Budget "Video" Camera

Phaser

Phaser

Phaser

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Joined
17 Mar 2004
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1,562
Right, first off, I don't know anything about video/digital cameras.

I have a digital camera which I use for the odd flick here and there - nothing special.

I am wanting to make a few "music videos" - I know this sounds a bit Channel U ish but basically there are a few DJ's involved and we'd like to record our sets/events, add a few interviews etc and make a DVD.

I was looking at the Panasonic NV-GS17B - a certain high street store have got it at £139.99 reduced from £299. Would this be any good?

I guess the camera would have to do videos at a certain resolution, for them to not be pixelated on big screens?

What software would I need? Something to edit the clips, cut bits and pieces out and mix them with music would be good...Also some effects might be nice..

Like I said I have no experience with this sort of thing, but i'm willing to learn as a few fun projects could be had with this.

Any suggestions/advice appreciated. Thanks.
 
...?

How would I transfer it to the computer? Any preference over S-Video or USB? Is it just a case of drag and drop?
 
sorry, clikced post too soon:

1) Shoot on MiniDv - This is probably the easiest format to shoot on, there are loads like good old Vhs, Hi-8, DV, HD, the list goes on. Also this is VERY easy to download onto a laptop, just a simple firewire cable, no messy A/V S-Video to USB connectors and lastly it is affordable, i think you can buy about 3 1hr tapes for about £11, you can even buy them from Tesco.

2) Set yourself a money budget - I know about this well as last year i kept seeing better and better cameras and ended up spending 3 grand on a canon XL2!!

3) Make - I would personaly go for something like samsung if you are just looking for an affordable camera, i think some Samsung ones are about £180. MAKE SURE THEY HAVE A DV OUT CONNECTION - This is the easiest way to transfer (with the fire wire cable)

4) Resolution - I remember you saying something about resolution. Now as far as i know, there isnt really such a thing as 'dffferent camera res' in small camcorders, the finished quality depends on the quality you download on your computer.

5) Computer - Personaly i would edit with iMovie on a Mac. This is one of the best 'free' editing programs that i know of. But if you don't have a Mac, it would probably cost you about £699 to buy a Power Book, these are great 'small neat' Mac laptops. I also think that you can burn DVDs on iMovie, if not you can probably find some free software. If you have a PC i would use Movie Maker 2, make sure it is movie maker 2 as movie maker 1 is rubbish!!, this is also free and like iMovie it should come ready installed. If not you can probably download it somewhere from microsoft. MAKE SURE YOUR PC HAS A FIRE WIRE PORT!!!!!! You can by PCI cards with these on for about £50 from aria.

6) PLAN - I cant stress this enough, YOU MUST PLAN WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SHOOT!! WRITE A SCRIPT AND STORYBOARD YOUR FILM!!! Other wise you will be half way through shooting your film and then you won't know what to do then you will give up hence a waste of £200!!

7) Extra bits - Always make sure you are prepared!! You will need DV tapes, always at least two if one screws up!! Make sure the camera battery is FULLY charged for your days shooting, it will really pee you off if you are half way through shooting and the camera conks out on you. You will need a fire wire cable, there are two different connections so check which one your PC/MAC has!! You can get these from places like ********.

8) Invest in a tripod - There is no point in filming something and finding out when you have downloaded it it is really shakey!! A good one from No Competitors! FF. is about £40.

9) Invest in a spare external hard-drive (not essential but could save the day) - You need to back up all the footage you film, it will really, and i mean really, pee you off if you loose all your work. Go for at least 200 gig if you buy one, i would go to aria for it, a great pc-parts website.

10) DVD copier - Firstly you will need a DVD burner, this is essential of course if you want to make some DVDs. Again, go to read me for it. Get one that does +/- format and at least 8x speed. You may like to invest in a DVD copier, these can copy a DVD in about 4 minutes where it can take 4 hrs plus to burn your master copy off the PC/MAC, again, not essential but helpful. Go to aria for this, not too sure about the price.

11) HAVE FUN!! - Remember, have fun when you film, it shouldn't be a chore!!


I hope i have helped, if you have any more questions please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] . I may not reply for a while, forgive me if i don't, as i only check my e-mials about 5 times a week.

Regards, David :)
 
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Cheers mate - some top info there.

You might want to edit the PC shops links out though - no mention of competitors are allowed.

Panasonic NV-GS17B - Is that not any good then? Seems to going for about £250-300 but like I said a certain shop has an offer on. It also supports DV.

It says it comes with an AV cable (4 pin) - I guess I would have to buy a seperate firewire cable? Like I said is it just drag and drop, or do you have to open software, import it, and then save?

What sort of file size am I looking at for an hour-90 min long good quality "film"?
I take it the tapes are compatible...I won't find myself struggling to buy them in say a year or 2 years time?

What is the best file format to save it as? Is movie maker any good for resaving/converting?

Thanks for the help so far.
 
I just bought a Panasonic NV-GS75EB from a well known high street electronics shop for £280 - nice, 3CCD with 1.7Mp stills.

The pictures look much more vivid and lifelike than the JVC GR-DVL767 I replaced and less than a half the price I paid four years ago for the JVC - work that one out!

In terms of output, I tend to drop home movies to DVD.

I import the DV data using WinDV to create an AVI (13Gb per hour, hence the need for a big hard drive), edit in Virtualdub and frameserve to TMPGenc or Mainconcept which gives me an MPEG-2 at around 4.5Mbps. This I drop into DVD Author to create the DVD files and burn them using Nero.

If I want DivX I capture with WinDV, edit in Virtualdub and save it out via the DivX codec at around 1000kbps - gives a nice result for PC use, especially if I use 2 passes.
 
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well, i cant think of any other general information to give you, if you hav any specific questions then ask away!! That camera is ok but you said you wanted a cheap one so i would go with a samsung.

to download the video you plug your camera into the pc via fire wire and just click improt video in movie maker. you can select quality then press next and you should get a screen with a prieview window, just click start importing!!!

the only problem is that it will download in real time ie if you have 1hr of footage it will take one hour to download, can be a bit tedious.

of the top of my head i think that a 90 minute dvd quality film would take up about 200 gig, quite a lot!!

if need to know how movie maker works you can probably find loads of tutorials on the interent, just put 'movie maker 2 tutorials' in google.

hope this helps!!

Regards, david :)
 
if you mean commercial dvd quality it will take up about 200gig, i did a summer school for five days last year and by the end of it i had filled up my 250gig external hard-drive with about 3 hours of film, ,and that wasnt on commercial dvd quality!! well good luck with your project!!

regards, david :)
 
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