Linux and DV cams?

Mark Komarinski mkomarinski at wayga.org
Mon Dec 6 15:44:01 EST 2004


On Mon, Dec 06, 2004 at 03:19:07PM -0500, Paul Lussier wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> Does anyone have any opinions on digital video cameras and use with
> Linux?  Any thoughts on what to get or not to get?  What to stay away
> from and what to look for?  Also, what's the best media to record on
> with these (I assume there are a variety of tape formats, and some that
> record directly to CD or DVD?)
> 
> I haven't really begun my research yet and was hoping someone here would
> provide some good starting points.

I bought a Canon ZR50(?) two years ago and went through your dilema then.
It's a nice camera, and spouse-friendly.

If you want real digital, go with MiniDV as the tape format and find
one with ieee1394 (aka firewire/ilink).  You can then dump your tape to 
Linux in real time and then edit it with apps like kino:
http://kino.schirmacher.de/

From there, you can go back to MiniDV for archival, or convert to (S)VCD,
DVD, or AVI/MPG.  Be warned that MiniDV is LARGE, so have plenty of disk
space available.

Things to look for:

Battery life (mine lasts 60 minutes, same as the tape)
Any built-in photo capabilities stink - use a real digital camera instead
Mine has a remote, which is handy when you go to dump to the VCR
"Power shoe" for connecting external mics or lights without any extra wires
The one problem with my camera is the mic is too close to the tape mechanism,
 so there's always a bit of a tape whine to the audio.  An external mic would
 make that a lot easier to deal with.

-Mark
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