[MGB]

Recently got a new iMac and am ready to take the plange and also get a camcorder. I like the idea of the new small Sony model, but I understand there are issues getting the video into the iMac (MicroMV). When I fire up iMovie I see one of the import file formats is "DV Stream." I guess the new Sony cameras will only work once we have "MV Stream" as an option?

So, do you think updates are coming that will let me download from a MicroMV model, or should I stick with MiniDV?

[Matsu]

MicroMV is a neat party trick for Small cameras intended to produce internet video. Basically it records straight to MPEG2. It's only about half the bit rate of MiniDV. Apparently it doesn't cope that well with dynamic scenes, high contarst, light and dark shifts etc etc... at least as compared to miniDV. Now your studio press DVD's are also MPEG2, but they're working from much better source material, and the encoding is being done (very slowly and carefully) on much better dedicated hardware, so they look great. MicroMV, though, ought to be usefull for cutting down on DVD encoding time. Everything that comes out of the camera is pre-encoded, so that phase of burning your DVD should be largely taken care of. It'll be good for anything where time, space, and bandwidth are at a premium. Think MicroMV is to MiniDV as MP3 is to CD.

[ant]

I agree with Matsu, and would add that the MicroMV camcorders are so small that it's difficult to eliminate camera shake without a tripod. Don't even think about using optical zoom!

You can carry them anywhere, it's true, but it's much harder to get good results from them. MiniDV is best, at least for now.

ant

Originally posted by MGB:
<STRONG>Recently got a new iMac and am ready to take the plange and also get a camcorder. I like the idea of the new small Sony model, but I understand there are issues getting the video into the iMac (MicroMV). When I fire up iMovie I see one of the import file formats is "DV Stream." I guess the new Sony cameras will only work once we have "MV Stream" as an option?

So, do you think updates are coming that will let me download from a MicroMV model, or should I stick with MiniDV?</STRONG>