Digital Video Camera
Digital camcorders
Digital camcorders
offer better color and clarity than analog camcorders and most can produce
studio-quality video with 500 lines of resolution. With the digital video (DV)
format, it's easy to transfer video to your computer and your editing is a
snap. Look at different parts of your video, select scenes, choose precise
edit points, and add special effects without forwarding or rewinding tape.
When choosing a digital camcorder, consider the following formats.
-
Digital8: Digial 8 camcorders record to
Hi8 tapes, digitally encoding the audio and video, and will also play
back analog Hi8 tapes. Along with recording high-quality digital video,
most have a still photo feature and also allow you to make small video
clips for the Internet.
-
MiniDV: For superior picture quality
in a small package, consider the Mini DV format. You'll get better lenses and more effects with Mini DV
than with Digital8. Also, you may even be able to shoot still photos and
create smaller, compressed video clips to post online.
-
High-Definition Video (HDV): High definition camcorders record to MiniDV tapes and deliver
1080i resolution for sharp, clear video that looks great on your
1080i-capable HDTV. To edit high-definition video, make sure your
computer has a fast processor and plenty of memory that meets, or
exceeds, the minimum recommendations for your video-editing software. If
your camcorder does not come with bundled video-editing software, look
for packages that support high-definition video editing like
Final Cut Pro HD or
Pinnacle Studio.
-
Advanced Video Code high-definition (AVCHD):
AVCHD camcorders record compressed high-definition video to
DVD, a hard disk drive, or
memory cards. Some DVDs may only play back on a
Blu-Ray/DVD player.
-
DVD:DVD camcorders allow you to
record video directly to a
DVD-R or a
DVD-RW. Once you finalize the disc, you can then play it back on
your computer or DVD player. Because your videos go straight to DVD,
they won't degrade over time, as can happen with taped images. If you
want to record in DVD-VR mode, which makes it easier to add titles and
reorder segments, record to
DVD-RW discs.
-
MicroMV:
Ultraportable MicroMV camcorders are some of the smallest on the
market. MicroMV compresses video more than Mini DV camcorders and
although some video-editing software can handle the format immediately,
you often need to convert it to another format before editing the video
on your computer. Analog camcorders