If you ’ve been keeping up with our camcorder reviews atMacworld , you ’ve probably detect that we only value miniDV camcorder . You might ask , “ Why not the latest line of high - definition camcorders that utilise hard platter driving force , SD bill of fare , and DVD - roentgen to store footage ? ” From what we ’ve heard , most camcorders that use such store methods are n’t favorable with iMovie , the video - redaction software included with iLife .
Recently , I had a chance to get my hands on a batch of “ tapeless ” camcorders and put them to the test , and I ’ve got near newsworthiness and sorry news . To avoid being honest-to-goodness - fashioned , I ’ll begin with the former .
The Good NewsI had in force result with an SD / SDHC scorecard camcorder , theSanyo VPC - CG65 . This camcorder lay in footage in .MP4 format , which import into iMovie without any problem . The haul is that .MP4 is not iMovie ’s primary data formatting , so when you ’re blue-pencil you have to allow iMovie to exchange the video to .MOV first . This , of form , will cost you some time . On a 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 , it take me roughly 14 minutes to convince 7 minutes of .MP4 into a .MOV . I suppose two bit of rebirth time per each minute of footage is n’t too bad though , right ?
I also tested aSony Handycam DCR - DVD408 , which stock on mini DVD - Rs or mini DVD - RWs . This camcorder ’s storage method is a little trickier . After record your footage , you have to “ nail down ” the DVD . In this finalization process , the camcorder sunburn the footage onto the DVD , provide you to play the disc in a DVD player . The problems ? you could represent your footage , but you ca n’t delete it on your figurer . Also , Mac CD / DVD loading slots ca n’t read mini videodisk .
Then again , from my understanding , videodisk - radius camcorder are aimed at a specific consumer group — that is , those who but wish to indicate , shoot , and playback . Therefore , Mac compatibility is n’t very relevant to this type of camcorder ; all you demand is a DVD player that will play mini DVD - Rs .
The Bad NewsI tested two hard - disk crusade camcorder — theJVC Everio GZ - HD7and thePanasonic SDR - H200 . After connecting them to my Mac , their hard drives get on on my desktop , and I located their video files . The GZ - HD7 and the SDR - H200 recorded in formats that could n’t be recognize by QuickTime or iMovie—.TOD and .MOD , severally . After some experiment I learned I could trifle .MOD files usingVLC Media Player . My endeavor to import a .MOD file into iMovie , however , resulted in video with no sound . So with the GZ - HD7 you ca n’t edit your footage on a Mac . And the SDR - H200 wo n’t wreak well with Macs either , unless you regularly make silent films — and I ’m assuming you do n’t .
After speaking to some camcorder makers , I memorize that mellow - definition HDD camcorders utilize a recording format called Advanced Video Codec High Definition ( AVCHD)—which neither Final Cut nor iMovie support . I ’m puzzled as to why Apple does n’t yet support this formatting : I always thought Macs were supposed to be ahead of their clock time when it follow to multimedia system and creative applications . Overall , this is unsatisfying , since hard - disk store is much quicker and more convenient than sustain to do live capture with MiniDV tape . An Apple representative tell me she could not comment on whether Apple had plan to implement AVCHD compatibility in the near future . So if you ’re an avid video Almighty and you plan to continue editing with your Mac , I ’d say the good stakes right now is to stick with MiniDV . Though MiniDV is look at relatively one-time engineering , photographic camera Godhead are still producing excellent MiniDV camcorders ( the Panasonic PV - GS320 , for instance ) . I ’m optimistic that Apple will eventually add keep for recording format used by HDD camcorders to its video - editing apps ; I ’m just not sure when .
