iMovie 6 & iDVD: The Missing Manual

Buying a DV Camcorder

If you already own a DV camcorder, you can safely skip to the next chapter—unless you’ve always wondered what this or that button on your camcorder does. In that case, surveying the following pages may enlighten you.

DV Camcorder Features: Which Are Worthwhile?

Like any hot new technology, DV camcorders started out expensive ($2,500 in 1996) and continue to plummet in price. At this writing, basic models start at $350; prosumer models hover around $2,000; many TV crews are adopting $3,500 models like the Canon XL1 or Sony’s high-definition FX1; and the fanciest, professional, commercial-filmmaking models go for $10,000. All of these camcorders are teeming with features and require a thick brochure to list them all.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONThree Camcorders Not to Buy

In their never-ending quest to come up with smaller and cooler camcorder designs, manufacturers have already gone well beyond the MiniDV format. Unfortunately, some of these alternative formats are incompatible with iMovie.

Here, then, are three camcorders not to buy:

• Sony MicroMV. These camcorders store their footage on a tape the size of a matchbox. Too bad they record in a format that popular editing programs like iMovie don’t recognize.

• DVD camcorders. Sony, Panasonic, and Hitachi offer camcorders that use miniature DVD discs instead of tapes. Neat, but no FireWire jack.

• MPEG-2 camcorders. These palm-sized, USB connectable “camcorders” record onto a memory card instead of tape. But beware the ...