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Updated September 2007

This page should be helpful to you when making decisions about how to record PCIA-II administrations. At minimum, you will need a camcorder, tripod, method of making at least one copy of your video recording to ensure against lost data, and a way of playing back the recording. At this time, the content below reflects our practices in the US and is biased toward the video standards and equipment available in the US and Canada. Please send me updates from Europe or Australia when you have your labs up and running.

Budget Solution: Analog VHS and VCR

If you are on a tight budget you can record with a VHS camcorder (US recording standard in the 1980s and 1990). Excellent VHS camcorders, once selling for over $500 US, can be purchased used for less than $100 US on auction sites such as eBay. Our team had good success with the reliable Panasonic Professional/Industrial VHS  "ProLine"  AG-188U. The advantage of the these older camcorders is that they record directly to the VHS tapes that can be played back in home VCRs. The quality is good enough and copies can be easily be made by connecting together two VCRs or by using a "dual-deck" VCR.

Recommended Solution: Digital MiniDV and DVD

Digital recording offers the advantage of higher quality video, quicker searching of recorded material during playback including the ability to set "bookmarks," and physical media that takes up less space than VHS tapes. In essence, the digital solution involves the use of a miniDV camcorder and a method of transferring the tapes to DVD.

Camcorder: Here are some features to consider when purchasing a camcorder:

• Choose MiniDV tape format instead of mini DVD format (the mini DVDs only hold about 30 minutes of high quality video while miniDVs allow for 60 minutes of recording). The new hard disk camcorders may be worth a look as they have the capicity for recording several hours of video. The downside is that they are considerably more expensive than comparable miniDV models and video quality may suffer. A recent comparison by David Pogue, NYT columnist, of MiniDV and tapeless camcorders provides some justification for choosing the miniDV format.
• Microphone input, in case you want to add an external microphone
• Firewire, for output to the computer for burning DVDs from the miniDV tapes, but USB2 output will suffice
• 3 CCDs for high quality video (recommended but not necessary)
• Top loading tape, so you do not have to remove the camcorder from the tripod when changing tapes

The model we are using is the Panasonic PV-GS150 camcorder (MiniDV tape format).

Tripod: Any tripod that fits your camcorder.

miniDV tapes: Use a name brand product (e.g., Panasonic or Sony). We have been using Panasonic miniDV tapes (60 minute SP).

DVDs: There are two formats that are widely used: DVD-R and DVD+R. We have standardized on DVD-R for all of our recording and have had good playback in home DVD players and computers running Windows XP or Mac OS X.  Unfortunately, not all DVD-R disc brands are alike. Some DVD brands work better with some DVD burners than others. Your DVD burner will likely have a list of recommended brands. We have been using Phillips (1x - 8x) and Sony (1x - 16x) brand DVD-Rs (120 min/4.7 GB). The Philips DVDs work well with the Mad Dog Multimedia burner (MD-18XTFAE) and the Sony DVDs work well with the Sony DVDirect VRD-VC20 burner.

DVD burner: You will need to make copies of the miniDV tape onto media that provides for easy playback. I recommend that you copy the miniDV tape to a DVD (“burn” a DVD). There are several ways to burn a DVD. We are currently using option 1 below.

1. Connect the camcorder Firewire to Sony DVDirect (such as the VRD-VC20) which is a standalone product (about $225 US at Best Buy), that burns the DVD without the need for a computer or monitor hooked up to it. One advantage of this method is that the DVD can be burned simultaneously as you film with the camcorder.
2. Connect the camcorder Firewire or USB2 port directly to your computer. Burn to the DVD drive on your computer, using software such as Nero (only cost is for the DVD burning software if you have a DVD burner on your computer.) Firewire ports, if not available on your computer, can be added to notebooks by way of an expresscard or PCMCIA card or desktops using a PCI card.
3. Connect the camcorder to a DVD recorder, which is a unit that looks much like a home DVD player but can take the input from the camcorder (using Firewire) and burn the DVD. These units are fairly expensive (> $400 US).
   

Digital Video Solutions

Copying DVDs: There are several software programs available for this task such as Nero Express and Popcorn 2 for the Macintosh. I recommend Nero Express. However, our labs have a software product called Sonic RecordNow! (version 7) that we have been using and it does the job. If you do not have an internal DVD burner, you may need to either install one or purchase an external DVD burner. External DVD burners will connect to your desktop using USB2 or firewire cables. We are currently using a Mad Dog Multimedia burner (MD-18XTFAE) and the Sony DVDirect (such as the VRD-VC20). Firewire is preferable as the transfer rate is faster, but USB will suffice if your computer does not have a firewire card.

DVD Playback: You can either playback the DVD on a computer or a television. You will need DVD playback software to view the video on your computer.  Apple’s built in Quicktime should suffice. On Windows computers, you will need a program such as Nero, Cyberlink, WinDVD, or DirectDVD. I have been using Nero which works well. For playback during the PCIA-II MAP sessions, we have been using a television, the Toshiba 14" TV/DVD/VCR combination (model MW14F51, about $225 US).

MiniDV tape Playback: If you have not yet burned the DVD and would like to preview the miniDV tape on a large screen, you can connect the camcorder to either a television or a computer that has a program such as Nero or DVDSanta installed. The steps are as follows:

Play miniDV tape on the television (recommended):
1. Connect the camcorder to the television using RCA jacks (also called composite AV cables).  Plug the headphone jack end into the camcorder. Plug the three colored jacks into the television. Yellow for composite video, white for audio left (or mono), and red for audio right. Televisions that do not have stereo playback will have inputs for the yellow and white jacks and you can leave the red jack unplugged.
2. Control playback using the camcorder..

Play miniDV tape on the computer:
1. Connect camcorder to computer via Firewire cable
2. Run Nero software.
3. Choose “Capture Video” (Select “More” and check “Enable capture device audio playback”. Press Play.
4. Nero will display the video on screen with sound
5. Playback is controlled by Nero software. Double click on image for full screen.

Simultaneous Recording of MiniDV tape and burning of DVD using
Panasonic PV-GS150 and Sony DVDirect VC20
1.Secure camcorder to tripod, plug in camcorder and plug in VC20 to wall power outlets.
2. Connect both together with 4-pin- to 4-pin Firewire cable. The camcorder firewire port is located behind the flip-out LCD viewscreen. The VC20 firewire port is located in the back of the VC20.
3. Turn on camcorder, insert miniDV tape in camcorder, open lenscap, and turn the camcorder dial counterclockwise so that the LCD screen displays the zoo board.  Camera alignment: An imaginary straight line should extend from the camera to the “zoo booklet” corner of the zoo board to the “tunnel” corner of the zoo board. In framing the shot, be sure that the zoo booklet displays in the bottom, middle of the screen with the parent on the left and child on the right.
4. Turn on VC20
VC20 should display:

5. Press Eject (top button) on VC20, insert blank DVD, wait until it formats and displays “READY”
6. Press RED BUTTON on camcorder. Camcorder screen should display a red circle indicating it is recording.
7. Press REC on VC20, VC20 should display “Recording”
8. If you need to pause, press camcorder RED BUTTON. The camcorder screen will display two vertical green lines indicating it has paused. Then, press PAUSE on VC20. To resume recording, Press the RED BUTTON on camcorder.  The VC20 should automatically resume so it displays “Recording”
9. To finish recording: Press RED BUTTON on camcorder. Press STOP on VC20.
10. Press Eject (top button) on VC20.
11. Screen on VC20 will display:

12. Eject tape from camcorder, label tape, label tape case insert, turn off camcorder, close lens cap, disconnect firewire and power cable, store camcorder
13. Eject DVD from VC20, label DVD, Turn off VC20, disconnect firewire and power cable, store VC20.