Video recording question
Hope this is in the right forum - sorry if it's not!
I have a beautiful 3 year old son and I'd like to get a video camera to film some of his finer moments. We bought a Sony Hi-8 camera right after he was born, but the sound crapped out soon after we got it, and we never figured out how to get the results onto digital media anyway.
At any rate, I'm looking for advice on a videorecorder (hopefully in the $500 and under range) that will let me shoot some short vids of my kid and then upload them via USB or firewire to either of my iMacs (both 20", one is a G4, and one a G5, both running Tiger and iLife '06) for storage and editing. I've never used iMovie or iDVD, but I want to learn, and I want to make sure that whatever video camera I choose is both Mac and Upload-friendly. To make matters slightly more complicated, my wife's birthday is Wednesday, and I was hoping to find something before then.
Any and all suggestions welcome.
I have a beautiful 3 year old son and I'd like to get a video camera to film some of his finer moments. We bought a Sony Hi-8 camera right after he was born, but the sound crapped out soon after we got it, and we never figured out how to get the results onto digital media anyway.
At any rate, I'm looking for advice on a videorecorder (hopefully in the $500 and under range) that will let me shoot some short vids of my kid and then upload them via USB or firewire to either of my iMacs (both 20", one is a G4, and one a G5, both running Tiger and iLife '06) for storage and editing. I've never used iMovie or iDVD, but I want to learn, and I want to make sure that whatever video camera I choose is both Mac and Upload-friendly. To make matters slightly more complicated, my wife's birthday is Wednesday, and I was hoping to find something before then.
Any and all suggestions welcome.
Comments
Record to mini-DV Tape.
Transfer to computer is a snap using iMovie.
Just play with iMovie a bit, you'll find it pretty simple to do basic stuff.
If image quality is top priority check out Panasonic's three chip PV GS-300 which can be had on line for around $500, and which also has optical image stabilization.
Take note that the HD revolution is just starting to take off in the consumer space, with HDV camcorders dropping under $1000 and nowhere to go but down in price. It seems inevitable that some form of HD camcorder will gradually eclipse the DV format, and given that HD (even in its somewhat compromised "consumer" codec incarnations) is tons better looking that DV you might want to get a cheap ($300) or even used DV camcorder to use until HD moves far enough down market.
Do they transfer over firewire still? Can I plug one into iMovie and have it Just Work??
Amorya