AVForums

Our philosophy in our forums, reviews, podcasts and feature videos is to promote audio and visual excellence by gathering and sharing the best information and resources available.

Help

To begin please visit our help section »

Not a Member Yet?

It only takes a minute to start enjoying the benefits of AVForums membership, and it's free!

Member Log in

MiniDV or DVD

Post Reply
Old 25-05-2007, 10:53 PM   #1
stvn
Guest
Posts: n/a
MiniDV or DVD

Hi to all

I have read many posts and I still have the same doubt, what is better, MiniDV or DVD?

- Image quality?
- Easy to edit in a PC?

- Optical zoom is very important and I have a question, why top of cams with High resolution, 3CCDs... have small optical zoom (10x) and the cheaper cams have 30 - 40x optical zoom?. A Panasonic GS320 with a 30x optical zoom will be perfect.
- Photo for me is not very important

Looking for Panasonic, Sony, Canon or JVC

Thanks
  Quote
Old 26-05-2007, 8:34 AM   #2
Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Hillingdon /Hayes, Middx
Experience Points:
47,154, Level: 53
Points: 47,154, Level: 53 Points: 47,154, Level: 53 Points: 47,154, Level: 53
Activity: 2.7%
Activity: 2.7% Activity: 2.7% Activity: 2.7%
Thanks: Gave 1,052, Got 2,970
Posts: 19,311
Re: MiniDV or DVD

I have read many posts and I still have the same doubt, what is better, MiniDV or DVD?

There are very good examples of DVD camcorders , and poor examples of MiniDV but on a level playing field, the DVD wins out mainly on the convenience of being able to watch it right away or doing away with the need to capture the footage in real time on a PC

- Image quality?:
MiniDV
As it is Least compressed format However bear in mind that it is eventually going to become a DVD. As such the encoder or encoding process used is important in maintaining the quality as close to original as possible

- Easy to edit in a PC?:

MiniDV.
DV AVI does not suffer " generational" IQ loss from of rendering and rerendering in the way that mpeg ( from DVD) does and the way DV AVI is "made" makes it easier for software to edit it still maintaining Quality. Mpeg editing is now more mature though and even non Mpeg dedicated editors seem to be able to do a pretty good job

- Optical zoom is very important and I have a question, why top of cams with High resolution, 3CCDs... have small optical zoom (10x) and the cheaper cams have 30 - 40x optical zoom?.

Im not sure but I believe it relates to the size of sensor: (could be wrong) and it seems easier to get more Zoom on a smaller sensor. However a smaller sized sensor would inherently be a less efficient image gathering one.
Still 10X Zoom is plenty...anything more you would most definitely not be handholding: Are you planning on videotaping the Moon?

Last edited by senu; 26-05-2007 at 9:57 AM.
  Quote
Old 26-05-2007, 1:39 PM   #3
Veteran Member
 
redsox_mark's Avatar
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Bath, England
Experience Points:
22,297, Level: 36
Points: 22,297, Level: 36 Points: 22,297, Level: 36 Points: 22,297, Level: 36
Activity: 0%
Activity: 0% Activity: 0% Activity: 0%
Thanks: Gave 90, Got 749
Posts: 6,512
Re: MiniDV or DVD

Yes, the size of the optical zoom relates to the sensor. With a smaller sensor it is easy to supply a greater zoom range. So it is the lower end models with small sensors which have the greater optical zoom. I agree with Senu, 10x is generally enough; certainly for handheld use I'd not want to use more than that.
  Quote
Old 28-05-2007, 3:16 PM   #4
stvn
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: MiniDV or DVD

Hi

Thanks everybody for all!!

I think Im gonna buy the Panasonic NV-GS320 (450 Euros), any comments about?
  Quote
Old 28-05-2007, 7:23 PM   #5
Veteran Member
 
redsox_mark's Avatar
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Bath, England
Experience Points:
22,297, Level: 36
Points: 22,297, Level: 36 Points: 22,297, Level: 36 Points: 22,297, Level: 36
Activity: 0%
Activity: 0% Activity: 0% Activity: 0%
Thanks: Gave 90, Got 749
Posts: 6,512
Re: MiniDV or DVD

GS320 is a good choice in that price range.
  Quote
Old 31-05-2007, 9:06 PM   #6
Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Experience Points:
3,442, Level: 13
Points: 3,442, Level: 13 Points: 3,442, Level: 13 Points: 3,442, Level: 13
Activity: 0.4%
Activity: 0.4% Activity: 0.4% Activity: 0.4%
Thanks: Gave 0, Got 2
Posts: 191
Re: MiniDV or DVD

Quote:
Originally Posted by stvn View Post
Hi

Thanks everybody for all!!

I think Im gonna buy the Panasonic NV-GS320 (450 Euros), any comments about?
where?? for that good price thinking of buying one as well
  Quote
Old 01-06-2007, 10:58 PM   #7
stvn
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: MiniDV or DVD

www.redcoon.com

www.redcoon.es for Spain (where I will buy the cam)

http://www.redcoon.es/index.php/cmd/...nic_NV_GS_320/
  Quote
Post Reply

Powered by  
 Latest popular product prices
Kodak PlaySport Zx5 
7 prices from
 £79.99 Click to show/hide the offers

Sony DCR-SX45E 
3 prices from
 £189.99 Click to show/hide the offers

Toshiba Camileo H30 
1 price
 £107.00 Click to show/hide the offers

Panasonic SDR-S70 
7 prices from
 £116.00 Click to show/hide the offers

Panasonic HX-DC1 
7 prices from
 £123.95 Click to show/hide the offers

Samsung SMX-F50BN 
4 prices from
 £119.99 Click to show/hide the offers

JVC GZ-HM30 
7 prices from
 £144.99 Click to show/hide the offers

Sony DCR-SX21E 
2 prices from
 £149.99 Click to show/hide the offers

 Updated February 10th at 4:30pm. Prices include delivery.


Thread information and display options
Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off