A few comments.....:
On Thu, 26 Sep 2002 13:48:56 -0700, David Chien
>In general, you'll get the same thing recorded on D8 and DV tapes,
>expect to see about the same durability, storage life, etc. (for most
>users) Format isn't really an issue here.
I wonder about this, since Hi-8 tape has rather noticeably
more area than the 6mm tape used for Mini-DV. It would
be interesting to know if that, and the slower head rotation
of D8, serve to produce more durable masters with D8...
>The problem is that even the best D8 camcorders don't come with as good
>of a lens and CCD imager as the best DV camcorders, so if you really
>want =nice= video quality, then go with a better DV camcorder.
This is not necessarily true. While the feature set of my
TRV730 is lower than the bottom end Sony Mini-DV cameras,
the megapixel CCD and lens produce very sharp images with
good color (if the long end of the 18X zoom is not used -
but Mini-DV cameras have only 10-12X zooms, anyway...).
>http://www.bealecorner.com/trv900/ has lots of info on these pro-sumer
>DV camcorders that will blow D8 camcorders out of the water, quality and
>resolution wise.
Again, this is not true for the top-end D8 compared with
one-chipper Mini-DV, though good 3-chip Mini-DV can have
better tonality and low-light range...
>It's not to say you can get decent, or nice, quality out of a D8
>camcorder, just nowhere near the best DV camcorders. For =average=
>consumers with low res. TVs, well, I don't think you'd ever notice the
>difference between these two, esp. if you're not buying the more
>expensive, higher quality DV camcorders, but rather the cheaper consumer
>ones.
Yes...
>DV tapes can be easier to master if you're doing commercial tapes - many
>DVPro decks take DV tapes as well, but far fewer tape companies have D8
>decks sitting around to source from.
Also true...
>Also, DV tapes can be used in other DV camcorders if you upgrade later -
>D8 tapes can only be used in Sony -brand camcorders, as they're the only
>ones making it.
I think Hitachi also made one?
>I'd go D8 for cheap; DV otherwise.
There is a very noticeable size/weight difference in
the cameras; this may be the deciding factor...