I’m looking to buy a MiniDV camcorder - probably Sony - - … my problem is this…
I intended to wait until I go on holiday to the U.S.A - which is very soon approaching, as it works out cheaper for me… thanks to the strong old £!
However one person has told me that the Camera will NOT be compatible with DV tapes over here - and another person has said that you can buy Camera’s that do both NTSC and PAL…
does anybody know the Straight Dope ??
should I buy my self a cheaper camera here - - or wait and get a more expensive one over there??
any suggestions greatly received
(I don’t really know much on the subject, but at least it deserves a bumb.)
It all depends on how you want to use it. If you want to be able to plug it straight into a telly to see the result, you might be dissapointed, but if you want to do post-processing and make DVDs I don’t think it really matters.
You will still (probably) transfer the stuff to a PC, and hopefully whatever software you’re using is able to convert to/from whatever formats you need.
(On the other hand, the mini-DV casettes that you can be here (in EU) all say ‘miniDV-PAL’ on them - I have no idea if this means that the actual media is different.)
(All-in-all, not a very helpfull reply. Let’s hope someone more knowldgeable will come along shortly.)
The computer is a good alternative. BUT SP 2 screws my intake of video from my camcorder and doesnt accept it. Is there anything SP 2 doesnt adversely affect??
Side note: I personally want a DV for my camcorder (got it 8 days ago-- bday present) so I can go “out” and record stuff… not be tethered to my laptop.
This is strange - - I thought I added something to this - because just after I posted I found a thread on a technical page that went into this in details - - I even posted a link…
yet that post does not appear here!!! - - maybe I a) posted it in the wrong thread… or b) forgot to press submit! oh well
the gist was…
a miniDV tape is a miniDV tape is a miniDV tape… apparently there is no difference…
and
although it is possible to buy a miniDV camcorder that does both NTSC and PAL - - they are not readily available in the US…