Video Camcorder / Video Recorder Advice

dmatt001 · n00b Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 25 Location: Brisbane

Hi Guys,

I have been happily using gentoo for some time and don't want to change. For this reason, I would like some advice to buy a compatible video camcorders mini DV / DVD device.

What should I be careful of to ensure that the device I buy can interoperate with gentoo and gentoo packages in the simplest and most convenient way? At the moment I envisage that somehow I should be able to put my movie onto gentoo and then edit it and burn a DVD. It sounds good in theory, but how about in real life?

Are there any video camcorder hardware do's or don'ts? Codecs or formats? Any gentoo packages that you would recommend that I read up on to do the download, edit, and burn?

Thanks,

Matt

PS I considered posting this to the multimedia forum, but wasn't sure as the first point of call would be to get my media onto the box... :-)

frostschutz · Advocate Joined: 22 Feb 2005 Posts: 2977 Location: Germany

I don't know about graphical frontends for video editing, but our (first generation) Camcorder with Firewire (DV) Out works well with Linux, you can fetch the video using dvgrab, convert it using transcode, and burn it to DVD. The transcode part was the most problematic, as there are different interlace methods, and if you deinterlace it the wrong way your video looks like every 2nd frame was dropped (not very fluid movement).

Don't buy a camcorder that has only DV out, but not in (which means you can't transfer videos from the PC back onto the camcorder). It's the most comfortable way to test videos on the television, as well as copying to VHS: just copy edited video back to the camcorder, connect it to the televi / rec and roll.

opqdan · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 9:26 pm Post subject:

Rather than start a new topic, I have a similar question. Personally I am looking for a HDD type video camera, but miniDV would work.

Are there any specific models that work? Any that should be avoided?

Can these be mounted as if they were an external storage device (like a usb key, or usb hdd), or do they need special protocols (a la Kodak digital cameras)?

orionas · n00b Joined: 19 Sep 2006 Posts: 13 Location: Greece

Hi,
My experience is with a D8 (firewire DV in/out on Hi8tape) sony camcorder.
AFAIK, since the firewire protocol for camcorders is a standard, any DV camcorder will do.
There is no such thing as mounting/unmounting - you download the video with
Kino, process it, etc.
Never tried uploading DV video back though.
For HDD type I have no clue, sorry

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