OutPut87
What are the top 2011 HD camcorders under $500?
Answer
The top HD camcorders for under $500 are all JUNK. It would take you in excess of $3500 to get a HD camcorder that could even compete withe video Quality of a $300 MiniDV tape camcorder.
consumer level HD camcorders have 3 issues. 1) Fuzzy, blurry, out of focus areas around people in the HD video. 2) Any movement in front of a recording HD camcorder shows up in the finished video with screen ghosts and artifacts following the movement, ruining the video. 3) Lack of record times. 1 hour, go home, no way to change storage or continue shooting. Some offer a whole whopping 30 minutes. What, record 1/3 of the event then put the camcorder away or leave.
You can get the Canon ZR960 for $250 or the ZR930 for about $300. Both of these camcorders are MiniDV tape based. Both camcorders have a Mic jack. Both of these camcorder can take better quality video and audio than any sub $3000 camcorder.
The top HD camcorders for under $500 are all JUNK. It would take you in excess of $3500 to get a HD camcorder that could even compete withe video Quality of a $300 MiniDV tape camcorder.
consumer level HD camcorders have 3 issues. 1) Fuzzy, blurry, out of focus areas around people in the HD video. 2) Any movement in front of a recording HD camcorder shows up in the finished video with screen ghosts and artifacts following the movement, ruining the video. 3) Lack of record times. 1 hour, go home, no way to change storage or continue shooting. Some offer a whole whopping 30 minutes. What, record 1/3 of the event then put the camcorder away or leave.
You can get the Canon ZR960 for $250 or the ZR930 for about $300. Both of these camcorders are MiniDV tape based. Both camcorders have a Mic jack. Both of these camcorder can take better quality video and audio than any sub $3000 camcorder.
Connecting Canon MiniDV camcorder to Mac?
Alex
Hey, so I have a canon GL2 MiniDV camcorder which I've been trying to connect to my macbook pro (running most recent version of OSX Mountain Lion), but have been having trouble getting iMovie to recognize it. I'm using a firewire cable, but nothing appears under "devices" in neither iMovie nor Finder. The camcorder does recognize when the FireWire is plugged in to the laptop, however. I don't know if the GL2 came with software, as I got it from a friend. If anyone knows of some sort of compatibility software or driver, please let me know. (I tried using photostich, but the dialog box tells me I need to insert the CD-ROM containing the following software (PhotoStich) that came with your Canon product).
when I go to firewire under hardware, it says "Warning: Unable to list firewire devices. imovie is still not recognizing it, and neither is finder (the devices tab pops up on the left side of Finder under the "favorites" and "shared" tab.
Answer
Starting from the top...
With the camcorder off, connect the camcorder's DV port (not USB) to the computer's firewire poer (not USB) with a firewire cable. In your case, a 4-pin (camcorder side) to 9-pin (MacBook Pro side) firewire cable.
Link to the camcorder manual
http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/6/0900000646/01/GL2IM-EN.pdf
for location of the DV port on page 11 (under the flap at the back of the camcorder - under the USB port).
Power up the camcorder and put it into PLAY (VCR) mode. See page 35 in the manual. You do not need any software from Canon. Also be sure the "Card/Tape" switch is in the Tape position.
There is no "Devices" in iMovie or the Finder. Under the Apple, you can select "About this Mac" and click on "More Info" - then under "Hardware" select "Firewire". Since "PhotoStitch" is used for stills, it has nothing to do with video connectivity.
If the camcorder has been plugged/unplugged from the DV port with the camcorder on, it is possible to blow the firewire port - so do not do that. It is an expensive repair. ALWAYS power down the camcorder before plugging in or unplugging the DV cable to the camcorder.
Anyway... with the camcorder correctly connected to the MacBook Pro with the firewire cable and in Play/VCR mode, launch iMovie and name the project. When you get into iMovie, under File, select Import or Capture... it is a realtime capture (and should appear on the Mac). 30 minutes of video on the digital tape will take 30 minutes to import.
Assuming the camcorder menu items are at default, there is noting n the camcorder that needs to be set. If any changes were made and not put back, now is a good time to put them back.
The CDROM that came in the box with the camcorder has only Windows-specific software on it and nothing is on there your MacBookPro needs.
Starting from the top...
With the camcorder off, connect the camcorder's DV port (not USB) to the computer's firewire poer (not USB) with a firewire cable. In your case, a 4-pin (camcorder side) to 9-pin (MacBook Pro side) firewire cable.
Link to the camcorder manual
http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/6/0900000646/01/GL2IM-EN.pdf
for location of the DV port on page 11 (under the flap at the back of the camcorder - under the USB port).
Power up the camcorder and put it into PLAY (VCR) mode. See page 35 in the manual. You do not need any software from Canon. Also be sure the "Card/Tape" switch is in the Tape position.
There is no "Devices" in iMovie or the Finder. Under the Apple, you can select "About this Mac" and click on "More Info" - then under "Hardware" select "Firewire". Since "PhotoStitch" is used for stills, it has nothing to do with video connectivity.
If the camcorder has been plugged/unplugged from the DV port with the camcorder on, it is possible to blow the firewire port - so do not do that. It is an expensive repair. ALWAYS power down the camcorder before plugging in or unplugging the DV cable to the camcorder.
Anyway... with the camcorder correctly connected to the MacBook Pro with the firewire cable and in Play/VCR mode, launch iMovie and name the project. When you get into iMovie, under File, select Import or Capture... it is a realtime capture (and should appear on the Mac). 30 minutes of video on the digital tape will take 30 minutes to import.
Assuming the camcorder menu items are at default, there is noting n the camcorder that needs to be set. If any changes were made and not put back, now is a good time to put them back.
The CDROM that came in the box with the camcorder has only Windows-specific software on it and nothing is on there your MacBookPro needs.
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