Paging DennyA!

[T Elhajj]

Denny,

Did you say you actually have one of these Canon ZR20 camcorders? I found a reconditioned ZR20 for a decent price and am just about to take the plunge. I just have two questions I can't figure out from looking at the docs or your CNet review (nice work, btw!).

Does the ZR20 need to use an S-Video hookup to dub analog video? My current Hi8 recorder only has two plugs for signal out: one video, one audio. It has no S-Video jack. From pg. 77 in the manual (http://www.canondv.com/downloads/manuals/Zr20e.pdf), it looks like you might have to use both S-Video and the analog audio out to dub from an analog video source.

Also, do you know the highest resolution can you capture still shots?

My plan is to purchas this guy, and then ebay my current camcorder and camera. My current camera can produce stills at 1280X960, which makes a OK printed photo. If I can get close to the same from the Canon, my plan is going to work.

Thanks!

[DennyA]

Tim,

Yep, I do own a ZR-20. Bought it, noticed Cnet didn't have a review of it, so I pitched one to them. :-)

Nope, you don't need S-Video to dub analog with the ZR-20. It has composite in/out as well. Although I'd be shocked of your Hi-8 camera didn't have some facility for S-Video out. S-Video is almost a must for Hi-8... Going out a standard composite connector, you don't get the benefit of the "Hi" part of it (400 line support) -- composite can't resolve more detail than standard 8mm (270 lines).

As for still shots... It depends on the software you're using, but keep in mind that the DV video format itself has just 720x480 pixel resolution. You can grab some web-worthy stills (and some of packages will upsize and interpolate to about 1024x768 resolution), but that's about it. Not even a $2,000 DV cam is going to be a good substitute for a $160 Canon Powershot A200 digital camera. (Well, except for the DV cam's 10x optical zoom, which is nice.) If you current camera is only 1280x960, it's not going to be a lot worse, but I'd keep the dedicated digital camera if you can afford to.

For software, get Pinnacle Studio 7... Now that Studio 8 is out, you can find it using Pricegrabber for about $35. It's a fantastic package, and the only real difference between 7 and 8 is that 8 included DVD and video CD burning built in. It'll work with any generic firewire card.

[T Elhajj]

Heh. I looked at my "Hi8" camcorder and low and behold it is merely an 8mm. Glad I found out before I put it on ebay. ;) As it turns out, we are just using Hi8 cassetes. Looks like I am in for a treat when I get this new DV camera. Thanks Denny!

Thanks for the tip on Pinnacle software! I can stay closer to my price point if I get a OEM firewire card and just buy their software, instead of buying a hardware bundle from them.

After I asked my question last night, I found a great explanation of the ins and outs of buying a camcorder (http://www.howstuffworks.com/camcorder.htm) at the how stuff works site. It's also got a primer on making home videos.