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Buying advice.

Which Camcoder Works for Me?

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Buying advice

Camcorder
Product group
Camcorder
Items analyzed
85
Date
18. 05. 2012
Data source
QualityZoom
Realtime Analytics
For a beginner that is interested in recording private films, a basic camcorder will do the job. Most of these units take a mini DV cassette and have a small optical zoom and limited manual options. If you are already experienced in recording, then later cutting and editing on the computer, it is better to have a camcorder with a FireWire connection. The advanced user should have a unit with a 3 time-chip-system, which has very good sound quality and high performance electronics (it can also record relatively well in poor lighting conditions).

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Glossary

Camcorder Types

A videocamera having an integrated video recorder (playback and viewing on the display), is called a camcorder. Nowadays both terms are used in the same fashion in day to day language. The most significant difference with the camcorder is the form of the recording medium or recording format.

Mini DV Camcorder

The most commonly spread digital camcorder is a DV-device which records on MiniDV tape (small magnetic tape format) with an approximate recording span of 60 minutes. This recording method is by no means obsolete, but still offers the best image and sound quality (stereo), because the DV-format, in comparison to compressed MPEG formats, can store great amounts of detail. Therefore it is particularly well suited for video editing and the only format which is used by amateurs and professionals alike. The transmission to the computer however is slightly complicated, because it has to happen in real time. On the other hand the magnetic tapes are also useful for long time archiving.

DVD Camcorder

The DVD-camcorder record on a mini-dvd. The records are stored as data and can easily be transferred onto a computer. Each blank disk offers a maximum of 36 minute of storage space for a recording, however it has to be noted that, not all DVD formats are compatible with their playback devices. In addition these camcorders use the MPEG 2 format, which compress data strongly and thus causes lossy images when confronted with high details or fast movements.