Hi, I'll try to remember all of the things you mentioned because I am in the same situation--almost.
First of all, I know how frustrating this whole camcorder research is. So far this is what I know.
1. mini dv tapes can be recorded over and over again. (it wouldn't make sense if it didn't.) But yeah, poorer quality every time.
2. I have a sony minidv camcorder. I recorded 1 hrs worth of video and it took 4-5 hours to convert to my pc and burn to vcd. I used usb connection with supplied sony software.
3. Yes, you can put the mini dv tapes into your cam and watch it on tv with a/v cables.
3b. The quality of analog tapes are really great--so far, it 5 times better than my sony mini dv. (maybe better with a canon. Canon is the best for producing true colour.)
4. Yes for mini dv camcorders you can upload to computer and mess around in the Movie Magic, or for mac, iMovie to edit your video. You can burn to dvd after.
5. I would love to use that option of using dvd recorder to record from mnini dv tapes. However, I haven't researched it yet. (if so, I'm definately going to buy it and go with a mini dv cam!) Tell me if you find out!
6.mini dv quality is not excellent..mini dv is probably just the same. Warning: don't expect the same quality of a analog video for a minidv or minidvd. I was very dissapointed.
7. a DVD cam is great because you don't need a computer to burn to pc or mac. It should save a lot of time, I read somewhere it took 10mins to finalize and burn to dvd for a 30 min video. For the Sony dvd cam, there is NO pc connection available. Only way is to take the recorded dvd and copy to pc.
in high quality mode: 20 mins record time per dvd.
Standard quality mode: 30 mins
Low quality mode: 60 mins (I read that the LP mode is terrible).
Everytime you fill up a disc, you have to finalize the dvd. before changing to a new disk. You can't pass the limit of the recording time or else you lose the recorded footage 'file'.
For the mini dv, it's only good if you have a firewire system set up. Using usb 'kill's the image and slows it down. I personally can't stand the mini dv production on vcd. Without the firewire connection, it was horrible on vcd. I know vcd is bad quality but man...it was bad. That's why I am going to take it back and get a sony dvd or canon. I don't want to buy a dvd burner, so the dvd cam is a great idea. Also, a plus is that the dvd cam is compatible with dvd-r and dvd-rw.
Hope I wasn't confusing.
As of yesterday, I have a Canon DC10 in my possession. I know nothing about digital camcorders, nor does the person who bought it for me. What I'm trying to figure out is if this is the type of camera I personally need and, if it isn't, which type of camera I should exchange it for.
(Please bare with me through this post... I'm a clueless newbie idiot.)
The Canon DC10 records to mini-DVD-R's. From what I understand, this is good for the sole purpose of being able to record something and then play it directly after in your DVD player. However, it's bad for everything else. From what I've read so far, the quality isn't as good as mini-dv tapes. It's a "nightmare" for editing. It's possible to shake the camera at the wrong time or something along those lines and lose what you've recorded... etc.
I'd have 2 purposes for this camera. The first and most important is just your everyday home video type stuff. Something to replace all of the things I've been filming on my analog 8mm. The second would be to attempt some cool editing stuff. The idea of editing and playing around with stuff I record sounds fun, and I'd like to be able to do it. Based on this, I'm still not sure which I need, but I'm starting to think minidv.
Regarding minidv tapes, I have these questions...
1a) What are my options for playback? For example, I'm used to my little 8mm tapes in my analog camera. For years I've just been filling up those tapes and saving them like that. (Yeah I know, I should transfer them all to DVD. It's on my to-do list.) And then, if I wanted to go back and watch any of them, I'd just hook the camera up to the TV with a/v cables and put the tape in the camera and watch. Could I do exactly this with mini-dv tapes?
1b) If I did play the video back like this, would the quality be any better than when I play analog 8mm tapes the same way?
2) And then, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I could hook the camera up to the computer via a firewire connection, put the video on the computer, and then burn it to a dvd right away without being required to do anything to it first. Is this correct?
3) Or, once the video was put onto the computer, I could first mess around with it in some video editing software, and then burn it to dvd. Is this correct?
4) If all of the above is correct, could I just keep reusing the same minidv tape, putting the video on the pc, burning it to dvd, and then recording over the same minidv tape and repeating this process? I'm aware the tape quality would suck after a while, but I'd imagine this is an okay way to save money on tapes? For a few uses, at least.
5) Also yesterday, I got one of those stand-alone dvd recorder things. Using a mini-dv camera, could I connect the camera to the dvd recorder and put the video on DVD that way as well?
6) Is mini-dv quality better than mini-dvd quality? My common sense tells me it should be the opposite, yet it doesn't seem to be.
7) As far as mini-DVD goes... am I right in assuming the only thing "good" about it is the fact that everything is being recorded directly to a dvd? Is this it's sole purpose? For people who just want to record home movies and then hit eject and play it in the living room dvd player? Is this the ONLY pro?
Back to the mini-dv, on average, how long would it take between the time I decide to put a 1 hour tape on DVD (via computer/firewire) and the time I'm holding the finished DVD in my hand? This is assuming I didn't edit anything.
These are all the questions I can come up with now. I realize it may be a bit much, but I'd really appreciate any and all help. I'm hoping to get back to the store tomorrow (if I indeed should exchange it).
Thanks in advance for any help.

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