Available only recently and becoming more and more affordable for the home consumer, HD video cameras provide a much better quality of image than older analog camcorders. In the past few years, the technology was really only intended for the professional market. Yet nowadays, it’s possible for video enthusiasts to really immerse themselves in their favourite pastime, with an almost unprecedented access to the kind of superior quality products available on the market today. To that end, there exists four different technologies for HD camcorders.
1- The MiniDV version of HD, that is to say, HDV (High Definition Video)
At first, it was a technology meant for standard digital video, but was eventually adapted for high definition. It’s a compact format; a mini-size S-cassette that can record about an hour of high quality video onto a single tape.
Advantage: the quality of the recording is generally better than anything else on the market, and it’s reasonably priced, to boot. The format allows for easy connectivity with a computer by using the camera itself to import data into the computer, after which you can edit or burn the contents to a DVD.
Disadvantage: the maximum capacity is one hour of high quality recording per cassette, and it’s the biggest format, in terms of size, of the four technologies. So, when you’re going on a long trip, having to bring several cassettes along with you could become a bit cumbersome.
2- The DVD (8cm diameter disc)
This technology uses the compression standard known as AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) in a disc format, which can only be read on a computer or with a Blu-Ray player. It’s a recent technology that has really only existed for the past few years.
Advantage: you can quickly and easily take a disc and give it to someone. There’s no need to do an additional dump for editing- it’s already in disc format and can be easily read by a computer or played on a consumer-level Blu-Ray system that takes 8cm discs. This makes it very easy to use for someone who wants to make short-duration recordings without having to do a dump or editing.
Disadvantage: the length of a recording is limited to about 10-20 minutes of high quality video, because of the limited size of the disc, which has a maximum capacity of 1.4 gigs. It’s also more complex to edit and to transfer to a computer, than with other technologies.
3- The Hard Drive
Recording in HD requires four to five times more space than recording in standard digital video format. It’s worth nothing then, that hard drives allow storage of anywhere from 15 to 45 hours of video continuously, and at a very respectable level of quality depending on the capacity of the hard drive of the unit. Since the information is digitized electronically, it is also recorded using the AVCHD format.
Advantage: Even though hard drives are equipped with motors, they still have fewer mechanical parts. So there’s a better chance that the equipment will last longer. Due to it’s large capacity for storing information, you don’t need to be burdened with external media like discs or cassettes in order to record for a long period of time.
Disadvantage: The quality is always going to be a little bit less than what you’d get with a cassette, and afterwards, you’ll need to manage those 15 to 45 hours worth of video. It could take a long time to edit and import onto a computer when you have 40, or even up to 120 gigs of audiovisual information accumulated on a single hard drive.
4- The SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) Memory Card
This technology is a more recent format that is getting used more and more in several types of devices, such as digital photo devices, MP3 players, camcorders and for the transport of digital data. Data is also recorded in AVCHD format, and cards can be found with a capacity of up to 32 gigs. (That’s more than 22 times the capacity of an 8cm diameter DVD.)
Advantage: the memory card is easy to carry around with you considering it measures only 32mm x 24mm. The quality is similar to what you’d get with a hard drive, and there’s even less risk of breakdown since there’s no mechanical parts related to the functionality of recording. Because it’s beginning to be used in more and more devices, it’s a format that can be extremely versatile. The quality is impressive and the majority of modern electronic devices (televisions, DVD players, Blu-Ray players, computers) have SD card inputs that allow you to insert the memory card and read the contents directly.
Disadvantage: The only negative point that’s even worth noting here is that it still isn’t able to match the quality of an HDV recording.
Now, it’s up to you to decide!
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