Buying a digital video camera!!NEED ADVICE!!!

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m gonna end up buying a video camera tomorrow (to cut a long story short, it’s the only thing I think I’ll ever get as a present off my otherwise cheap-skate dad). Thing is, neither he nor I know anything about camera’s.

So naturally I came to the only place in town that ever has any answers.

Remember that I have no clue about the technical aspects of VideoCam performance. So basically,

a) What’s the difference between a digital video camera and non-digital?

b) What the heck is Hi-8? Does it make performance better (i.e. better picture quality on playback)?

c) Can I playback footage from my camera onto my TV screen on ALL types of video camera’s (a friend of mine just has to plug in a wire to the back socket of his TV and he gets the footage from his camera played back instantly - is this true of all camera types?)?
If not then which types of camera(s) can do this?

d) What produces better picture quality?

e) What in your opinion is a rip-off (i.e. promises to be as good as gold because of XYZ… but you find that XYZ is not as good as it is made out to be)?

f) Any extra tips (i.e. what to get/look for and what to avoid) would basically be helpful
Now obviously you’re thinking, “well duh… depends on what you want Xavier you dummy”

Thing is, I’m not hot on camera tech (as I’ve mentioned before). I basically want something that is value for money (not necessarily cheap but not too pricey), has a screen on the side of it that can give me instantaneous playback (does anyone know the name of that?). It HAS to give pretty decent picture quality, so I am interested in any info you can give me on that. Please explain in simple terms for my benefit.

I would like to be able to use the tapes directly from my camera to my VCR, though this isn’t a necessity. It must be able to play directly on my TV however. The look doesn’t really matter much, so long as it produces decent picture and sound at a reasonable price. That’s my list.

So please any advice and info you could give me would be helpful.
Also please explain to me in as simple terms as you can.
I already checked out this site, but the info on it proved too technical.

2

Oh and I am using the camera for home movies only… I’m not intending to produce a minituare theatrical piece.

3

Go for digital not Hi8.
Hi8 is basically a small video tape with pretty decent sound…but it was state of the art 10 years ago, so digital is MUCH better.
With almost any camcorder, you will have AV plugs, which you can plug into your TV or VCR (you know those little red, yellow, and white plugs, those are AV plugs). Some older TVs don’t have AV in plugs, but almost all VCRs have them.
Most camcorders have SVHS plugs as well, which not everyone’s TV or VCR has. Most of the newer stuff does have an SVHS plug though, and the AV plugs work fine as well…so dont’worry about that.
The screen you want on the side is an LCD screen.
There are different kinds of digital too, but for what you want, you probably don’t need to buy the most expensive thing out there.

4

Yeah but don’t digital camera’s use some sort of tape as well (I was presuming Hi-8)? Otherwise what do I tape it to? I mean I know that it can playback footage automatically… but what if I want it to be playable on tape as well (because I may wanna record loads of different home movies without storing them on my computer)?

5

don’t worry about it – get a miniDV video camera and all will be good.

we can sort out the details later.

6

So which retailer do YOU work for?

And do I need to worry about pixels? Or are all video camera’s working at the same basic pixellation level (i.e. same number of pixels)? What’s the deal here?

7

What the heck is Hi-8? Does it make performance better (i.e. better picture quality on playback)? Yes, it’s better.

Can I playback footage from my camera onto my TV screen on ALL types of video camera’s (a friend of mine just has to plug in a wire to the back socket of his TV and he gets the footage from his camera played back instantly - is this true of all camera types?)?
If not then which types of camera(s) can do this? Any camera you buy now should have the option.

What produces better picture quality? Different jacks, different resolution, better zoom as opposed to digital zoom .

What in your opinion is a rip-off (i.e. promises to be as good as gold because of XYZ… but you find that XYZ is not as good as it is made out to be)? Haven’t found any, although Sony’s night light is cool the first time, totally useless after.

Any extra tips (i.e. what to get/look for and what to avoid) would basically be helpful Most have screens but you don’t want a huge one, as it sucks the batteries.

Thing is, I’m not hot on camera tech (as I’ve mentioned before). I basically want something that is value for money (not necessarily cheap but not too pricey), has a screen on the side of it that can give me instantaneous playback (does anyone know the name of that?). Get as big a battery as you can afford.

8

Hi8 is high resolution 8mm I believe.

9

Yep, the marketing for the cameras is pretty confusing. I would get a Mini-DV. It is a tape but records in digital and the picture quality is very good. Lots of models feature either USB or Firewire connections that you can attach to the PC and edit the movie if you desire. I have a JVC and although I don’t use it all that much the sound and picture quality is very nice. It will also attach to the TV with the audio and video cable.
There is also a format called VHS-C in which you can record and put the tape cassette in an adaptor and play it on a VCR without attaching the camera at all. Its convienient but the quality is not quite as good as Mini-DV. I like the feature of editing on the computer so digital was the only way to go for me.

10

I’ve got a JVC miniDV camera (can’t recall the model number, but it was about $350-$400 on Amazon). I absolutely love it. Picture quality is very, very good; not as good as film, of course, but far, far better than my high school experiments with videotape.

Yes, miniDV does use a tape, but it’s a small, high-quality digital tape, as opposed to a VHS-type tape.

And I agree with Svt4him: that “night-light” feature is totally useless.

11

I have a Sony Hi8, its very nice, it has s-video out & my panasonic dvd recorder has s-video in, so I plug it in & have a dvd-r that looks the same as the original in no time.

Some of the cheap digital cameras produce cheap pictures.

What you see would depend on your tv quality, of course. epinions.com has opinions on all sorts of cameras & stuff you can read there.

12

Picked up a Sony miniDV digital camcorder last month. Great machine, loaded to the gills with features, and can be attached to a computer for downloading/editing/uploading of footage.

Just about any camcorder you get today will have enough features to satisfy your basic needs, I think. I’d definitely vote for going digital, though, because the image quality is that much better than analog.

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I like those Panasonic camcorders that use dvdram instead of cassettes.