Posted by Richard Crowley on 01/11/49 11:45

"Bible John" wrote ...
> Just watched the same wedding that I recorded with my JVC SXM250U analog
> camcorer, with a friends Sony Mini DV camera on a DVD that she burned for
> us. Boy what a difference!

I recall that some of us predicted that the average DV camera
would outperform nearly any analog consumer camcorder (and
many analog industrial/professional cameras, also)

> Its not that I cannot live with a analog camcorder (especially with my
> budget), the mini DV ones are much nicer! I saw a JVC analog camcorder
> like my own selling for $150 at Circuit City the other day, and the
> cheapest Mini DV camcorder was selling for $300. It lacked a light,
> because it had nighvision. I do not know anything about this and if it has
> any advantages over a camcorder light.

Lighting is one of the most significant differences between quality/
commercial video and "home movies". OTOH, your typical
consumer *on*camera* light is hardly more than a novelty and
rarely makes any significant improvement that I have ever seen.
This is mostly because 1) they are not very bright and 2) they
are a very small point source. The on camera lights used by
professionals are rarely smaller than 6-8" diagonal measurement
(round and/or rectangle). [I am refering to feature production,
not "film at 11" local news.]

I am making an on-camera light out of a 8x10" panel of white LEDs.
This was sold as a weather-proof architectural flood-light and I
am making a lighter case and shoe-mount for it. (12VDC)
http://www.ledtronics.com/ds/gdl002-200/

> Since my ibook lacks a DVD burner, it looks like my export format will
> have to be VHS. Will this greatly reduce the videos, so that this Mini DV
> camcorder will be just like my JVC analog camcorder?

Yes, outputting to VHS will not permit the full quality of the video
to be seen. HOWEVER: It is standard practice to shoot/edit in
the highest-quality aviailable just so that you still have something
presentable no matter how lousy your distribution format is.

> If this be the case, then there is no point to the Mini DV camcorder since
> I will not be able to convert to DVD.

It makes abundant sense to shoot, edit, and then store your
editied program back to DV regardless of (or in your case,
in spite of) your current output format. If you shoot for the
lowest common denominator now, you will be stuck with
low-quality video for the rest of its life (which life will be
significantly reduced by short-sighted goals for production
quality). Ecc 9:10

VHS is already a dying format, and even its current replacment
(DVD) is about to be overtaken by the Next New Thing (HD,
Blu-Ray, etc.) Basing decisions like this on your current lack
of DVD output seems very short sighted. You can buy an
external DVDR drive for less than the cost of a case of VHS tapes.

> The friend that recorded the wedding is not using a computer, but a DVD
> recorder (which I lack). I think if I were to spend, it would have to be
> on a external DVD burner for my ibook G4.

I can get a very nice external DVDR for a PC for way less than $100
Dunno if similar opportunities are afforded to the Mac elite? :-)

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