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There are plenty of differences.
MiniDV is more established while a DVD camcorder is a new transition step to hardware only (mini-HD) media storage.
DVD camcorders use USB for video while miniDV camcorders use firewire for video (some capture/editing software like Adobe Premiere does not support video capture by USB and professionals look down on USB since old USB 1.0 was not fast enought for video)
DVD camcorders compress your video to MPEG-2 (only 1 in 15 frames are "real", the others are calculated as part of the compression) while miniDV uses M-JPEG (only 1 in 6 frames are "real, the others are calculated as part of compression).
DVD's MPEG2 format is a 'lossy' compression scheme, meaning many frames are predicted based on previous frames. If you plan to do any editing your final video will suffer generational losses as your using predicted frames to generate more predicted frames.
MiniDV is a lossless compression scheme. There are no predicted frames in the miniDV format. You can edit as many times as you wish without suffering and quality degradation.
There are other inherent differences between miniDV and DVD such as sampling where miniDV uses a 4:1:1 vs dvd's 4:2:0.
It all comes down to what you want to do with the final video.
The new MPEG-4 will become standard as High-definition replaces NTSC making both your choices obsolete.
If I am looking for a camera to make video productions that I will edit on my computer, I prefer my miniDV camcorder.
If I am looking for an all-in-one camera I can take on a cruise and instantly make DVD's, I go for my DVD camcorder.
Comparisons
| |
Mini DVD-RAM |
Mini DVD-R |
Mini DVD-RW |
Mini DVD+RW |
MiniDV tape |
| |
Sony DVD Handycam line |
|
| Hitachi camcorders |
|
|
| Panasonic VDR series |
|
|
| Performance |
Fair to good
Moderately fast bootup; fast search for specific segments. |
Fair
Fast bootup; slow search for specific locations. |
| Media/hardware compatibility |
Poor
Fewer stand-alone players and PCs as time goes on |
Good
Most stand-alone DVD players and PCs |
Fair
Newer stand-alone players and PCs |
Fair
Newer stand-alone players and PCs |
Poor
Neither players nor PCs (only MiniDV decks) |
| Video quality |
Poor to good
Generally use proprietary MPEG-2 algorithms, which compress between and within frames. High-end models in the line generally have good quality, but the cheaper models don't. |
Fair to good
Uses standard DV format, which compresses only within frames |
| Software compatibility |
Fair
The compressed video doesn't survive the editing process very well. |
Good
Format universally supported by video-editing software |
| Summary |
| Main advantages |
Random video access and editing; higher capacity |
Cheapest; most compatible media |
Good value and efficient use of space |
Random video access and editing; good value and efficient use of space |
Highest quality; broadest software support |
| Main disadvantages |
Most expensive; least flexible |
Waste lots of media space, which inflates operating cost |
Requires temporary finalizing to play in some devices |
Hard to find the media; requires temporary finalizing to play in some devices |
Transfer to PC takes a long time |
Last update: 08:52 AM Sunday, August 6, 2006 |
