Hello,

My mother has given me and my brother a camera for Christmas. We do a lot of amateur editing, using Sony Vegas 5. Up until now we used to edit the small videos in avi we took with our digital photo camera.

My mum wanted to give us a videocamera for us to record and edit and the shop assistants suggested this camcorder, but I want to make sure it's the best option.
Unfortunately they won't give us our money back, so I can only choose between the camcorders they sell at the moment.

The camcorder she bought is a Samsung VP-DC165, it has DVD and also supports SD cards (even memory stick). After two days of testing we have managed to find out how it works.
To be able to edit in Sony Vegas we had to download VirtualDub MPEG2 (freeware) in order to convert the VOB files to .avi.

We haven't really tested it enough. We are quite happy we are able to convert the files to .avi to edit in Sony Vegas, although we have noticed there is bad sync between the image and sound. If anyone knows how to correct this please help!



Anyway, after having a look around other forums, some people seem to suggest Mini DV for editing rather that DVD. I was a bit surprised as I thought the future definitely lay elsewhere, as tapes seem an old system to me.

But still, if editing is easier with a Mini DV camcorder, I could consider exchanging my camcorder for a Mini DV (althought they are much cheaper).
To be able to edit in Sony Vegas with a Mini DV camcorder, what do I need??
Do all computers have firewire port? Do all Mini DV camcorders have firewire? How do you download the video into the computer?


The Samsung also uses cards and record in MPEG4 which is really easy to edit, but most of the functions aren't available if you use the card.

I will now put the list of camcorders I can have instead of the one I have got. I live in Spain so maybe these camcorders don't exist in the States, or they are relatively old. Unfortunately, these are my only options:

- Samsung VP-DC165 (my camcorder) - DVD
- Samsung VP-M M12B - only cards
- Sony DCR-SR30 E - HDD (hard drive)
- Panasonic VDR-D 150ES - DVD
- Canon DC20 - DVD
- Canon DM-MV 460 - Mini DV
- Panasonic NV GS180 - Mini DV
- Sony DCR - DVD 205 - DVD
- Canon CM-MV 450 - Mini DV
- Panasonic VDR-D150ES - Mini DV
- Samsung VP-D 363 - Mini DV
- JVC GR DF420 EX - Mini DV
- Panasonic NV-GS 21 - Mini DV
- Panasonic NV- GS 27 - Mini DV


Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated. I only have this week to change the camera, so please answer as soon as possible!

Thanks!