Mini DV is the king

[jazu]

Anyone agree with me?
There is only one thing that bothers me about mini Dv camcorder. Picking up motor noises.
I believe there is a reason why most professional camcorders use tape as a media.
I'm on the market for new HD camcorder. After considering of buying SDHC card cam, I'm back on the track to go with mini DV.
Canon HV30 so far is my choice.
cheers
J

[minidv2dvd]

only drawbacks to the canon hv cams are battery life and the built in mic. make sure you buy a couple large extras batteries. and consider an add-on shotgun mic. other than that i like my hv30 quite a bit.

[filmboss80]

Gotta concur with mindv2dvd. Pros don't worry about motor noise because pros don't use the built-in mics. All my minidv tapes have lasted longer than my hard drives and memory cards.

[jazu]

only drawbacks to the canon hv cams are battery life and the built in mic. make sure you buy a couple large extras batteries. and consider an add-on shotgun mic. other than that i like my hv30 quite a bit.

You are absolutely right. Add to HV30 lens hood and shotgun mic - camcorder will looks like professionals one

[edDV]

"motor noise" is more noticeable when using automatic gain control (AGC) camcorders. When things get quiet, the AGC pumps up the gain and you hear the motor.

Buy only camcorders with manual audio level override. Set audio for the loudest expected audio and leave it there. Then fix gain in post. The HV20/30 have manual audio control.

BTW, I agree on HDV. AVCHD needs a digital intermediate codec to favorably compare.

[2Bdecided]

Buy only camcorders with manual audio level override. Set audio for the loudest expected audio and leave it there. Then fix gain in post. The HV20/30 have manual audio control.

They do, and some people say they get good results. Listening to this "good" footage, I think one of us must be deaf!

I was getting far better audio out of the on-board mics on my S-VHS-C camcorder nearly two decades ago!

Cheers,
David.

[src2206]

I have long been using a SONY DCR HC42E DV Camcorder, but I have never seen that it is picking up any motor noise. But I do agree that tape is still the professional choice because IMO the quality of captured media still very high.