I'm looking to buy a MiniDV camcorder and have decided to choose either between the Panasonic NV-GS range and the Sony TVR range. Which would you say is the best value for money (Im tempted towards the Panasonic as it feels nicer to hold). Secondly, I own a Fuji M603 digital camera and am so not interested in purchasing a MiniDV cam for its photo abilities. Would you say, in this respect, it is worth paying £484 for the Panasonic NV-GS50B with its A/V in and D/V and SD card capabilites, or better value to go for the NV-GS10B model which is the same but without SD, A/V In, DV in or a colour viewfinder. This is priced at £379. Also regarding connections, what software and connections would you recommend? I am leaning towards Firewire as it sounds more promising. Also would you say MGI VIDEOWAVE4 is ok for a beginner to editing? Also would Magix Photos on CD and DVD 2.0 priced at £20 be ok for putting my MiniDV recording onto DVD? One final thing, how does a MiniDV cam play back through the S-Video port on the graphics port? I also plugged my Mum's Sony TRV118E into the USB (not sure if 1.1 or 2.0) and played it back through Sony Pixela video and it came out absoluty rubbish!! WHY!!!!!!!!!!! HOW BIG WOULD 1 HOUR OF VIDEO BE CAPTURED FROM A DIGITAL CAMCORDER? MY PC SPECS ARE ; P4 2.2GHz 60Gb HD(30Gb free) 512mb Ram ATI RADEON 9600 128 I NEED SOME VITAL TIPS ON EDITING!!!! _X_X_X_X_X_[small]"Smell my cheese you mother"- A. Partridge "Back of the net!"- A. Partridge "Yes it's an extender"- A. pARTRIDGE www.alan-partridge.co.uk[/small]
Alan, First off, i'd say go with the panasonic, you'll find the A/V and D/V in very useful if you want to record a tape from your VCR are any other device for that matter. Get a firewire card as well. It has the fast tranfer rate at 400mbps, and most camcorders have a firewire port. I's suggest Moviemaker for you editing software mainly because it comes free with the XP operating system. I personally use adobe premiere but it is pricey and not so noobie friendly. Playing Video through a USB port isn't a good idea mainly b/c the transfer rate for data is considerably slower than a firewire port. 5 minute of audio/video equals 1GB of memory, so an hour is roughly 12gb good luck
