miniDV or MPEG4?

[jerrytieng]

For home use, is there any reason why I shouldn't get one of those little MPEG4 recorders like the Sanyo Xacti C1? I'm sure miniDV recorders are technically superior, but I'm not sure if I can put up with lengthy editing and multi-gigabyte files just to produce my 'day-in-the-mall' home video.

Any thoughts?

[piedad]

Get the Sanyo Xacti C5 that was announced 2 months ago: http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/news/articles/story_2688.html . You get 5 megapixels digital camera as well as much better video.
MiniDV is great if you need to take lots of video before being able to spend time editing them (tape is much cheaper to carry around). Mpeg4 is great if you can dump them off the camera as soon after you take them due to the limited memory of the camera.
That being said, you can get a very good MiniDV for 1/3rd the price of a comparably good Mpeg4 videocam.

[jerrytieng]

Thanks for the tip, but aren't the Sanyo's in the 30T range only?

[piedad]

Originally posted by jerrytieng
Thanks for the tip, but aren't the Sanyo's in the 30T range only?

Only saw the C1 here.... they said the C2 is coming. I was referring to the MiniDV recorders available in the States for around $400. but, nothing beats the portability of the mpeg4 recorders PLUS there are no head alignment or dirt problems....something that I am grapling with in my current MiniDV recorder.

I am personally looking at the C5 as a future upgrade path...or even the newer digicams with unlimited video recording at VGA 30fps is good enough. One concern though besides memory capacity is battery life.

[hoho]

Hi Jerry,

I use both. I have a Sony MiniDV camcorder and a Samsung Miniket Extreme Sports camcorder.

I use the Sony for times that I need the quality, and know that I will be editing the raw footage later on. But, I bring the Miniket with me almost daily. This is for things that I know I will hardly ever edit.

The Miniket has 512MB of internal flash memory, and a MemoryStick Pro/Duo slot. I can record about 15-17 minutes on 512MB in medium quality mode. Its good for stuff you see everyday. Low-light performance is decent.

Battery life on the other hand is not great. I can fill up a 512MB Memory Stick on one charge, but that's almost pushing it. You will definitely need a second battery, if you want to record more than just 512MB of data.

The Miniket can function as a voice recorder, MP3 player and even webcam. I don't really care to use it for anything but video and maybe voice recordings. MP3 player? I have my iPod. Webcam? iSight, thank you.

Using the Miniket is pretty straight forward, slide the switch to the center position, and hit the record button. Just like any camcorder. The zoom is controlled by your thumb at the top, directly behind the lens. With the small size, you have no room for an optical viewfinder, you have to use the flip-out LCD screen, which reduces battery life, or close the LCD screen and aim by sight.

Connecting to a Mac, something everyone here would be concerned about... the Miniket comes with a docking station that connects the camera to a USB port. It supports both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 (selecatble in-camera). My PowerBook sees the Miniket as an external drive, and you can just copy-paste the files onto a hard drive.

Quicktime will not display your Miniket files. You will need to install the software that comes with the Miniket. These will also add the Quicktime codec you need for Quicktime to be able to display the Miniket files. The included software is crappy. Don't bother using it.

*Gotta run to a meeting, will continue this later*

H

[piedad]

Just in!
Last year JVC really shook the camcorder boat with theirEverio series devices, which incorporated some 4GBCompactFlash MicroDrives (i.e. 1-inch hard drives) in a shock-resistant internal mount as their preferred recordingmedium. Well, looks like they’re back, and this time their new GZ-MG20 has a 20GB hard drive, their MG30 will have a30GB hard drive, and both feature an 800,000 pixel CCD, 2.5-inch screen, SD slot, and USB 2.0. They’ve also got ahigher-end shooter called the MG50 that will offer a 1.33 megapixel sensor, and tones down the 25x optical zoom to 15x.The only thing we wish this puppy’d do that it don’t is record in something other than MPEG-2.P.S. They added full Mac support this time.