MiniDV vs. DVD camcorder

[matp]

Well mini dv technology has been around for at least 10 years which is a long time for digital technology. Many current model broadcast cameras still take mini dv tapes, and you can still buy older camcorder tapes such as vhsc so there would be no reason to doubt its continued existence for some time to come. A note though, if you plan to re use your tapes (i shoot for work so i like to keep my masters) then I would recommend 2 things. First you should strip your tape (this involves laying down a timecode on the entire length of the blank tape by recording nothing (put the camera in a darkened room with the lens cap on and just hit record) this will save you from having strange gaps in your timecode down the track.
also don't use about the first minute of the tape. over time the tapes stretch especially at the beginning of the tape and the end of the tape as this is where the most tension is placed. In the short term you won't notice anything but over a period of re use the beginning of the tape will become unusable. As for quality, without a broadcast monitor your really won't see the difference between mini dv and dvd or hdd cameras, especially not after they have been compressed for the web. It is only in the compression and uncompression cycle that quality is lost and that you cannot edit with single frame accuracy as well from compressed video.

Thanks for the fast response :thumbsup:

I take your point about video compressed for the web - basicly the only way to compare the quality it to watch uncompressed footage and I won't find that on the internet. Not sure what you mean about the broadcast monitor though. Are you saying that I won't be able to see the difference between the uncompressed avi file and the MPEG-2 file?

[Skyman]

not on a normal tv. It is really only if editing that you will notice the difference.

[matp]

not on a normal tv. It is really only if editing that you will notice the difference.

Oh right so nothing major then. I had heard of people complaining that the quality of the MPEG-2 can be vcr quality rather than DVD quality so its a relief that I should expect at least DVD quality.

I actually have a HDTV with a HDMI connection to my laptop so it will probably look a bit better with the miniDV. I wonder it is is possible to compress it with a divx style codec and retain more of the quality. Obvious problem there is that most DVD players won't play it.

I probably will be looking to do some basic editing - like cutting down the length rather than anything too sophisticated. So it sounds like miniDV is the answer for me. Thanks for the tips above on tape life.

I will def upload a video when I have picked one up

[Susy]

I am a High School teacher using Mini-DV and Final Cut Pro. I have two questions.
1. How would you rank DVD video and hard drive based camcorders in this Video Rating Scale (on a scale from 1 to 10) published in the Little Digital Video Book by Rubin?
Internet video = 1
VHS video = 3
High 8 video = 5
Mini-DV = 9.7
Broadcast video = 10

2. Can you recommend good free demuxing programs to re-encode MPEG2 footage from a DVD camcorder for Windows computers and also the Mac?

Thanks!
Susy

[Skyman]

1, I would rank Mini DVD and HDD video between 6 and 8 (I can't be more specific than this as different cameras use different compression standards and that affects the result)

as for a demuxing applications there are a couple for pc although i am not sure about mac's. I really don't want to recommend them as they are mostly used to pirate dvd's, and I have seen dodgy copies of them that are full of spyware. Google is your friend.

[matp]

I picked up a panasonic pv-gs320 (the 3ccd one). Looking good so far and apparently - its the closest I can get to HD without paying for HD. Will upload something when I get going.

[BombingAddiction]

yeah..........

[thewiz]

Wow, so much information and I'm still confused. I have a mini dv camera and I always hated dealing with tape. Spent the cost of a new camera to get mine fixed because the drive almost ruined two precious tapes. A post years ago referred to hard drives using the avi format being introduced. Has it happened? And whatever happened to viewfinders? The camera I had fixed now has a blank viewfinder. Does anyone else miss them? Has anyone found a new video camera with viewfinder that they Love?

[Skyman]

That is correct. Even usb 2 is not fast enough to handle sustained data transfers long enough to support even standard definition video.

[agentjf]

Hi This is a very informative thread. I am still confused now sounds like an HD camera might be the way to go as it was not when the thread started. I am looking to do some filming for fun and simple editing on my laptop the end product might end up on You Tube or even a big screen tv.

[leovacc]

Skyman, i ahd read the info about Mini DV and DVD that you posted.
And i dont wanna look like an ignorant here, but i prefer to ask you than stay in the dark.
I am editing my mini DV tapes in Adobe Premiere Pro. After i edit everything i export the file directly to a DVD. In this operation the computer transcode the .AVI file to what? MEPG2? is that right ?. So all my good quality get lost in this step?-
How can i improve or at least keep my Mini DV quality. Thanks so much for the Help.

[Skyman]

The only way to keep your mini dv quality is to export it back to tape or a .avi file. It all comes down to how much storage space you have and how you want to use the finished product. For most people exporting to DVD is more then enough to keep them happy as this is the easiest format for watching back your movies. If you have one of the later versions of encore you could also export to blue ray if you have a blue ray burner. If you think that you might need to re edit, then keep a copy of your project on a hard drive or export your edl and keep your source tapes. Keeping all your source tapes is a fast way to end up with an archive of stuff you never look at and the archival life of a magnetic tape is around 20 years. This doesn't mean that at 20 years and 1 day it stops working but that beyond that point the tape will increasingly become de magnetised so it will start to loose information. This gets worse if the tape is stored in poor conditions. It is also handy to remember that one of the advantages of a mini dv tape is that it is digital, so whilst it is prone to age decay if you make a copy of it before it decays the copy is as good as the original! The Hollywood approach is to keep everything, but my personal preference is to master the video to an avi file on the computer and then burn it to dvd for viewing. Having said that, at work I am increasingly asked to re edit work I did several years ago, so I have simply started buying more and more hard drives as keeping old projects on these.

[whoehei02]

I picked up a panasonic pv-gs320 (the 3ccd one). Looking good so far.

[Skyman]

I picked up a panasonic pv-gs320 (the 3ccd one). Looking good so far.

Sweet be sure to post a review of it!

[CaleTyrell]

DVD uses "interframe" compression, in which the data of most frames has some reliance on data in other frames.DV uses "intraframe" compression, in which each frame is compressed independently of all others.

[RSAofYAP]

Old thread, but hopefully still active.
Great information!!
What brought me here was to find out why every time a client brings me a mini-dvd project there are short, intermittent audio drop outs. The video is fine, but the audio dropouts are regular. They are not noticable to my clients so far, but I don't know why.

[RSAofYAP]

Old thread, but hopefully still active.
Great information!!
What brought me here was to find out why every time a client brings me a mini-dvd project there are short, intermittent audio drop outs. The video is fine, but the audio dropouts are regular. They are not noticable to my clients so far, but I don't know why.

[Skyman]

Just to clarify, your clients use mini dvd (disc) not mini dv (tape)

For now I will assume you are talking about mini dvd:

Are we talking one client or serveral? my first thought would be to point the finger at the Camera, but if it happens with different clients or different cameras then the issue may well be at your end. What is the make and model of the camera concerned? I know that some manufacturers use different sample rates, so maybe google the camera to see if it is a known issue?

I am guessing you are converting the mpegs from the mini dvd to edit them, so there might be something going wrong with the conversion process. What do you use to convert them?

I know that isn't an answer but hopefully it is a start.

[Azamakix]

Hello! Is there any way I can backup my dvd via pc?

[Giass]

Hello forum! I love DVDs so much! And recently I discovered dvdshrink I was amazed when I found out that I can burn discs and get perfect backups of my favorite movies on PC, it's really cool! I can always burn a new CD if the old one goes bad!

[cyrax037]

I've been warned against DVD cameras by more then one person. they say the quality is very poor.