Digital camcorders and Rev

[Richard Miller]

I am working on a Rev project which manipulates video from a digital  
camcorder. I am testing with one brand of camcorder, but would like  
to know if my assumptions hold true for most modern digital camcorders.

1. Do most store their video in .avi format or is some other format  
more prevalent?

2. When the typical camcorder is attached to a computer, is there any  
fairly standard way Rev can access the video files on it  
automatically through scripting without requiring the user to  
identify the camcorder (presumably by specifying its volume or  
perhaps using the answer file command)? For example, can I use the  
registry to quickly identify most camcorders without knowing the  
brand in advance?

3. Is most of the video on the camcorder already well compressed? If  
so, is there a standard codec being used these days?

Any help with these questions would be most appreciated.

Thanks.
Richard Miller