On Sun, 13 Sep 1998 00:57:07 -0700, Louis wrote:

>For a home user looking to shoot and edit family videos, is there a
>'huge difference (and worth the larger investment) in an analog system
>(like a mid-range consumer Canon 8mm Camcorder and a Fuse PCI video
>card) vs. a digital system (like a consumer Sony Camcorder and FireWire
>PCI card)?

If you don't have any gear at the moment (and are in a location
where mini-DV camcorders don't have the input disabled...), and
you are not satisfied with a fairly-good-but-low-end quality level,
mini-DV may make sense due to the greater ease of transfer of material
to and from the computer (reliable low-dropout tape, no sound-synch
problems, constant data rate giving predictable file-sizes, cheaper
hard-drives required for good performance, lossless transfers/copies).
If cost is a major consideration, Hi-8 may make sense (good original
image, fairly good edited image [with inexpensive Buz or other
solution], much cheaper tape). Avoid VHS or regular 8 if you are
going to edit, and care anything about image quality... Edited VHS
and regular 8 footage looks terrible, edited SVHS and Hi-8 look
terrible on cheap analogue editing gear but pretty good on high-end
gear or on a good computer editing system, edited DV looks the same
as the original (which varies between so-so and really good,
depending on the the quality of the camcorder [and technique, of
course! ;-]). If you just want OK original footage, simple
editing, and useable (but hardly fine...) copies, I have a
"Thumbs Up" analogue editor, and an early computer (PC) "Video
Director" to sell cheap... (both for $100, including US shipping).