Demoing the Canon MV940 MiniDV camcorder

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Жыл бұрын

This is the Canon MV940 MiniDV camcorder. This is the highest spec model in this formfactor. The MV940 is also the only model that supports DV/FireWire 400 Input. Many manufacturers sold units within Europe that lacked this capability as it would have attracted higher taxes due to them being classed as video recording equipment.
MiniDV is part of the DV (Digital Video) video storage format. It was released in 1995. There are 3 DV cassettes, with MiniDV being the smallest.
MiniDV was the first mass-consumer digital recording format.
Here are some facts:
1) The most popular camcorder storage prior to this was VHS-C (the last analogue format that was widely adopted).
2) MiniDV was replaced by 8 cm DVD +/- R camcorders, later with solid state ones.
3) Data is recorded helical on the tape, i.e. just like VHS.
4) Tape speed is constant 18.8 mm/s
5) DV Resolution is 720 x 480 (DVD standard)
6) Audio can be stored as:
16-bit Linear PCM stereo at 48 kHz sampling rate (768 kbit/s per channel, 1.5 Mbit/s stereo), or four nonlinear 12-bit PCM channels at 32 kHz sampling rate (384 kbit/s per channel, 1.5 MBit/s for four channels)
Audio is stored lossless.
7) Video data bit rate is 25 Mbps. By contrast a modern 4K HDR movie takes ~10 Mbps or less.
Video is stored with lossy compression.
8) All MiniDV tapes are 60 mins long (Standard Play) or 90 mins long (Long Play)
9) Only Sony and Panasonic made them. Sony uses wet lubricant while Panasonic solid. Other brands such as TDK, JVC etc. are re-branded Panasonics.
10) There were no real consumer MiniDV player decks for homes. The camcorders had to be hooked up to TV via composite Video.
11) This pre-dates modern tech such as solid state flash storage, HDMI, etc.
12) Almost all MiniDV Camcorders also have a FireWire 400 port for connecting to another camcorder for tape duplication, or to a PC.
13) Sony made a smaller format called Micro MV which is significantly smaller but the camcorders are very expensive even today.
14) Later MiniDV Camcorders had memory card slots (SD, MMC or Memory Stick) and USB ports, however these were only used for still photography.
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Пікірлер: 24

@anacarolinagiglio Жыл бұрын

Hi! Thanks for the vid! Do you know if I can use only sd card for video?

@BrianSu Жыл бұрын

Hi, no it isn't possible. The SD cards back then were way too slow for DV.

@pl0mp378 2 ай бұрын

you can, you just have to be lucky and find one under 2gb i believe, i use a gb sd card my cousin was going to throw away and you can easily transfer videos through the cable or an sd card reader, only problem is that the max resolution isnt great, but im yet to try recording outside with good lighting

@pl0mp378 2 ай бұрын

also worth mentioning that i too thought you couldnt until i went to the settings and saw when put into the sd mode, recording is turned off by default so you have to go into the function menu and turn it on

@ilovelionmore 6 ай бұрын

great vid! is it possible to transfer videos taken on mini dv cassettes to an SD card using this camera?

@BrianSu 6 ай бұрын

not on the camera itself, the camera only knows how to output in DV format which is a bit stream rather than file format. This is why Firewire is used to send the bit stream out to other devices rather than USB.

@ilovelionmore 6 ай бұрын

ah got it. thanks for replying 💖

@aliffrusihan4433 20 күн бұрын

Hi! Does it have nightvision?

@kimsmell1663 6 ай бұрын

Does it play any mini dv Cassettes from any trademark like jvc cassette or only canon mini dv cassette ?

@BrianSu 6 ай бұрын

Any. MiniDV is a common format across all brands :) just be aware that some tapes use liquid lubricant while others use solid. It isn't recommended to switch between them. This issue is well known and there are loads of info out there.

@kimsmell1663 6 ай бұрын

@@BrianSu Alright Thank you. I appreciate fast reply! 👍🏼😁

@chrisgullett4332 5 ай бұрын

@@BrianSuNo it is not. There are several Mini DV camcorders that will not allow you to play recorded tapes in other brands players. Almost all of the Mini DV VCRs are like that, they will only play tapes recorded on certain camcorders. For example, a lot of the Sony DV VCRs will only play tapes recorded in Sony DV camcorders. I think what they did with a lot of the DV camcorders was set the head at a certain height, so that you could not play the tapes back in other brands camcorders. Most of the time you will have no problems, but sometimes you will not be able to play tapes between brands. Some JVC recorded tapes will only play in JVC devices, some Canon recorded tapes will only play in Canon devices etc. This was a well known problem with DV tapes.

@BrianSu 5 ай бұрын

@@chrisgullett4332 Ohhh that's new to me. Thanks for mentioning this.

@chrisgullett4332 5 ай бұрын

@@BrianSu Yeah if you look up play MiniDV tapes in different brands, you will see a bunch of people complaining that they can only play Sony tapes in Sony devices, JVC in JVC devices etc. They can never figure it out. In reality it cannot be fixed. What companies did was purposely start making their devices only compatible with tapes recorded on their devices. They did this so that you would have to keep buying their products. For example, if you have a JVC MiniDV camcorder, and you wanted to play the tape in a MiniDV VCR, you'd have to buy a JVC MiniDV VCR, because most of them would only play tapes recorded in JVC devices. All the companies did it. MiniDV VCRs were big in Asia, and companies wanted you to buy their camcorders and VCRs, so they made it to where you had to. Sometimes the tapes will play just fine between devices, but all the devices they had something dome to make them only play tapes recorded on their brand of devices, would not play in other brand devices. I have literally seen people try to play tapes in a Canon recorded with a Sony, and it would not play, but then they'd record over the Sony recordings with a Canon and it would play. I have seen it with all the different brands

@kylesoza6903 25 күн бұрын

would you happen to know if an NB-2L battery would work on it? thank you!

@BrianSu 24 күн бұрын

I don’t sorry.

@kylesoza6903 24 күн бұрын

@@BrianSu update: NB-2L batteries fit!

@BrianSu 22 күн бұрын

@@kylesoza6903 Ahh I've just taken mine out to check. There are 2 battery models printed, one of which is indeed NB-2L. Apologies I should have checked earlier. This is great info though as mine don't really hold a charge very well anymore. I'll probably get the Duracell one to replace.