How do I activate a camera for my mac?

Best Video Camera and Software for Mac?

• I do marketing for my company and we're looking at investing in a video camera and editing software so we can create product videos to be placed on DVD's. We already have a Mac with the Adobe Suite, which I've been using for creating advertisements. I've been doing a lot of research on what camera is best to use for my application and am still struggling to come to a clear answer. What I Need: 1) A camera that has great quality and compatibility with Mac, but under $1000 2) Should I upgrade to Final Cut Pro? Or is iMovie sufficient? 3) Any additional software needed for burning the DVD's? My Video Use: 1) Most of the video is performed outside 2) Daylight use, in most instances 3) Sound Quality not #1 Concern, dubbing over with music or narrative 4) In and around large equipment...lots of vibration (image stability a must) I've seen a lot of people saying MiniDV is the way to go for Mac, but I'm reluctant to do so. I think flash memory (SD) sounds pretty intriguing as there are less moving parts, less noise, easy interface...but does SD video format (MPEG 2?) need to be converted to DV before editing in Mac? And I've also heard that HD Camera's have limited functionality in regards to playback and burning to DVD's (supported file types?). Any help is much appreciated!!!

• Answer:

  My interpretation: You want "professional quality" but are not willing to pay for a professional camcorder. And yet, you are willing to pay for pro-grade video editing. Interesting. You did not tell us which Mac or which version OSX... or which version iMovie or Final Cut. Or if you expect multi-video tracks (allows multiple video clips to display simultanously in a single video window). ANY camcorder - under good lighting conditions, can capture great video. The "less than perfect conditions" are what you need to plan for. That's why large lenses and large imaging chips are what the pro camcorders have for those "less than perfect" conditions. They allow a wider video capture window opportunity. They are more expensive for many reasons - these are merely two. Once the video is in the computer - and in the video editor - rendering/exporting to a high quality MOV or MP4 file, then bringing that rendered file into iDVD (bundled with the Mac) is easy enough to do. And iDVD is very customizable. If you don't like what it can do, DVD Studio (bundled with Final Cut Pro Studio) is amazing. Final Cut is a great application - so is iMovie or iDVD - or pretty much any other application - IF you use the application for that which it was designed. I can do stuff with iMovie that FinalCut users could not do. I can also do stuff with Final Cut that other Final Cut users cannot figure out what I did. And I can do stuff with iDVD that some folks can't figure out... But it is because I took the time to learn the applications. I know if I want to do something outside of the applications' stated capabilities, I find an app that is designed to handle the requirement. When you render the high definition video to a computer file and bring that over to iDVD, it (iDVD) will automatically downsample the high definition video to standard def when rendering the VOB file. The VOB file is what is written to the blank DVD. This DVD will be playable in a regular DVD player - and will be standard definition video. I don't know where you got "HD Camera's have limited functionality in regards to playback and burning to DVD's" from. Once the video is in the computer, you can do whatever you want with it. I've been capturing/editing HDV format video for 5+ years and importing/editing on Macs - that comment is not valid. If you want high definition playback, a regular DVD in a regular DVD player won't do that. It was not designed to do that. You will want a BluRay burner (see LaCie). And playback using a BluRay player connected to a HDTV wiht HDMI or component cables. You can also save a computer readable high definiiton video file as a MOV or MP4 (or AVI) file for uploading - that's what many YouTube and Vimeo (among a gazillion other sites) are doing. The h.264 AVC video looks great online - even after they render to an FLV. That said, lets stroll through what the pros typically use in their low and medium priced camcorders: Sony HVR series. Sony HDCAM series. Sony XDCAM series. Canon XH series. Canon XLH series. Panasonic AG-DVX series. Panasonic AG-HVX series. JVC GY series. None are less than $1,000. Nearly all use miniDV tape. Exceptions are Sony HVR-Z7, Panasonic AG-HVX200 and JVC GY-HM100. All recorder to DV (or HDV) format video - even the flash memory systems. Some also include manufacturer-proprietary formats (DVCAM/HDCAM/XDCAM - Sony; DVCPRO/DVCPRO HD - Panasonic). None have an internal hard drive - all can add an external, specially made, hard drive - see Sony and Focus Enhancements' Firestore). If you are expecting a high vibration environment, stay away form hard disc drives. The vibration will park the heads and no recording will happen. I have heard that miniDV tape is also susceptible to vibration issues - I have never experienced that. I have captured video to miniDV tape in very high audio level, very high vibration environments... For the miniDV tape video importing... use a firewire cable (not USB) to connect the camcorder's DV port (not USB) to the computer's firewire port (not USB). Camcorder in Play mode, launch the video editor, select Import or Capture. Getting the video in is "real time". The tape is the archive. When editing is done, you can export the finished project back to a MiniDV digital tape in the camcorder. You can use the camcorder as a playback deck connected to a HDTV. For consumer grade flash memory... Use a USB cable to connect the camcorder's USB port to the computer's USB port. Camcorder in Play mode, memory mounts as any other external storage device. Or you can take the memory card out and use a card reader - sometimes this is easier. Copy the files to the computer. If standard definition, you may need to transcode the video first. MPEG StreamClip is posted at aaple.com for downloading. The MOD or MPG standard definition files (if that is how you go) may need to be converted to MOV or MP4 files before iMovie or FinalCut can deal with the. If AVCHD/MTS