In message , Saint
writes

Snipped....

If any of you would be good enough to reply, and answer further
questions as they arise, I'd really appreciate it - this is a
minefield.

I hesitate to recommend one camcorder over another, but general advice
can be found on my site at:

http://www.camcord.info/buying/

Insofar as editing, you might look at:

http://www.camcord.info/basics/

To round things off, have a look at:

http://www.camcord.info/formats/

If I were buying a new camcorder today, I'd go for either a Panasonic or
a Sony (I have a Sony BTW).
--
Tony Morgan

I considered buying a DV Camcorder some time ago but never actually got
around to it. I have now finally got around to getting one but need rather a
lot of advice in terms of what I need and how I can edir onto different
media. In short I thought it best to ask very specific questions and hope
you don't mind if this is going over old ground but, having done searches, I
can't really find answers to questions I want to ask:

1. Equipment.

I do not need anything terribly fancy, just a decent standard DV camcorder
that will produce reasonable results. Budget is around £500 and have
currently looked at:

Sony DCRTRV19
Panasonic NV-DS60B


although I am open to other suggestions.

I already have installed a Firewire card into my PC so I assume that this is
ok?

2. Software/Hardware

This is where I start to get confused. I have copies of MGI Videowave and
also Adobe something or other, both of which I have been told will do the
job. I have absolutely no idea about the correct bitrates to use or settings
within the software either so any help will be much appreciated.

I have a CD re-writer with Nero so am able to burn VCD's which will play on
my DVD player. I do not, yet, have a DVD writer so I guess am at a bit of a
disadvantage there - are they expensive?

Also, what kind of standard of playback will i get from a VCD? What format
do I need to use to get nice clear footage?

If any of you would be good enough to reply, and answer further questions as
they arise, I'd really appreciate it - this is a minefield.

Email address is : if anyone is willing to enter into
private q&a's.

Many thanks,

S

"Saint" wrote in message
...
I considered buying a DV Camcorder some time ago but never actually got
around to it. I have now finally got around to getting one but need rather
a
lot of advice in terms of what I need and how I can edir onto different
media. In short I thought it best to ask very specific questions and hope
you don't mind if this is going over old ground but, having done searches,
I
can't really find answers to questions I want to ask:

1. Equipment.

I do not need anything terribly fancy, just a decent standard DV camcorder
that will produce reasonable results. Budget is around £500 and have
currently looked at:

Sony DCRTRV19
Panasonic NV-DS60B

although I am open to other suggestions.

I already have installed a Firewire card into my PC so I assume that this
is
ok?

I have a Panasonic NV-DS30B (predecessor to the 60B I believe) and am
perfectly happy with it. The firewire card will enable you to transfer DV
video from camcorder to PC (and from PC to camcorder if camcorder has
DV-in).

2. Software/Hardware

This is where I start to get confused. I have copies of MGI Videowave and
also Adobe something or other, both of which I have been told will do the
job. I have absolutely no idea about the correct bitrates to use or
settings
within the software either so any help will be much appreciated.

It really depends how much control you want over the end product. Some
software will guide you through the process with a great deal of help, while
others (like Adobe Premiere) would leave the beginner completely floundering
(I should know - I tried it once!!)

It might be an idea to see if any of the computer shops might give a
demonstration of one or two editing packages, and you could try them out,
see which is best for your needs. My personal choice is Ulead MediaStudio
6.5. I've been using MediaStudio since version 2.5 to create graphics for
then VHS-based edits, so I've come to know its quirks etc. There are certain
things it can't do, but I usually find a way round it...!

When editing DV, and outputting in DV, no bitrate settings should need
changing - it's a standardised format with standardised bitrate (3.5MB/s or
thereabouts). And that's another thing - DV video is BIG! Make sure you have
a nice lot of hard disk space free - 2GB for every 10 mins of DV video.

Outputting in VCD format is a whole different ballgame. I can't remember the
max. bitrate for a VCD file off-hand, but the quality you get will barely be
better than VHS, and much degraded from the DV-quality input.

I have a CD re-writer with Nero so am able to burn VCD's which will play
on
my DVD player. I do not, yet, have a DVD writer so I guess am at a bit of
a
disadvantage there - are they expensive?

'Expensive' means something different to everyone! DVD writers can be
expensive, but it helps to know where to look to get a good deal. I got my
Pioneer DVR-106 DVD writer very recently for just over £130. And it's dual
format: DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW. It can also burn CD-R and CD-RW.

Current best prices I can find:
£139.90 - http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/
£128.99 - http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/

If you are prepared to plump for a particular DVD format (+ or -), the
drives are much less expensive - sub £100.

Also, what kind of standard of playback will i get from a VCD? What
format
do I need to use to get nice clear footage?

If you're shooting normal footage on DV, it's worth noting that this footage
will most likely be interlaced (essentially 50 separate picures per second)
but VCD can not do interlaced video - it would have to be de-interlaced in
your editing software. This has the effect of giving your footage a 'filmic'
look. SVCD is slightly better quality and can handle interlaced files, but
takes up much more file space.

As mentioned before, VCD is only just better than VHS quality. SVCD is
marginally better again but the bitrates have to be low to enable a decent
amount to be crammed on a CD.

DVDs have a maximum total (video + audio) bitrate of 1.1MB/s, so even that
is knocking two thirds of the DV quality away. However, with a good MPEG-2
encoder (such as TMPGEnc - have a look at http://www.dvdrhelp.com for where
to find this useful program) very high quality results can be produced. I
personally edit in MediaStudio and output to disk in DV, then use TMPGEnc to
convert to DVD-Video format, then use Sonic ReelDVD to author the DVD, and
Nero to burn it! Quite a long process, but the end result looks good.

Hope this is of some help!

--
Ed Fielden, Cirencester, UK

Buy from Jessops and price match them off the internet - pricerunner site I
think