brand new it was the only one they had so I nabbed it figuring if nothing else its a great HD throw away camera for b roll and such.

Now I am finding I like it, a lot it was a steal at that price. a doube sided disk will easily shoot one of my bukkakes in the highest quality mode and once you get used to working with AVCHD it is a SWEET format for porn.

That said I would disagree with dirtydanza on the hdd cameras they shoot in avchd and you can easily archive 2 hrs of HD footage on a DVD5 and unlike tapes it wont degrade or malfunction, if you take reasonable care of it.

so the point is you should be able to find a 700 dollar ballpark HD camera that shoots avchd to a disk or a dvd with exceptional quality

Some great info here.. Nice chatting with you on ICQ Danza! Much appreciated.

From what I've gathered so far, I think the hard-drive cameras would be convenient, but also when I go on vacation I don't want to be transferring either.. So I think for that, tapes is probably the way to go. DVD's I would personally have a problem with, just because of my personal organizational standards, and the way I treat my CD's and DVD's.. It's bad. :P I'm 100% sure my negligence would creep there too lol.. However if I could find one for $350 I might be inclined too!!

I still don't fully understand the difference between AVCHD and HDV.. To wikipedia with my ass.

Just bought a sony HD with a HD 40 gig. Mostly for home use.

As for back ups of those,. Burn then to disc, THEN EDIT them.

Seems the biggest issue might be the HDV resolution limits? AVCHD will do 1920x1080, while HDV only goes to 1440x1080. Is this an issue, or not so much?

Quoted from the website React posted

Compression (7.0)
The Canon HV30 (Review, Specs, Recent News, ) records and outputs video in the HDV format, which is a type of MPEG-2. HDV is the oldest and most venerable of the consumer high definition formats. With age comes some benefits, such as near universal support from video editing software released within the last few years. HDV compression has so far proven to be superior to the competing compression, AVCHD. HDV records at a higher bit rate of 25Mbps, while AVCHD is peaking at an average of about 16 or Mbps, depending on the manufacturer. While AVCHD is more space efficient, its codec is extremely complex, and a powerful computer is needed to work with native files. HDV, on the other hand, offers a more streamlined editing process. Also, AVCHD shows more compression artifacts in the final footage than HDV.

We don’t expect HDV to keep its edge too much longer. At some point, maybe even this year, engineers will figure out how at least match its quality. Most of the AVCHD camcorders for 2008 are recording in 1920 x 1080, while HDV is forever locked at 1440 x 1080, then stretched for playback. The gains that the “full HD” camcorders make in resolution are expected to be offset by the lingering compression artifacts and other headaches of AVCHD, but it’s only a matter of time before they crack the code.

tons of inde filmmakers shoot in hdv right now and take it to the big screen..