How a Digital 8 Camcorder Records Information

Series Summary

Consumer electronics have come a long way in the last 40 years. Almost without interruption, each generation of technology has had its 10-year-run of popularity and then made way for an abrupt wave of new ideas. Consumers and their pocketbooks are swept up in the change every time.

One of the most functional and user-intensive electronic gadgets is the video camcorder. “Camcorder” is a portmanteau word, a mixture of camera and recorder, which is exactly what a camcorder is. At some point in the recent past, those two functions were separate and required two separate operators. Imagine filming your child’s birthday with a recording technician following you around carrying a VCR.

Camcorder technology has stayed true to the flux of change. It moved from big, clunky tapes and cameras in the beginning, to lighter, sleeker, smaller versions. At some point, the technology was anticipated to have reached its peak, and research and preparation were made for the next generation of camcorder. We now have the digital video camcorder.

In this free instructional video series, our expert will show you how to use your mini DV camcorder from top to bottom. This intensive video clinic includes lessons for beginning camcorder users, with tips and techniques on how to connect your camera to a computer, what the basic movie shots to use are, how to use backlight compensation, editing, shooting at night, and steadying your shot.

Video Transcript

"Hello! I’m Ross on behalf of expertvillage.com. Let’s talk about consumer camcorders. What are the different types of camcorders you can use? This one here is like 3 in 1. This is called digital 8 camcorder. This will use both the 8 mm tape, the high 8 tape and the digital 8 tape. Now the tapes are no different physically they are the same tape the quality of the tape is a little different. This one is designated as a high 8 type. This will work for digital and high 8. 8 mm tapes which were the first ones to use this format would not be a wise choice for your digital 8 camera, what’s nice about the digital 8 camera is that it will play back all three formats. So if you have been utilizing 8 mm in the past or high 8 then you are looking for a new camera the digital 8 might be a good choice because it will again play all three back and it gives you computer access through your fire wire in USP. So it’s a good way to transfer your tapes into the computer. Also you might recognize these, just a standard VHS tape some people are still using these camcorders out there and these will come in two varieties both VHS and super VHS as a full size and then your VHSC which is a smaller version of this and there will be an adaptor so that you can it playback in your VCR. Format that came out after the 8 mm format was the mini DV tape, it’s a much smaller tape this one holds 60 minutes and they’re used in your mini DV cameras."