OK, so my parents' wedding was recently. As you may know, my Great Grandmothers' death celebration was also recent, and our Sony (model TRV-138, if memory serves) Hi8 died. It got stepped on then hit with a hammer to unjam it. What?
We had to make due with my digital camera, which pulled through like a champ. Thanks digital camera! You pulled through like a champ! Give yourself a pat on the back. Champ.
As for my parents' wedding, we borrowed my dearest Aunt Desnee's camcorder (thanks!), a Sony DVD model. After recordering the...OK, recordering is not a word, folks. After recording the "behind-the-scenes" stuff, I "disced" the ceremony and the receiving line (where everyone hugged my Mom). (And my Dad). (He was there, too, I think).
Now, since the DVDs can only hold 30 minutes (20 minutes for short play and 60 minutes for long play), I had to record on three DVDs. Yikes. I'm "discovering"...get it, discovering? DVD humor, folks. Laugh, man! "Hah hah" like that! LAUGH!
Here, I'll take occasion to admit that I thought MiniDV was a 3" DVD disc. Here I thought that there were cameras which used full-sized DVDs, and those were the DVD cameras. How on earth, I don't know. I'm not stupid or anything. I think it was the ads with the miniature DVD (MiniDV sounds like a miniature DVD!) and camera inside a womb with the fetus holding the disc. That was definitely it. Or maybe it was a barbie doll holding the disc. I think barbie should have been capitalized. Barbie. Yep. Well, we'll get that in editing. Like men.
Anyways, I'm discovering how difficult it is to edit the DVDs. DVD humor again. You missed it, didn't you?
You'd think it would be easy and streamlined, right? Just rip them to the computer, edit by selecting scenes, then click "burn." Or, even just compile all three discs (as they'd all fit on a single full-sized DVD!). Simple. But no.
It turns out that the DVD cameras record in "DVDese," but most editing software (like the editing software I already have) only knows "MiniDVese." I'm going to have to download a freak Hulk-type software (it's normal EDIT Banner one minute, then RAAAW! PROCESS AND RENDER! Hulk the next) to edit them. But my real problem? Ohh, the length of taping. I tell you what, if they had DVDs which recorded for 60 minutes, I'd be all over a DVD camcorder.
I would play with it and hug it and tell it I like it and put it under my pillow and make it breakfast in bed (with orange juice!!!) then hallow it in the Drawer of Hallowed Things Kev Likes. The hallow from the other hallowed objects rubs off on the non-hallowed object, much like a "little leaven leaveneth the loaf." I have no idea where the hell the hallow came from, but it's been hallowing everything in that hallow drawer for years. I need to start an official list of hallowed games, paddles and memory cards.
...anyway, I figure I have two choices in the camcorder market. But first, the qualifiers: it has to have Sony's Nightshot Plus or equivalent. That's big for me because I want to be able to film things at night. I'd live with it if I weren't already spoiled silly, but the Nightshot contains too much raw awenem. This leaves me with, to my knowledge, only Sony camcorders.
Sony's line features the DCR-DVD108. It is my DVD camera of choice, not to be confused with my general camera of choice, and it has a $350 price tag. After experiencing taping the wedding on three discs when I could have used 1 DV tape, I am apprehensive. I have another wedding to tape shortly- which most likely will be twice as long- and I do not want to fumble around with 2 or 3 DVDs.
As for my MiniDV camera of choice, the Sony DCR-HC38 fits the bill. It has a $300 price tag, and it is...one up from the entry level, and has 40x zoom (the aforementioned DVD camcorder also has 40x zoom). But with the camera shake, 40x zoom would only be useful in very rare instances. You'd have to have a tripod for sure.
My current thoughts are that we should get a MiniDV camcorder. The biggest reason is that they allow for 60 minutes in the higher quality (and you can buy 80 minute tapes), where DVDs only allow 30. That's a sad thing for DVDs. Just the fact that I could have caught EVERYTHING- from behind-the-scenes stuff to ceremony to receiving line- on one MiniDV instead of 3 DVDs makes me sad and angry. It makes me want to, I don't know...fling something at a tree. Maybe I should stop using that banana and coconut hand lotion...and I should avoid bananas.
If I did get a MiniDV camcorder, I think I'd have to buy an external hard drive to edit and backup (though, everything changes when you actually work with the product). Apparently, each little tape is 11 GB. That's bigger than a double-sided DVD! And I really wanted to type "double-sided sticky tape," as...when else do you use the precursor "double-sided?"
I am not much for external, spinning, hard discs. They freak me out. I think...you can transfer straight to DVD...then edit that 2 or 3 GB file. Who knows, like I said, it all changes when you actually work with the thing.
Now that I've decided I want a MiniDV camcorder, I need it by Halloween (filming a non-holiday-related spoof show), as I don't have time to send it back to an online store if it doesn't work...so Walmart is the only brick-and-mortar franchise without the 15% restocking fee. I don't mean to sound greedy, but those restocking fees are of the Devil hisself!
Walmart only sells the DCR-DVD108 and the DCR-HC28. The HC28 is basically the HC38, but it's a step lower with 20x zoom as opposed to 40x zoom. I'll have to make a...gasp...compromise! It's also $50 less, and that's a whole battery or shoulder strap or something, and believe me, the battery they provide is rarely enough...so it isn't too much of a compromise. I'm planning to someday go camping with my Dad in the dark woods. I'll need plenty of camcorder battery life for that, as I'm certain we'll run into stick figures and stuff and a blaring witch and get lost and both die.
Now that I've got that cleared up (I've also heard that the DVD format is going to fold, and MiniDV will outlive it or something?), I STILL have to deal with these accursed, filthy DVDs from the wedding. I'm going to download a Hulk-type video editor, and use the 30-day trial. I...I may end up buying it. No need to refuse trial to me! HAHH HAHAH AH SUCKERS!!!
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