Hi everyone

I'm trying to decide between 2 models of Sony camcorder

The HDR-HC3 which uses DV tape.
Or the HDR-SR1E which records onto a 30GB HDD.

I was all set to buy the HDR-HC3 then spoke to someone in my local Sony Centre and apparently the HDV tape camcorder is not recommended if you want to do editing on computer.
And to go for the HDD camcorder instead.

I'm reluctant to deal with HDD because once the HDDs full, then you need to get the video off before you can go again.
Whereas with

My question is... how do you transfer the video from the HDV tapes to computer?
Having the video footage on computer is absolutely essential, as from there we will edit to go onto DVD or on the web.

I thought you just hook the HDR-HC3 up to your computer through firewire... but then does it just popup as a removeable drive in My Computer for you to transfer the video file off the tape?

How long does it take to transfer a 60min tape over firewire to computer?

HDD or HDV?


Thanks
Ben

Yup Firewire to PC and an hour of footage will take an hour (funny ol thing). Tell the guy in the Sony shop he's talking bollocks. Mind you HDD to PC will be quicker.

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ggmabaapbnebtrbatst

Ok great, thanks for your reply.

Will the camera just pop up as a drive in My Computer, then I just drag a video file from the drive across to my computer?

Or will the bundled software have to "stream" it across from the camera and capture it?



The main thing is, that I can still quite easily get the footage onto a computer if the camera uses tape. Just takes longer.
I didn't realise the transfer would happen at 1x speed though with tape.

My decision between those 2 Sony models now rests on how much video can be stored on the HDD model.

Thanks
Ben

To get the footage to you PC you need to use a video editing/capturing program ( I use Vegas) in this you run the tape and the PC streams it to your Hard Drive.

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ggmabaapbnebtrbatst

It amazes me what 'advice' is given out in shops. Just incredible. You'll find the tape method slower to transfer yes, but easier to edit and work with.

Check out this page, paying particular attention to the editing comment about halfway down.

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...der-Review.htm

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www.playpauseclick.com

Ah ok, so it does just stream it across.

How many GBs would a 60min tape occupy?

So the video format with the HDR-SR1E is different to that of the HDR-HC3?
Even though they both record HD video?

Is the software bundled with the HDR-HC3 adequate for basic editing, and for getting the video off the camera?

How many times can you re-use the tapes?


Thanks
Ben

Check out the editing section on THIS page regarding the HC3

Apparently no software is bundled with the camera.

EDIT - Also worth reading up on THIS page too. Check out the 'Recording Formats' section.

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www.playpauseclick.com

I'm beginning to think that maybe HD isn't for us yet.
All our output will be on DVDs and web for the forseeable future.

Considering we don't need HD video, but excellent SD video quality - is the HDR-HC3 the one for us?

How many GBs would a 60min HD tape come out at?

The answer is on the page I gave (Recording Formats) on the link earlier.

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www.playpauseclick.com

Yeah sony and their shops lol.

>_>

I myself have a HDR HC3, my only complaint with it is the inability to switch between 50/60fps, however lol.

Sony are making hard drive based HDVs now, and you can get firewire drives for camcorders that just record directly to an external drive

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It's not about what camera you use or how much it cost.

It's about what you shoot,
how you shot it,
and how you edit it :P