Mini DV Camera??

[GilbertsGrape]

I just bought a Mini DV Camera (Sharp VL-WD450) for ($250) is that a good deal)

it has a fire wire connection port and I was wondering if anyone has used a Mini DV camera with a fire wire port before. And if so what software and type of fire wire card do they use.

Also how long does it take to transfer video from the camera to the PC?

What kind of PC hardware requirements are there.

Thank you,
GrapeDude

[Nanotech9]

yes... Sony VX2000, Canon XL1, Sony TRV9, and others...

$250 is good, but you probably got what you paid for.. :(

any generic $30 firewire card should work.

get a *ahemcopyofahem* Adobe Premiere 5 or 6 (AHEMITSreallyEXPENSIVEbutYOUshouldSTILLbuyITifYOUuseIT)

transfers at 1x.

[Jeffbx]

It also takes a heckuva lotta drive space - a 60 second video takes about 200MB, so plan accordingly. Yes, you can compress it, but only after the initial transfer (unless someone knows otherwise?)

If you have XP, that has video editing software built in. Premeire is a good choice if you really want to get serious about it. Or whatever cheap program that's bundled with your firewire card will probably work just fine if you're just doing simple stuff.

[Burzhui]

Originally posted by Jeffbx
It also takes a heckuva lotta drive space - a 60 second video takes about 200MB, so plan accordingly. Yes, you can compress it, but only after the initial transfer (unless someone knows otherwise?)

If you have XP, that has video editing software built in. Premeire is a good choice if you really want to get serious about it. Or whatever cheap program that's bundled with your firewire card will probably work just fine if you're just doing simple stuff.
you can do it on the fly, but you'll have to spring for a $6K compression card

[Jeffbx]

Originally posted by Burzhui

you can do it on the fly, but you'll have to spring for a $6K compression card

Ahhh, so THAT'S why I don't do it. :P

[jase71]

Just out of curiosity, is that a new one for $250? Or a used one?

I've been toying with the idea of getting a miniDV unit... but I very seldom use my camcorder, so a cheap one would be just fine. But most of them seem to start at about $400. $400 is just a bit too much to justify, considering my current camcorder works like a charm, it's just not digital. For $250, it might be worth jumping...

[GilbertsGrape]

I bought my Sharp cam at Wal-Mart. It was behind the counter at the Wal-Mart Photo lab, and it was going to go on the clearance shelf as soon as some more room was made. I bought one and my GF bought one too.... it was normally a 500 cam at Wal-Mart and it cost like 600+ at BestRipoff.. It was new in the box, full warranty never opened ... I couldn’t pass it up for 1/2 ... free would have been better but this was still an ok deal I thought.

[GilbertsGrape]

Does anyone make VCD’s with his or her DV cameras? How long does it take and will 80 min of video at full quality go on a CD …. How much HD space to make a VCD of a Mini DV tape

Thank,
GrapeDude

[Jihforce]

When you're messing with DV editing, you'll always need a fast and large HD. Chances are, you'll be capturing the footage without any compression. I'd advice getting the 120gb HD in the deals page. (unless its expired) This is definitively better than buying a compression card. Some video cards offer pretty decent video capturing capabilities at a decent price. (www.matrox.com)
Anyway, why a big an fast hd? Since you are capturing raw footage, you want it to be as seemless as possible. That way, there won't be any skips and jumps in your raw footage.
I doubt that 120gb would even be enough to capture an entire 80min clip. So the only way you could really do it is to capture it in 10 minute blocks, or maybe even 5 minute blocks, compress it and back it up on cd or dvd (if you have a dvd-burner). Then put all the compress footage together and compress it into whatever format vcds use. I'm not familiar with vcds so I can't quite help ya in that department.

[K2]

Originally posted by GilbertsGrape
Does anyone make VCD’s with his or her DV cameras? How long does it take and will 80 min of video at full quality go on a CD …. How much HD space to make a VCD of a Mini DV tape

Thank,
GrapeDude

i was planning to...but i need firewire card first...

but its a hella long time to go compressing them


www.vcdhelp.com :D

[goyo2]

Originally posted by GilbertsGrape
I just bought a Mini DV Camera (Sharp VL-WD450) for ($250) is that a good deal)

it has a fire wire connection port and I was wondering if anyone has used a Mini DV camera with a fire wire port before. And if so what software and type of fire wire card do they use.[QUOTE]

Primere 6.1 for PC, Final Cut Pro for MAC...most cheap firewire cards will work

[QUOTE]Also how long does it take to transfer video from the camera to the PC? [QUOTE]

It is real time plus the time it takes to cue your shots and what not

[QUOTE]What kind of PC hardware requirements are there.[QUOTE]

The hugest requirement is a fast and large HDD, I would suggest one of those 120 WD 8 meg buffered ones that's always on sale at dell. Those things are really good for this kind of application. Lots of ram never hurts, a good 2d card is helpful, like a Matrox g450-550...and try to stick with pentiums, for some reason Matrox won't support some other chips
[QUOTE]
Thank you,
GrapeDude