MiniDV

MiniDV

Digital video worked slowly throughout the nineties to topple the monopoly of analogue video in both the consumer and professional markets. Digital video has both improved picture quality and allows direct connection to a PC for transfer of video data and easy editing. Sound quality on a DV recorded medium is comparable to CD quality. Each frame is encoded and stored individually, this means that there is no data or quality lost when video is edited frame by frame. The most popular and widely available version of the DV video format is known as MiniDV. This uses a small tape as a storage medium and has a bitrate of around 35MBits/s. Each miniDV tape can hold 60 minutes of standard quality video or 90 minutes in long play. The small form factor of miniDV makes such camcorders especially compact and easy to use and hold while retaining the lens quality and full zoom capabilities of a larger camcorder. Many DV camcorders also come with a still image function and can thus be used as a standard stills camera, that being said the image quality will not be as good as with a normal digital camera as the resolution of miniDV camcorders is often only a few megapixels. New cameras often boast three CCD chips for clearer images but the maximum picture size remains the same as this is prescribed by the DV format itself and not the camcorder. If the camcorder is going to used a lot on the move it is best to get one with as robust a case as possible. Also, battery life will play an important role but most manufacturers offer additional 'stamina' batteries that can last much longer than the standard. The normal way to transfer data between a DV camcorder and PC or editing deck is through a Firewire port but many cameras now come with USB 2.0 connections as well. Firewire ports came as standard on all Apple computers, whereas USB was usually the only high-speed connection available to PC users. All cameras will also come with the requisite analogue A/V connections for linking the camera to a television or analogue video recorder. A good miniDV camcorder costs upwards of 300 pounds but an entry level model can be picked up for around two hundred or less. MiniDV is especially popular among amateur film-makers but digital video in general is also gaining a foothold in mainstream cinema with art-house directors such as Richard Linklater, Kevin Smith, Robert Rodriguez championing the format and other more big budget directors such as George Lucas working solely in the digital format.

This category contains tests on Mini Digital Video, Mini Digital Videos.