Digital VIdeo Cameras

[Dead Roman]

Hey Guys

 

 

Im looking into producing and selling an instructional video with a friend of my fathers and selling it in dvd/vcd format. I need to have a good quality picture but ease of use is good. my budget is about a grand. Also, am i going to need any special equipment?? will i need a special burner to make duplicates(excuse my ignorance).

 

any info you guys have would be great.

[tannji]

Look into 3-CCD Digicams in the ProSumer segment, particularly by Canon and Sony, I would try Ebay, as anything approaching the quality you need will be more than a grand new.

[innerware]

Since you are going to be using it to create web/video pictures quality isn't so much an issue. I have a 5.3 megapixal hp that works great. It was around 400 bucks and takes great pictures. It only takes 2 minute videos so, that isn't as good for you. Probably any new didgital video cameras will sufice. The higher the pixal the better the resolution. Most come with some software for downloading to a computer, but adobe make premier which is a film editing software as well as many others for less $$. I think for 1k you should be fine. Go to circuit city.com and check out what they sell. I love the feedback area of all the products they sell. I have used that a lot even if I don't buy it from them. It gives you a good start as to what works for some people. What kind of video are you doing?

Good luck, I hope I helped at all.

[Guest Aaron]

Any DVD burner will make DVD's, but you will want to consider the quantity you are producing. Look into one of the comercial duplicating services. The big ones are Oasis and Diskmakers. Get a Firewire (IEEE 1394) card for computer (it makes the process of getting the video from the camera to the computer much easier/faster if your camera supports it). The software you use to produce the video will depend on how fancy you want to get with the transitions, etc. Some of the burners or Firewire cards come with some pretty software.

 

On my dad's system, we have used both Canon and Sony camcorders, and have had good results with both. Pick a camera that has the features you want.

 

Also, there are some new cameras that record direct to mini DVD's, however, they only record around 30 minutes of video.

[zguy95135]

I have been very happy with my cheap $299 Samsung SCD103 Mini-DV. The picture quality is very good ( I have also used $1200 mini Dv shoulder units at school and the quality is almost as good) I love my firewire card, I got mine for $20 and it works great, the software that comes with it is nice too, MUCH better then Windows Movie Maker.

 

BTW can you use VCD format on a normal CD or do you need a DVD burner?

[Pop N Wood]

Don't get too hung up on pixels. The Mini DV tape is what limits how many pixels you can actually record. Even a meagapixel is too much. And I think the MiniDV has the highest bandwidth of the comsumer type recorders.

 

The mini DV machines really do take good video in good light. The firewire link to the PC is absolutely painless. I bought a $100 DVD Burner. Burning the DVD's is about as dificult as writing to a floppy, BUT for some reason the DVD's burned on my POS burner do not read on other machines. The video software makes MPEGS which copy directly to a CD in my CD burner. These have worked in every DVD player I have tried.

[Owen]

If you're considering VCD, then quality really isn't an issue, since the quality sucks hardcore! (I'm a JAV VCD trader )

 

ANYWAY, if you're going VCD only, don't even worry about a miniDV, just get a cheap capture card, internal or external, like Pinnacle Systems Studio 9, and an analog camera and be done with it.

 

Best thing about VCD is compatability. If you go DVD, you have to decide on + or - and you can't guarantee they will play. The copies I've made don't play on PS2s and X-boxes, and some high end players, but they will play on the cheaper $50 players...to answer the question above, to make VCD, all you need is a CD-RW drive. Chapters and title menus can be done pretty easily on VCDs too. As well as subtitles?

 

For mass production, a dedicated disk duplicating system can be made somewhat cheaply using IDE drives and firewire bridgeboards with Oxford chipsets.