I filmed a music video this weekend and I shot it on a Sony PD150 Mini DV camcorder which i had hired. I have since returned the camera but I now need to transfer the footage onto a PC for editing. I have a Mini DV camcorder of my own but it is quite a cheap one (a Samsung VP-D 80i). I could use it, with my Firewire cable to transfer the footage but I'm not sure if it will alter the picture quality. Does anyone know if my cheap camcorder will output the data to my computer at an inferior rate? I would hate to lose picture quality. If my camera would lower the picture quality, does anyone know of a better way of getting my footage onto the PC? Thanks for taking the time to read this! -James
My cheap camcorder was a reconditioned item that I bought on eBay. It does odd things, sometimes it doesnt recognise when a tape is in. Sometimes if I try to record over a used tape it only records in stripes of new footage over the old footage (an interesting effect!). In short, I dont trust this camcorder not to destroy the tapes. I could probably borrow a more trustworthy Mini DV camera off a friend but I thought I would just check to see if it is worth it first.