Comments on: AVCHD – About That Camera You Want To Buy

By: LED Torch %0A

LED Torch %0A — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 20:50:10 +0000

mini-dvs are great but digital video recorders are even coolerbecaue they are more compact .”;

By: Shower Caddy ·

Shower Caddy · — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:08:55 +0000

mini dv is a good way to store video information but flash cards are getting bigger in capacity too ~

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 15:39:04 +0000

@Allen – P2 cards typically store data at a higher quality than tape.

By: Allen Miller

Allen Miller — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:27:13 +0000

Oh and the main question which camera would you suggest i was looking to go in the 2-4k range.
thanks again.

By: Allen Miller

Allen Miller — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:26:11 +0000

Hi Dave, I work with a mac, and want a pro-consumer camcorder that be use over firewire to broadcast livestream over our platform kelseylive.com. I would like xlr inputs, and would like to use hard drive ie cf, cards P2 or SD. I during the livestream I want to tape at the same time. Now I will edit several camera angles together for later upload. Is the compressed video going to be a problem, or with the new p2 format am i getting the same quality as tape.
thanks so much this blog is great and appreciated.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:26:23 +0000

@Mary – You’ll have a tough time finding tape-based cameras these days unless you move up to pro-level cameras from Canon or Sony (think $$$$). And even those will be phased out eventually. The last tape-based, consumer level camera Canon made was the HV40.

But the HV30 is still a pretty coveted camera (usually selling for more than the newer HV40…sometimes at over $1,000). And it still shoots great video. So you might want to hold onto it, as the major difference between it and the newer Flash based cameras is speed and convenience (Flash based cameras are just quicker all around because you’re not dealing with tape).

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:49:36 +0000

Hi Dave,
I love my Vixia HV30 for almost all online video. But it seems like they’re getting rid of the mIni DVs as fast as possible.

Do you know an up to date camera that still uses the mini dvs? My camera is about a year or a year and a half OLD! out dated already! haha

Thanks Dave.
Mary

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:37:56 +0000

@Mike – quality is a subjective thing. The main difference will be that tape footage requires less computer horsepower to work with than AVCHD footage (an HD camera using Flash, hard drive, etc.).

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:00:42 +0000

If I am buying today in the $500-$1000 range, is there any reason to to buy a tape based recorder? Has the AVCHD compression improved to surpass tape based units within this last year?
I will buy tape everytime if it compresses less.

List of importance to me:
Color quality (no overblown highlights) and sharpness (lense size/quality)
Shakiness of handheld video
Sound

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:02:55 +0000

There is a need to talk about having an archive copy of your work but I don’t think you need to shoot on tape if you don’t want to. If you choose to shoot on flash cards, hdd, or dvd (I personally wouldn’t own a camera that shoots directly to DVD), you can still make a back up using dvds (particularly dual layer and blu-ray).

True, many pros still shoot on tape but many don’t. Cameras that use tapeless formats such as the HPX-170/200, HPX 3000, and HPX 500 utilize the increasingly popular p2 format. The Sony XD-Cam HD line uses discs. Both of these formats are widely accepted in professional circles.

HDV/DV Footage shot on tape is compressed. In fact footage shot on Sony’s highest HD format HDCAM-SR is compressed.

The only way to get uncompressed footage out of a camera is to go HDMI/HD-SDI out directly to a hard drive that has both enough speed and data flow to handle the information.