Looking to but my 1st camcorder, had decidd on mni dv format and have £300-£400 to spend.

I have a PC and so would be looking to edit video on the PC.

Options then are to buy a camera with dv in to record back to tape, or record edited video to VCD or DVD, with new compression software and formats out now, divx etc. how does quality of video written to CD/DVD compare to that from dv tape.

Trying to decide whether to spend the extra money on a camrea with dv in, or spend money on editng software and dvd writer
(already have a cd writer)

When writing back to tape you should not get any loss of quality what so ever because you are not compressing the original footage. DVD is compressed although the difference in quality to the original tape is not noticable. SVCD is also very good but you can only get about 1/2 and hour onto a single CD. VCD is OK if it's all you can use but can be very blocky when watching it on a large TV.

DV In should also give you the advantage of being able to edit video and save the edited footage back to tape. If you need to do further editing you should be able to just capture from tape again because the video is in it's original format.

Once you start converting to DVD, SVCD and VCD you would need to capture the original from tape and go through the entire editing process again if you wanted to change something (assuming you haven't got a huge HDD and keep all your edited video on your PC)

I would reccomend getting a camcorder with DV In if you can afford the extra cost. I don't have it on mine but I wish I did.

Matt.

[MartinImber]

I find DVD looks better than original DV source because DV is component but best TV connection is only S-Vid

But when burnt to DVD I can use RGB

[David]

Good quality DVD can be hard to distinguish from the AVI original. However, this would need a DVD burner (about 150 quid). You could try SVCD which can look pretty good and see what you think. If I were you though, I would buy a Digital 8 camcorder like the Sony 355 so that you don't have to sacrifice features for price.

[MartinImber]

Good quality DVD can be hard to distinguish from the AVI original.

Or better because of RGB

[TommyVecetti]

DVD would look 'better' on RGB viewed on an average size screen, but don't forget DVDs maximum compression rate is about 10mbps which is less than half of the bitrate a DV tape uses. If you were to blow up your footage, you'd likely see the difference as the compression would be more likely to show on the DVD rather than the DV tape.

[MartinImber]

DVD would look 'better' on RGB viewed on an average size screen, but don't forget DVDs maximum compression rate is about 10mbps which is less than half of the bitrate a DV tape uses. If you were to blow up your footage, you'd likely see the difference as the compression would be more likely to show on the DVD rather than the DV tape.

Depends on the TV as well - mine is no fan of non-RGB signals.

But I tend to burn at 8MBPS CBR and DV does encode better than old Beta tapes.

[MartinImber]

YES - Senior member!!!

I lost a few hundred posts when general chat was excluded!

[MarkE19]

Originally posted by David
Good quality DVD can be hard to distinguish from the AVI original. However, this would need a DVD burner (about 150 quid). You could try SVCD which can look pretty good and see what you think. If I were you though, I would buy a Digital 8 camcorder like the Sony 355 so that you don't have to sacrifice features for price.

DVD can be very close to the AVI, but this all depends on the encoder that is used. A lot of the necoders with budget editing packages do tend to give lower quality results.
The problem with SVCD is that they will not play on a lot of DVD players. If you want this option then check that your DVD player can handle SVCD. Even if your DVD does, friends & family still might not be able to play your movies.
The problem with Digital 8 camcorders is that they are only made by Sony, therefore there is less choice of models/features & D8 camcorders use 8mm tapes and DV uses 4mm tapes therefore D8 camcorders tend to be larger/heavier than equivalent DV cams.
Another option (although more expensive ) would be to get a camcorder with DV-in and a standalone DVD recorder. Record the edited footage back to the cam and then record onto the standalone DVD via firewire. The advantage being that you also have a nice digital VCR and it is a lot more future proof. Also some AV equipment is starting to be made with firewire ports, so this could also be an option for playing back footage from the camcorder onto the TV at full quality.

Mark.

[MartinImber]

Not all DVD recorders have Firewire in

[MarkE19]

Sorry, I meant to say that but the phone rang while I was typing and I got side tracked.
Broadband, don't you just love it. In the bad old days at least while I was on the internet I was unavailable (unless you knew my mobile number ).

Mark.

Thanks for the input guys.

Looks like dv in still gives me the best options.
Have decided to buy second hand with dv in and spend the money saved on a dvd recorder