twoehr
I just bought a Panasonic VDR-D220 (Specs similar to a 230) and wanted to share my initial experience and thoughts. Overall I'm not impressed, mainly regarding the usability, and feel at this point that I'll be returning it. My biggest gripes revolve around the DVD-RAM disk and lack of software.
Of all the recordable formats I like the concept of the DVD-RAM (acts like a hard drive), but it is unreadable by both my DVD player and DVD drives in my computer. Therefore the benefit of using DVD over miniDV or HDD is lost. I think I'd have to switch to DVD-RW if I were to keep it (I won't use DVD-R).
My other issue is the software, or lack thereof. The only software that came with the camera was DVD-RAM software so that the computer can mount the disk when the camera is attached to the computer via the USB cable. (Oh, and thanks, camera must be on AC too. I know it would not be a good situation if the battery died, but don't force me, give me a choice.) Nothing else, the camera isn't a deal if I got to go out and buy another $100 is software. (I have the feeling this is "standard" and everyone with a camera needs to buy additional software.)
As for the software and how video is recorded itself is annoying. I would have expected the DVD format to be more convenient than tape. (Heck it doesn't record as good quality as miniDV, so there's got to be a benefit somewhere, right?) The video is all put into one file, not one filter per scene or recording session, so it is continuous, like tape. I would prefer discrete files. Also what is with VRO? Why not just make it mpg. It is isn't it, that's why you just re-label it. But, no that's not right either, as the re-labeled file looks like it is just as long as the first scene, but it is actually all the video, ugh.
I have tried some demo programs of editing software and others illicitly posted. I do think that VideoReDo is a very nice product, and if I keep the camera I think I'll buy that. But I was expecting the experience to be similar to capturing video on a still camera, a nice compact mpg file for each scene, easy to copy to a computer, easy to view, etc.
So, am I crazy, expecting too much, just not "doing it right"? Wadaya say?
Of all the recordable formats I like the concept of the DVD-RAM (acts like a hard drive), but it is unreadable by both my DVD player and DVD drives in my computer. Therefore the benefit of using DVD over miniDV or HDD is lost. I think I'd have to switch to DVD-RW if I were to keep it (I won't use DVD-R).
My other issue is the software, or lack thereof. The only software that came with the camera was DVD-RAM software so that the computer can mount the disk when the camera is attached to the computer via the USB cable. (Oh, and thanks, camera must be on AC too. I know it would not be a good situation if the battery died, but don't force me, give me a choice.) Nothing else, the camera isn't a deal if I got to go out and buy another $100 is software. (I have the feeling this is "standard" and everyone with a camera needs to buy additional software.)
As for the software and how video is recorded itself is annoying. I would have expected the DVD format to be more convenient than tape. (Heck it doesn't record as good quality as miniDV, so there's got to be a benefit somewhere, right?) The video is all put into one file, not one filter per scene or recording session, so it is continuous, like tape. I would prefer discrete files. Also what is with VRO? Why not just make it mpg. It is isn't it, that's why you just re-label it. But, no that's not right either, as the re-labeled file looks like it is just as long as the first scene, but it is actually all the video, ugh.
I have tried some demo programs of editing software and others illicitly posted. I do think that VideoReDo is a very nice product, and if I keep the camera I think I'll buy that. But I was expecting the experience to be similar to capturing video on a still camera, a nice compact mpg file for each scene, easy to copy to a computer, easy to view, etc.
So, am I crazy, expecting too much, just not "doing it right"? Wadaya say?