The digital cameras of today are smaller and more capable then ever before. Mini DV is a fine solution for travel such as skiing, riding, mountain-climbing and etc. Choosing the right camera has its challenges. There are some issues you should concern about when choosing a right Mini-DV best travel camera for video.
Mini DV Format Type
There are a lot of different brand mini digital cameras (sony, panasonic, canon), but the question is “which one to buy?” The answer lies in many things-your computer, how much you want to spend on MiniDV tapes or Mini DVD.
Tape Format
Tape format is the most common format for digital camcorders and records conveniently onto Mini DV tapes, which record DV-format video. Although it’s a little boring to green hand, the tapes are cheap, high quality and you’ll always have a solid copy of your video when you’re done. If high quality video is your first need, the tape based digital camcorder is a fine solution.
Flash Memory Format
Flash memory camcorders record MPEG-4 video to built-in flash memory or a flash memory card. It’s easy to review and import your footage to your computer. The cameras are so small you can take them just about anywhere. The original flash memory format based Mini DV video quality is pretty low. However, md-serial camera can meet normal need. Also, you don’t have a solid copy of your footage so you have to make sure you back it up. Even so, it’s very convenient to connect to your computer with USB or mini-USB port.
Hard Drive Format
Harddrive camcorders record high-quality MPEG-2 video to a built-in hard drive. Some hard drives are pretty big now so you can record hours of footage without having to pop in new Mini DVD’s or Mini DV tapes. Although the hard drive camcorder can store high capability video, it’s not portable and esay to damage, unless the hard drive is a SDD one.
Mini DV Connection Interface
Mini DV camcorders make shooting video and importing video content to a PC easy. Once on the PC, video content can be edited, converted for Internet use, or even burned to a DVD. Transferring video to a PC can be accomplished using an IEEE-1394 interface, commonly known as FireWire or i-Link. However, the cards are easy to purchase if a computer is lacking one. As we know, if you want to get hi-fi video, you should use the i-link DV connection. Depending on the device you are connecting the camera to you will need either a 4-4 and 4-6 pin i-link cable.