Has it finally happened? - Sony DVD handicam

[tod8]

I just saw a t.v. commercial for the "Sony DVD handicam"......its a camcorder that records straight to DVD discs..............is this the end of DV tape and tape in general?............
Anyone know anything about these cameras?...........how long can you record onto a disc?.....what about quality?......

:?: .....

tod

[mg]

Since it records directly to DVD disks and is playable in a standard DVD player, this means that the recording format is subject to the limitations of the DVD standard - MPEG2 and bitrate under 8000k/s (approximately, can't remember specific). Overall this will yield a significantly lower quality image than DV and be more difficult to edit. It's really just a gimmick.


mg

[Lunar07]

I just saw a t.v. commercial for the "Sony DVD handicam"......its a camcorder that records straight to DVD discs..............is this the end of DV tape and tape in general?............
Anyone know anything about these cameras?...........how long can you record onto a disc?.....what about quality?......

:?: .....

tod

Let me put it in one sentence:
AVOID and stick to tape.

[Freya]

It's actually much worse than these people have described.

Firstly it records on wierd dvd mini discs, not normal dvd discs, so they are super expensive.

That would be okay if the quality was much better but actually the quality is much lower than dv as it is more heavily compressed.

To top it all the discs only record for 45 minutes or something.

And yes it is Mpeg2 which is hard to edit, of course if you just want to make unedited home movies it's probably okay or something.

The next format is likely to be the dv tape based hidef format. Sadly this is also Mpeg2, very heavily compressed and basically a bit rubbish, but we are prepared to put up with that to get hidef pictures.

[jumar]

I just saw a t.v. commercial for the "Sony DVD handicam"......its a camcorder that records straight to DVD

These have been in stores for about three years. Avoid.

[LastQuark]

And yes it is Mpeg2 which is hard to edit, of course if you just want to make unedited home movies it's probably okay or something.

Adobe is going to support mpeg editing in their next version according to some articles. This was triggered because of the release of JVC's prosumer HDTV camcorder that records mpeg HDTV on tape. Sometime early this year, Sony, Matsushita, and Canon adopted this as a standard.

Whether Adobe will support mpeg HDTV only or mpeg DVD remains to be seen. But it looks the future format is going towards this direction for consumer products.

[Scotness]

The only advantage it mayhave is the ability to store lots of still images at high resolution (depending on the cameras specs) - which could be good for the work printers

Scot

[FilmIs4Ever]

CD's, DVD's, VCD's, blues, minidiscs. . . why does anyone take that crap seriously? It takes almost two seconds for a CD-R digital camera to take a single picture and record it because all of these cheap plastic disc formats are such trash. You're much better off with any kind of tape format because tape is linear, just like good old film. It rolls right on through without the need for any lasers burning pits into its surface. Tapes have made considerable progress in the last few decades. I have high quality VHS tapes that look just as crystal clear 15+ years from the day they were recorded, contrary to the claims made by CD manufacturers to the contrary . S-VHS is supposed to be even better. These are just consumer formats, although S-VHS does have a small following in the broadcast industry. Tapes won't skip, scratch, or fade in the sunlight. Tapes are the only choice in the recording industry. At the very top of this field, the reel-to-reel recorders used are not DAT, but analog because analog is better quality! Digital is obviously easier to record and edit, and it supposedly never degrades, but it is not nearly as sharp as good old analog.

[Scotness]

For sure - but alot of people want the ease not the quality

Scot

[S8 Booster]

Current electronic moving storage medias are outdated anyway.

Very soon you will get this: (RAMcorder)

guest from Japan  
Junior member

Joined: 05 Apr 2003
Posts: 11

Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 5:51 pm    
Post subject:

Panasonic will produce SPD camcorder next year.
SPD card is made of 4 x 1GB SD cards and the size of SPD card is the same as PC card.
http://www.videojournal.co.jp/vj/img/on ... 061_06.jpg
http://www.videojournal.co.jp/vj/img/on ... 1061_07.jp

And Terrabyte storage capacity will soon be avail within the corder.

Do not mind about buying moving media stuff for capture.
Waste of money.

Just imagine the transfer rates available:



There was a minor update:

guest from Japan  
Junior member

Joined: 05 Apr 2003
Posts: 11

Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 9:03 pm    
Post subject:

SPD card(solid state memory card) is announced at the NAB 2003 by Panasonic. Panasonic is planning to ship them around Spring 2004.

Sony:bule ray disk VS. Panasonic: SPD card????

MAX. Transfer Speed x20/DVCPRO data(25Mbps)
PCMCIA Card interface
rewritable for about 30000 times

I think this small camera is DV camcorder.
The grip of the camera will be the lens cover when you fold it.
40% smaller and lighter than normal DV camcorder.

There is not much information right now. I will keep you updated if I find news about this product.

R

[jumar]

Hmm... that's the closest-looking thing to a Super8 camera I've seen in a handicam... it's the folding handle I suppose. I guess they're getting too small to have a strap on the side.

[jobes]

im testing this in a couple of weeks cant wait!!

http://www.sonybiz.net/cgi-bin/bvisapi. ... lId=-31060

s-vhs is not good quality,vhs is a terrible format that degrades rapidly
and gives awful noizy images and poor sound plus vhs machines have variable speeds at playback

[jumar]

Tapes have made considerable progress in the last few decades. I have high quality VHS tapes that look just as crystal clear 15+ years from the day they were recorded, contrary to the claims made by CD manufacturers to the contrary . S-VHS is supposed to be even better. These are just consumer formats, although S-VHS does have a small following in the broadcast industry.

Oh man... I can't believe you're arguing for VHS. This breaks my heart. The only even remotely acceptable VHS dubs I've seen are from a $2000 deck. Even then, they are extremely lossy. Anything that comes out of a consumer deck is basically unwatchable for me. DVD is a million zillion times better than VHS (although sensitive to scratching).

VHS is extremely sensitive to the elements. Earlier this year I had to go through about 300 tapes, and there were two year old tapes that were completely damaged by the elements.

Additionally, every time you watch a VHS tape, it degrades slightly (as does any tape or film). That's why if you go to a video store and rent American Ninja (circa early 80s and thus watched over and over again for 20 years), the quality will be considerably worse than if you rent something that just came out.

S-VHS is miles better, but it's also only decent on professional decks, and not supported on non-SVHS consumer decks. If you're going to record S-VHS for archiving you might as well record BetaSP or higher.

The film vs. video, mac vs. pc debates are one thing, but one of my strongest beliefs as a human being is that VHS should be burned in the streets.

[FilmIs4Ever]

I wasn't talking about an S-VHS player that costs $200, I was talking about a professional one (about $1500 new from BH photovideo). I wish I could afford a $5000 Beta VCR, but there's no way in hell that I'll come upon that kind of loose change anytime soon. You should really take a look at BH's catalog to see what kind of S-VHS stuff they have. I saw a VCR that had a DV/S-VHS dual capacity, so obviously someone is using this stuff on TV. Also, there are very high quality S-VHS tapes that are called "broadcast standards" that cost something like $10 for a 60 minute tape. I'm assuming that a S-VHS tape that outprices some of the Beta tapes out there must give decent quality. DVD's aren't professional quality at all. My father has had a few computer animations done for him by this one company and, for the first time, they sent him DVD's instead of good old VHS. My dad isn't a slob, but already the DVD's have 4 or 5 spots where they skip. The VHS from his last animation are still in solid shape. The company that does this stuff for him certainly uses Beta, because there are a few spots on the DVD's where you get those same little white lines that DVD's was supposed to rid the world of going across the screen. What's the use in getting DVD's when the master is on Beta?

[mattias]

are you sure you're not alex under a new name? sometimes it's really sad that this board doesn't have a plonk/kill/ignore feature...

/matt