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General discussion

Do I have to choose between fast transfer and video quality?

Aug 10, 2006 5:30AM PDT

I want a camcorder that transfers quickly because I enjoy using editing software, but do I have to sacrifice video quality? Remember when digital cameras first came out? Grainy pics, but everyone was excited about them being digital. Is USB transfer any faster than a camera with harddrive? The real time transfer of cameras is time consuming, but the bottom line is- I want my video to look great. These will be our familys memories forever.

Discussion is locked

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"These will be our familys memories forever."
Aug 10, 2006 5:36AM PDT

Hint: Use firewire and wait.

Bob

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The best video cameras, $2,000 and above, use tape,
Aug 10, 2006 7:29AM PDT

and don't transfer any faster than anything else. The ability of the computer to keep up is one reason. As Bob said, use Firewire and let it work.

Some very high end cameras can dump their data to hard drives, but they are not the hard drive based consumer models you see. Tape, for now, is much better.

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thanks for the advice
Aug 11, 2006 2:02AM PDT

I just wanted to say thanks for your advice. I did 8 hours of research yesterday at camcorderinfo.com and decided on the panasonic PVGS250. It uses a mini dv tape.