Z07coupe

I guess I waited too long to purchase a Sony HC-28 camcorder. What I am finding now is the DCR-HC-28. It is advertised as a miniDV ($145 on line). What camcorders under $200 are available that will record on tape and will work on a I/O mount in my track car?

John Shiels

mini DV never worked for me it cuts right off ater one or two shifts. I keep using my hi8 tape Sony.

Z07coupe

Thanks, John.
I 've read many threads over the last year and it seem that no one suggests the mini DV. With the quick pace of technology, the mini tape cameras are becoming more extinct. I'm just curious what camera models are currently being used that may still be available. Since the mini tape models are quickly becoming less available, I was hopeing to find some quality new mini tape models for $150 - $200. Thanks for any advice.

mikahb

I've not had any trouble with mini-DV format, it's not really sensitive at all (at least with the cameras I've used) to vibration, etc.

The only things you really need are a decent digital (NOT optical) image stabilizer, and it's very handy to have one that comes with a remote. I recently purchased a Canon Elura 80 which is now pretty much dedicated to taking video in the car. I use an I/O Port Mount which works great.

I wanted to stick with Canon because that's what my other home video camera is, and because it is one of the few that has a threaded spot to attach an auxiliary lens. I have a wide-angle lens attached to mine which gives a little better view of the inside of the cockpit than you normally get. Froogle says you can get this now for about $229 - so just slightly higher than your price range.

Here are a couple examples of video I've taken with this camera recently:

NASA Road Atlanta Thunder Race
SCCA Carolina Motorsports Park Sunday Race

spazegun2213

I actually have a Canon Zr830 for sale if you want it. Brand new I've only used it once. I want something a little more "upscale" but its a GREAT camera for in car video. I'd like $150 for it if you want.

I've only ever used mini DV cams and have had great luck with them. I used a nice sony last year that never had a problem with tapes or skipping .

John Shiels

hope mine tape unit doesn't die. Well there is always Ebay. I took it on my boat a banged the hell out of it over some big waves.

robvuk

I've been using miniDV since 1999 and I've never had a problem with them, and other than John, I've never heard of anyone having a problem. Mine has been in my car, race cars, very fast boats and I even have a lot of great video from hanging out of a helicopter at 110mph in the wind with a light rain without problems.

But as stated earlier, there will be fewer of them to choose from as the solid state, flash memory types are slowing taking over which will be even more vibration resistant but record time is still low or expensive.

Last C5

John, the mini dv is a tape unit that's very similar to your Hi 8. The mini dvd is the one that only makes it to about mid point in second gear. I use a Panasonic GS180 mini dv and it works great. To get a camera to work in a HPDE car you need. . . .

mini dv
Digital stabilization

The following options are nice to have
.7 wide angle lens
external microphone input
remote control
larger than stock battery

TommyBoy72

I used mini-DV from 2002-2007 just fine. The issues was when I got the Z06, the older/cheaper JVC camcorder did not handle the lighting well at all and I used it as an excuse to upgrade to digital recordings using a bullet cam.

The Spark

I got the wife's Canon ZR300 camera and found that it can use a miniDV tape or SD memory card like the digital SLR cameras and some PDAs use. I took the 1GB disk out of my iPAQ and recorded 3 track sessions without any problem. It has a remote so I can start the camera while strapped in.

I can copy the files from the disk to my laptop from the camera or with a card reader. It was not shaky. I do need to do something about the microphone - too much wind noise.

Z07coupe

aaaahhhhh
I need to learn camcorder terminology. It's the mini DVD that records on the harddrive, and the mini DV records on a tape. And I assume that the mini DV will record in a digital format on tape? Thanks for the info. No wonder I couldn't quite understand this new fangled equipment.

RossN

My Sony Camcorder is having autofocus problems and am thinking of replacing it.

Anyone use the newer generation cameras that are HighDef and that write to solidstate memory (flashcards)? A good audio mic would be a big bonus as well.

After all, if your going to capture the moment, may as well do the job right.

mikahb

Putting racers-tape over the microphone helps quite a bit. It doesn't eliminate the wind noise completely, but for me it at least makes it tolerable.

robvuk

Close but not quite.

Mini DV records to a small video cassette tape. These are quite reliable as they use the same transport that has been perfected from decades of analog recorder designs. They also have much more storage capacity and are inexpensive tapes. They also record in DV format, a format that is directly editable by most Mac or PC video editing programs. There are many that also have flash memory cards for still pictures and can also record in the highly compressed MP4 format for web video. This being the dominant format will make it an industry standard for years to come, although slowly being outdated by more compact formats.

Mini DVD records to a small 3" version of a DVD disc. Some even have full size DVD drives. These need to format the discs, are usually very slow to start up and do not work well under movement. The only advantage is being able to pull out the disc and use it with an adaptor in a standard DVD player at home.

Although I haven't seen or heard of any lately, there are also units that have built-in hard drives, much like what you have in a laptop computer. They must be erased after downloading to your computer to be reused.

Then there are the flash memory recorders which all work the same but have a variety of formats for the media. Memory stick, compact flash, SD card, etc etc. This is the way of the future because of the small size, no moving parts, handles vibration well and low battery consumption. Until the memory cards get cheaper and larger capacity, they will remain a step down in quality because of the compression used to save memory card space. However, there ARE a few good HD version cameras that look good in spite of the higher levels of MP4 compression.

At the bottom of the food chain is Digital8 camcorders. Not at the bottom because of quality but because of size and power consumption. They record digital video onto the older analog (non-digital) 8mm videotapes, giving users all the advantages of digital video while still using inexpensive analog tapes. Some of the early ones still had the ability to play Hi8 analog and served double duty for those with collections of 8mm analog tapes.

c4cruiser

MY Sony Hi8 camera worked fine inside my 87 but a couple years ago the plastic base that holds the threaded nut insert cracked so I can't install the camera and keep it steady. And none of the local cameras shops will even try to fix it or find a replacement piece which is really about 1/3 of the entire case.

So I've been looking for a (relatively) inexpensive miniDV camera but even the cheapest ones are still in the $200 range. Most of what I have read here is that the DVD or HD video cameras wither don't have the capacity or they will shut down if they encounter ecessive vibration.

sperkins

I've never had a problem with my Sony mini-DVD disc camera as far as quality. The worst part for me is converting the VOB file (DVD format) into a useable file for editing. If I had to do it over again, I would buy one that records to an internal hard drive in a AVI or WMV file which doesn't need to be converted.

Here's a link to my YouTube page with several track videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/68ray

robvuk

avi and wmv formats are extremely compressed for web use. NOT high quality nor editing capability. Internal hard drive is fine if it records in DV format but probably would have problems dealing with vibration and g forces.