Paul-
i-link is Sony's term for the IEEE-1394 digital video standard. Apple's
trademark is Firewire. Same difference <g>.
Sony makes 2 kinds of camcorders with digital capability -- mini-DV, and
Digital-8.
Mini-DV records up to 1 hour on a unique-sized cassette, I think up to 2
hours in an "LP" mode.
Digital-8 records up to 1 hour on a Hi-8 8mm cassette.
Mini-DV tapes cost from about $9 "plain" to $25 with a chip built in to help
control editing.
Hi-8 tapes are about $6.
A lot of the camcorder features are the same between Sony's 2 lines.
Mini-DV, with the more expensive chip tapes, is being able to do some simple
editing inside the camcorder (for copying to another tape). But Mac
computers and some pc's can do this alot more comfortably IMHO.
Advantage of mini-DV is smaller tape, maybe a smaller camera, many brands of
camera to choose from. And maybe 2 hour length. Disadvantage is more
expensive, harder-to-find tape. My buddy travelled with his mini-DV, had a
hard time finding blank tapes, especially the ones with the chip.
Advantage of Digital-8 is being able to still playback your old analog 8mm
or Hi-8 tapes. My old camcorder died, I can still read its tapes in the
Digital-8 and someday even edit them <g>. Also, tapes are cheaper and very
easy to find. Disadvantage is only Sony makes this, but they have a robust
product line for years. Also, only one hour length. (But changing tapes is
quick.)
My Sony Digital-8 camcorder has a 1394 port. I put a firewire card into my
pc with digital editing software. After rebate it cost $99. I can do
editing, fades/transitions, titling, dub in music, all that kinda stuff.
It's easy but quite time-consuming. AND I can feed the old analog tapes out
through the firewore port, capture them in the pc for editing.
My daughter just helped her boss "shoot" a wedding. She was using our
digital camcorder. He was using Hi-8. She edited both tapes together into
one final tape.
With either mini-DV or Digital-8, when you copy from camcorder to computer,
edit, and transfer a final tape back to the camcorder, it's all digital so
you have no "generation loss" drop in quality. Only when you make a copy to
VHS do you suffer loss.
Both formats allow taking digital stills, although at lower resolution than
the state-of-the-art digital still cameras. (Plenty good enough for email
or a web site, but not for photo enlargements.) Both also allow "grabbing"
individual frames off a video and saving them as stills, and also some form
of storage for still pictures like memory sticks.
The resolution of both mini-DV and Digital-8 is the same -- over 500 lines
(equivalent to a DVD). But keep in mind that the theoretical maximum for
VHS is 240 lines. So, your camcorder tapes might look stunning, but when
you copy them for other people you will lose half of the quality.
If ya got any more questions, maybe I can answer them.
Would suggest a retailer: Camera World of Oregon. www.cameraworld.com
Have bought 2 camcorders, 2 still cameras, and several lenses from them over
the years. Never a screw up, quick shipping, and because they are Oregon,
NO sales tax.
Ben
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Ihrig [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2001 10:35 AM
To: CF-Community
Subject: mini dv???? do you have one? what one
ok time to geek out a bit.
i am now looking at getting a video cam.
probably in the Sony mini dv category.
any opinions.
what would you get & why. what would you stay away from.
what is the difference between i-link & fire wire.
my fianc� has a Mac so i want it to be compatible.
-paul
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