I'm new to this entire area, so here is my need, and I'm looking for your expertise.

I want to record for professional use using primarily bullet cams - 580 lines, so I need to record onto a unit of some sort. I will be mobile so I will use a 12 volt feed, and won't always have access to 120 V power.

I foresee collecting many hours of data over a couple days then transfering to a computer or device of some sort.

My questions are:

1) Will the Panasonic capture the quality off the bullet cameras - no loss in quality?

2) I will want to edit all the video collected, does this cameras download capability alone make it worth purchasing?

3) I understand using MiniDV's will be extremely time consuming - is the Panasonic simpler and is it generally trouble free?

4) Will storeage be a problem, I mean enough storeage? I won't have a computer with me but am considering a storeage device.

5) What would you suggest?

Thanks to all who particiate in this forum, I'm learning lots.

I'll try to answer some of your questions. And some of your questions evoke other questions.

1) The SV-AV100 is near the quality of this 580 line bullet camera. At 6Mbps and 525 lines, it's considered "standard" DVD quality. The newer SDR-S100 is capable of one good step up in video quality. That said, the SV-AV100 is pretty damn good.

2) I'm confused by your question concerning . . . "does this cameras download capability alone make it worth purchasing?" The SV-AV100 is USB 1.1 (12 Mbps), while the SDR-S100 is true USB 2.0 (480 Mbps). After the first time, I never downloaded video directly from my SV-AV100. I used an inexpensive USB 2.0 card reader. The SDR-S100 is as fast as a USB 2.0 card reader, so I download directly from it. I do most of my editing with Womble Video Wizard ( www.womble.com ).

3) I also have a Panasonic GS400 MiniDV 3CCD camcorder. As with any tape camera, downloading is in real time (ex: 30 minutes of video takes 30 minutes to download). Any SD camera downloads at about 20 times real time (ex: 30 minutes of video takes about 1.5 minutes to download). The Wolverine is not quite as fast as a USB 2.0 card reader and a computer, but it's way faster than plain USB 1.1. When connected to a PC, the Wolverine is true USB 2.0 and quite fast.

4) I think you answered the storage problem in another thread with a Wolverine 100GB FlashPac.

5) I suggest the Wolverine, a USB 2.0 card reader for when you're at your computer and Womble Video Wizard. I also like Nero Video Express 4 for DVD authoring. I also bought an extra battery from www.batterybarn.com for both my old SV-AV100 and my new SDR-S100.

Bye.

PS. The guy who bought my SV-AV100 is a motorcycle racer who plans to use it with that Sony bullet camera as a helmet camera and "wear" the SV-AV100 somewhere under his leathers.

Crunchy Doodle has provided some good answers but there is another point of view...

1. MiniDV is still much used in the professional arena. And I think it will stay that way for years to come. So far only High Definition Video (HDV) seems to be creeping up to replace it.

2. MiniDV is a format designed for editing, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video are not, they are designed as a distribution format.

3. MiniDV is not "extremely time consuming" if you will be editing. You indicated you want "to edit all the video collected". Editing can be extremely time consuming and how much time it takes depends on what type of editing you plan on doing, the software you are using, your computer system and your familiarity with editing.

4. Except for the time in transferring the video from camera to computer, editing MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 can be equal to or more time consuming than MiniDV and problematic with the possibility in reducing the video quality.


You did not say what your final delivery format(s) are for your video. That is a factor which should be considered.

You might want to carefully read CNET's review of the Panasonic D-Snap SV-AV100 http://reviews.cnet.com/Panasonic_D...7-30527068.html



Rich

__________________
FireWire Survey

Thanks Poncho

Great information, and I'm begining to see through it all. I wonder how much time and effort would go into this research if it wasn't for forums like this. Amazes me

Think I'm back to the Mini DV format.

The end product is both DVD & CD.

I'd like to add a few more comments to this discussion . . . . .

When I have some "serious" video to shoot, I use my Panasonic GS400 MiniDV camcorder. I do my editing with Avid XpressDV and will author my DVDs with the DVDit that came bundled with it. It took me quite a while to get "good" with this workflow. The results from this are superior to anything I can do with the SDR-S100, Womble Video Wizard (WVW) and Nero Video Express 4. However, very few people interested in SD based camcorders are interested in the more traditional, professional-like workflow I used before getting into SD camcorders.

For my family home movies, my SD camcorder and the relatively simple workflow of WVW and Nero produce fairly pleasant and entertaining family fair that can be enjoyed by my extended family. They don't notice or care that the shot is a little off-center or shaky, or the lighting and sound are not what they could be. They just want to see the new babies, or maybe the gymnastics skills of one of the older kids.

And the reality of producing a finished piece - a DVD, is more of what you do editing the video and sound, adding a music track and interesting, easy to use DVD menus. In the end, it's being able to tell a story that will interest your audience and leave them in the emotional state that says you did your job right. It's not whether you used an SD camcorder or a MiniDV camcorder - they are just tools.

Bye.