microdrive.... still cameras and JVC

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kosh - 29 Oct 2005 09:14 GMT

Hi all,

microdrive pretty much fell on it's backside after flash mem became
reasonable. I spoke ot many who had problems if it was jarred. I know by
first hand experience it is not worth repairing... if anybody is
prepared to look at it.

So what are the forum's thoughts o n the JVC video cameras with microdrives.

In my mind they are expensive and too risky for the way most people
handle their cameras.

Tape is cheap.. easy to get and exactly the same quality as microdrives
(on digital camcorders) it's all ones and zeros after all ! Not to
mention FAR more rugged than microdrives.

thoughts... input...opinions.. experiences?

kosh

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ozkaban - 31 Oct 2005 02:49 GMT

The JVC Microdrive/HDD cameras record in MPEG-2 (As fas as I know),
which is designed for playback, not editing. This is the same format
as DVDs, hence the claim that it's DVD Quality... it's not even close!

A 60 min Mini DV tape holds about 22Gb, or near enough, so JVC's claim
that the 4Gb microdrive can record 60 mins of DVD quality video looks
pretty shakey!!!

After speaking to as many camera stores as possible during a recent
purchase of a video camera, most agree that Mini DV still represents
the highest quality recording. It might not be as sexy as a HDD
recorder, and it might be harder to move it to your PC for editing, but
the results are much better...

JVC have brought out the 30Gb recorders which I think have a 2.5"
laptop hard drive (please correct me if I'm wrong). If you could
record in another format than MPEG-2, then it would be interesting...

Cheers,
Dave

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kosh - 31 Oct 2005 08:33 GMT

> The JVC Microdrive/HDD cameras record in MPEG-2 (As fas as I know),
> which is designed for playback, not editing. This is the same format
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> Cheers,
> Dave

it all depends on kb/sec... and how heavily it is compressed....

thanks... another good reason aside from how fragile they are.

kosh

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