Originally Posted by MortimerJazz 1. What's a CCD camera? What does CCD stand for and why is it so good? |
Actually I'm not sure off the top of my head what it stands for but the CCD is the chip, inside the camera, that 'picks up the video image'. I.e. it is the bit of the camera that replaces film. A higher resolution CCD will produced a better quality image. All digital camera have these. The prosumer models tend to have three, presumably RG & B.
2. What are the advantages of having an analog input on your camera? Somebody was advised to make sure that their new camera had an analog port on it, but I would have thought in a digital age, that anolog ports might have been past it now  |
Many of us still have home movies residing on analogue devices like VHS tapes. Modern camcorder are digital but if they have analogue-in ports then they can be used to pass an analogue signal straight through them with a digital signal coming out the other end. i.e. the camera can be used as a A2D converter saving you buy a purpose built card or box. There is a price premium to pay for this feature though in Europe because of EU tax laws.
3. I noticed in one post, that someone suggests that you should "always use firewire" when transferring your footage across to your computer for editing. Is Firewire just a cable or do I need to buy a firewire "port" for my machine? And if so, are they expensive? |
If you have a MiniDV camera then, absolutely you should always use firewaire for the transfer. Anything else effectively degrades the quality of the video. You will need a firewire port on you PC. If you do not have one already. I would expect any PC bought in the last year or so to have one tbh. If not, you should be able to find a PCI card for firewire for about a tenner (£10 UKP).
4. What is interlacing? While recoding a few clips, I've had the option to turn interlacing on or off. How does it affect the quality of a clip ... and the file size? |
An essay in its own right here. Interlacing is where your TV displays 25 frames per second as 50 frames per second by redisplaying every other line on each of the 50 frames. PC monitors are non-interlaced devices and if your aim is to display on the web then the chances are you will want to de-interlace your video are you will see 'the jaggies' on fast movement. Plenty of talk on this in tons of threads, many with pictures shoing what an interlaced pictures looks like on a non-interolacved monitor.
Deinterlacing will improve the quality of the image on the PC. If however, like me, you typically aim to build a DVD for viewing on your TV then there's no need to de-interlace. Certainly, I tend not to bother.