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General discussion

Need HD Hard Drive Camcorder with Ext. Mic input <$1000

Dec 19, 2010 6:45AM PST

Anyone know of any cameras that fit this criteria? I realize that it will be over $500, but any relatively cheap cameras fit?

Discussion is locked

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Hard disc drive? Really?
Dec 19, 2010 11:56AM PST

None from Canon (miniDV tape and flash memory only);
Sony HDR-XR300 series does not have a mic jack, but does have a AIS to which you can add an adapter for an external mic.
Panasonic HDC-HS300 series
None from JVC.

Hard disc drive and flash memory consumer cams save the same AVCHD compressed MTS files. With the known vibration and other issues with hard disc drive cams, they are not necessarily the *best" choice unless you have some very specific requirements...

I think the Canon HF S series (preferred) or HF M series using flash memory is adequate - as are the Canon HV40 miniDV tape and Sony HDR-HC9 miniDV tape systems.

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New question
Dec 19, 2010 1:08PM PST

Well if I go with a minidv camcorder, what will i have to buy in order to transfer the footage to my pc?

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MiniDV tape camcorders mean
Dec 19, 2010 10:27PM PST

your computer has a firewire port.

Firewire, DV, IEEE1394 and i.LINK are all the same thing.
Connect a firewire cable to the camcorder's DV port and computer's firewire port.
Camcorder in Play mode.
Launch video editor that can deal with HDV format video.
Import or capture the video. This is a real-time activity. 60 minutes of video is a 60 minute import time.
The tape is the archive. When importing is complete, take the tape out of the camcorder, mark it, put the tape in its case and store in a cool, dry place.

Flash memory or hard disc drive...
Connect a USB cable to the camcorder's USB port and computer's USB port.
Camcorder in Play or PC mode.
Some video editors can capture the MTS (or TOD) file. Sometimes you copy the files from the camcorder to the computer for transcoding. If transcoding is needed first, then after transcoding,
Launch video editor that can deal with MTS or TOD format video.
Import or capture (or Log and Capture) the video.
For archiving, copy the original video files from the camcorder to a RAID1 (multiple) hard drive array.

Regardless of the media, once the video is in the computer and the video editor can deal with it, the rest of the downstream process is the same.

Since we don't know what computer you have or what you plan to edit with - or what the storage infrastructure is, we don't know what you "will have to buy in order to transfer the footage" to your computer.

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Seems I'm confused
Dec 19, 2010 1:10PM PST

What is "flash memory" ? I just want the easiest way to transfer the video to my pc

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Flash memory is the
Dec 19, 2010 10:33PM PST

generic term for any of the "solid state" memory cards that can be used by some camcorders to store either still images or video. The actual memory media has no moving parts. Hard disc drives have a motor that spines the hard disc platters and an armature that moves the read/write head across the platters. MiniDV tape depends on the tape transport mechanism to move the tape over the heads for data read/write.

Many camcorder manufacturers have built-in flash memory. Some employ removable flash memory in SD or SDHC, Memory Stick ProDuo and other flash memory types.