Hi,

I used to use an old analog camcorder, play it through a Pinnacle card and create avi files for use in powerpoint presentations.

A few years later I now want to do something similar, create good quality video clips for product presentations made in powerpoint.

I have read page after page about video formats and am still none the wiser, I am not interested in creating TV DVDs or the like.

Can anybody please recommend what I need, I just want a good quality camcorder that I can instantaneously copy clips from to a PC for editing purposes. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[glesgaguyav]

If you're looking for instant copy to a PC then I would imagine you would be looking at a Solid Sate type camcorder, card/hard drive/DVD based, even some of the newer digital cameras offer good quality video capture to SD cards, (good enough for editing and viewing on a PC).
It really depends on the type of footage you are shooting, fast moving, low light, landscape or close up.

It tends to be indoors (lower light) with no close-up or long distance shooting. It is also generally quite small clips, not more than a minute maximum.

From everything that I have read I can never work out if you can record to a card as there is always the impression that this is only for stills.

[glesgaguyav]

Originally Posted by CGR

From everything that I have read I can never work out if you can record to a card as there is always the impression that this is only for stills.

That's correct if you are using a Video camcorder with the ability to take Photo's, generally these are usually "tape based" camcorders, however Solid State video camcorders or digital still cameras can capture video/photos to SD cards, which you can just pop into the USB port of the PC and transfer over.

Video cams take better video than photos and Digital cameras take better photos than Video, however if your video is intended for viewing on a PC only a good Solid State video cam or digital camera would IMO be good enough for the project.

Check out the Sanyo Xacti cams these are cams that can do a decent job of both

[redsox_mark]

Do you need it to be high def? If not, and it's low light, you may be better off with a standard def cam with a larger sensor. I agree HDD or SD card models would work well if you want to quickly grab small clips. Something like the Sony SR190.

The SR190 does seem a good option, I don't think that I need hi-definition, only good quality.

Hi-definition I am guessing adds a lot of issues surrounding editing, presumably most ordinary editing packages do not support the HD formats?

Although I am aiming at PC presentations, is there an issue with projector use and the PC, I am guessing (I seem to be doing a lot of this) that a projector will lose any HD benefits as they are generally low definition. Is it correct that HD is pointless without a HD Screen or television?

I should add that I have a very good stills camera so am not interested in stills.

[redsox_mark]

Hi-definition I am guessing adds a lot of issues surrounding editing, presumably most ordinary editing packages do not support the HD formats?

Yes and no. You do need software which supports it, but these days that is pretty common, especially for the HDV (tape format), but more recently there are a number of packages which support AVCHD (high def non-tape format). But these do require a faster PC (especially AVCHD).

that a projector will lose any HD benefits as they are generally low definition. Is it correct that HD is pointless without a HD Screen or television?

It is correct that you can't get the additional resolution of HD without a device to display it in HD. HD projectors do exist, though your typical PC projector in an office environment isn't up to this.

Mark,

Many thanks for all your help, I am now swaying towards the SR190E.

One other little question, as I wish to film indoors I see that Sony do a wide angle lens for this. Do you need specific lenses for these as I already have a detachable wide angle lens on my old broken analog camcorder?

[redsox_mark]

You can use any wide angle attachement, as long as you have a way to attach it (either it is the correct thread size, or you use an adaptor, or it is a "clip on" type).