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Posted by nobody special on 04/16/06 17:24
Oh, I've seen small market news departments that used to shoot and post
on s-vhs, and a few that went to digital-s, but they all dropped those
some years ago. A few wedding type guys still use digital-s, but not
many I know of. Most pros nowadays shoot some variant of DV25 or DV50,
like DVCAM or DVCPRO, unless they are still using their betaSP gear,
wich is long ago paid for and gives a good image... The folks on the
bleeding edge are trying to use HDV, but I think many of us pros are
still on the fence about that format and waiting for things to settle
some more.
Back to the original poster: A canopus ADVC-100 converter between your
existing JVC VHS camcorder or deck and your mac's firewire port will
let you play your VHS tapes into the mac, converted in real time to DV,
edited on the mac and played back out thru the same converter to VHS,
you can distribute VHS copies as good as the original generation VHS
was. Keep the Edited output and even the raw footage on DV tape for an
archive, and you will be able to use your limited hard drive space over
and over. For your needs, Bible John, this is the best of both worlds.
The thing you have to think about is, a converter like the ADVC-100
costs $300 new, and only does one function, conversions, and a new
low-end DV camcorder that can do that same on the fly conversion work
with analog inputs ALSO costs about $300. Maybe you can find an
ADVC-100 on Ebay for half that price, but they remain so popular, I
have yet to find one that cheap. If you buy the Dv camcorder for about
$300, you will have your choice of two camcorders to go out with, and
I'll wager the Dv one will have a better picture than the VHS one does.
Plus, you will be able to use it to bring VHS footage into your mac,
and output edited high-quality home movies back out of the mac, thru
the camcorder, and out of it's analog -output into a VHS recorder for
distribution to your friends and family. That's a win-win-win. I'd
look at the Canon ZR series or maybe the Elura series Dv camcorders.
Make sure it has firewire, (almost 100% do now) plus analog in and out.
With this you will be set for a couple years at least. As others have
said, eschew the camcorders that record direct to a mini-DVD. These
will bring you nothing but sorrow and regret, especially if you want to
try and edit with them later. Plain low-end Dv tape camcorders are
perfect for your needs.
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