Digital camcorders

xirokx · 25 Apr 2006 at 12:23

Hi,

Can someone please kindly clarify that if I bought a digital camcorder which has an SD card slot can I record onto the memory card?

If yes can I store 1hr or 2hr video footage?

Please clarify.....

Sirrel Squirrel · 25 Apr 2006 at 13:59

You can record to the card but it'll be poor quality especially if you want to record an hour of footage, don't think you can get that much on a card even at really low quality, far better off recording to mini dv tape.

xirokx · 25 Apr 2006 at 14:14

you see then I need someway of getting that data onto a pc to edit it?

Any ideas?

Whats the point of having a memory card slot if the recording quality is poor?

hmmm

Sirrel Squirrel · 25 Apr 2006 at 14:42

Most cameras use the memory card slot for taking pictures as it just makes life easier, you can easily transfer footage captured to a mini dv camera though, simply connect the camera to the computer via firewire or usb and then use an editing program like windows movie maker to capture the footage, you can then either edit it or just stick the whole thing onto a dvd. Footage captured off a tape is much easier to edit btw.

xirokx · 25 Apr 2006 at 14:57

right lets say I use the mini tapes you get with camcorders to record footage using my camcorder how do I then transfer from the mini tape to the pc?

When you say use tv out, surely there has to be some kind of capturing software to record the footage onto my hdd?

Also can I edit whilst its copying to the hdd or is it best to let it finish transferring from mini tape to hdd? how long does it take to copy?

thanks for all your advice so far

Sirrel Squirrel · 25 Apr 2006 at 17:02

Pretty sure I already answered that buy anywho!

Record all your footage to minidv, you then connect the camcorder to the computer using a usb cable or firewire cable, one of these will normally come with the camera. Put the camera in play or vcr mode (depends on the camcorder) and the computer will automatically detect the camcorder. Open up an editing program like Windows Movie Maker and capture the footage, this usually automatically controls the video camera and will start playing the tape back on the camcorder and start capturing the footage onto your HDD. Let the computer capture all of the footage and once it's finished you can start editing it.

xirokx · 25 Apr 2006 at 17:12

hehehe you diamond MWAH heheheh

how long does it take to transfer about an hour or two worth of video footage to hdd?

rickyt · 25 Apr 2006 at 17:44

I would say , if you see a camcorder with a media card slot in it , it'll be to take still pictures. My Sharp can do this ,stunning quality video , but very poor quality still pictures .If you want to take good quality still pictures dont use phones or camcorders , buy a digital camera, fit for the purpose.You transfer your recordered footage from camcorder to PC by means of a firewire card.You would use capture software , most video editing software has this capability .....Pinnacle, Ulead , etc or stand alone capture proggys like IUvcr .Pinnacle for instance will capture, edit , add titles etc and write directly to DVD without any fuss whatsoever and is good quality.

xirokx · 25 Apr 2006 at 17:48

how long does it take to transfer about an hour or two worth of video footage to hdd?

but if I record onto a sd card using a camcorder the quality will be awful right? or???

Sirrel Squirrel · 25 Apr 2006 at 17:54

If you're capturing from tape it will take however long the tape is to capture, if you have recorded 45 minutes of footage it'll take exactly 45 minutes to capture it to the PC. If you've recorded it to the SD card it'll be captured pretty much instantly as it works just like a normal file transfer but I think the file will probably be harder to edit as it won't be in the ideal format for the editing program where as footage captured from tape will be.

xirokx · 27 Apr 2006 at 23:07

can u spec me a gfx card i need to do this pls?

rickyt · 28 Apr 2006 at 18:51

xirokx said:
can u spec me a gfx card i need to do this pls?

To do what m8 ??

Any 3d Graphics card would do , mine are 128mb, but the important card is the Firewire card . I've bought 4 from E-bay , 2 for myself and 2 for friends . They were different makes and all work perfectly and were quite cheap.

Sirrel Squirrel · 30 Apr 2006 at 11:27

Any graphics card will do as said above, my iMac that I just got only has a 64mb Geforce 2 or something silly and it runs the editing program on there fine. Your computer probably already has a firewire port on the back, some video cameras also use usb connections so you're pretty much covered.