Camcorder recommendation?

[wisbucky]

Hi all

I just bought DH a HD camcorder for Christmas. He was using and still had a Sony TRV 27. He loved his TRV 27. The picture quality was awesome. It uses mini cassettes. His new HD had a hard drive. However; he didn’t mind the mini cassettes.

A few things that DH pointed out in the camcorders he bought in the past were if the viewfinder was easy to look through. He found that few were difficult to look through and caused eye strain. You may also want to check to make sure that the on/off button is easy to access and not easily bumped. These may sound like minor issues but when you have to deal with the problems they cause over and over again you will get frustrated.

We are Sony fans and reason being is Sony's customer service is unbeatable. They have gone out of their way to talk us through issues over the phone. I’m not pushing a Sony camcorder on you but just do a little research or so on how easy service and help is to obtain on the camcorder you wish to buy.

 

[Gretchen]

I too have an old tape video camera. Not even hi-8, I don't think they make the tapes anymore, it's so old. I wanted to get a small, inexpensive one to get some video of child #2, you would think he was #6 by looking at our pictures! Gee, mom, where are the movies of me...well, ah....I am just a terrible mother!! Anyway, I got what I think was a mini DV-took it back. The video was terrible compared to my old one. It couldn't take video inside, blurry etc. So, can you get an inexpensive camera that works inside?
G

 

[Aye Sea Turtles]

I have a Sony Handycam DCR-HC36 Mini DV. I absolutely love it. Paid $299 for it about a year ago at BJ's Wholesale. I haven't used the still camera function (and probably never will) but everything else is just great! I've used it twice at Disney already and the video came out awesome. I'm looking forward to doing lots of filming at Disney again this year.

 

[rotlex]

Just another vote for MiniDV here. It's benefits have been stated in a number of posts, and I am in agreement it is FAR superior to either DVD or HDD based cam's.

 

[pirates4]

Anyone have information on the high definition camcorders. We have been looking at them for about two weeks now. I Love Sony and that would be the only brand I would buy. I originally wanted the hard drive but when I went to the sony store the salesman swayed me against it. said to download the High Definition there is not much software to support it and when you burn it to dvd in High Definition you will need a high definition dvd player which costs about 500.00. If i wanted to play it in standard definition i would have to change the format in a sofware program- This sound like its too much work .

He recommended the minidv high definition because first the photo quality is much better and you have more options with editing and storage. You can play it direct from your camcorder to a High Def TV for the high def for now until the prices of the DVD players come down. When that time comes and we do get one i can then burn my minidv tapes to a dvd in high Definition. It seems to me that the High definition cameras might become more of a standard camera in the future. How easy is it to dowload your minidv video to a computer to make the dvd? And is what i was told true? I'm just so confused so many choices-

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

Anyone have information on the high definition camcorders. We have been looking at them for about two weeks now. I Love Sony and that would be the only brand I would buy. I originally wanted the hard drive but when I went to the sony store the salesman swayed me against it. said to download the High Definition there is not much software to support it and when you burn it to dvd in High Definition you will need a high definition dvd player which costs about 500.00. If i wanted to play it in standard definition i would have to change the format in a sofware program- This sound like its too much work .

He recommended the minidv high definition because first the photo quality is much better and you have more options with editing and storage. You can play it direct from your camcorder to a High Def TV for the high def for now until the prices of the DVD players come down. When that time comes and we do get one i can then burn my minidv tapes to a dvd in high Definition. It seems to me that the High definition cameras might become more of a standard camera in the future. How easy is it to dowload your minidv video to a computer to make the dvd? And is what i was told true? I'm just so confused so many choices-

It's fairly easy to download from miniDV to PC, but you're going to need an IEEE1394 (Firewire/i.Link) port on your PC in order to transfer. If you don't have that, the best you can do is a realtime video capture, which I would not recommend.

One thing to keep in mind about burning high def miniDV to DVD - while there are many software packages out there that can edit high def video and burn to a DVD, you really need an HD-DVD or Blu-ray burner in order to fully utilize the high def camcorder, if you plan to edit and dump down to DVD. You can certainly burn high def to a DVD using a standard DVD burner, but you're limited to 4.78 GB, whereas an HD-DVD burner or Blu-ray burner gives you 15 GB and 25 GB respectively. So all that means is that you can fit less high def video on a standard DVD, but you can still do it. You might just have to make your movies shorter or span them across multiple DVD's.

Having said all that, if I were to buy a new camera today, I'd go high def miniDV. More editing options, exceptional video quality, proven miniDV format.

The statement about the hard drive based high def cameras is somewhat accurate, but I wouldn't base my decision on it. The Sony hard drive HD cameres use the AVCHD format to record in high def, whereas the miniDV cameras use HDV format. There are a few software packages on the market that support editing of AVCHD video, such as Ulead VideoStudio 11 and Sony Vegas 7.0e for PC, or Final Cut Studio for Mac. There are only slightly more packages that support HDV editing, so I don't think it's a function of hard drive versus miniDV, it's more AVCHD being the newer format that will, in my opinion, eventually have as much support as HDV. But personally, I'd still stick with miniDV because of the capacity limiations of the hard drive based cameras. For example, the Sony HDR-SR7 has a 60 GB hard drive, which gives you only 8 hours of high def video at the highest quality setting. When it's full, you either dump down to PC or delete. With miniDV, if you've got another tape, you're off and running!

 

[mill4023]

We had one of the Panasonic GS series mini-DV camcorders for about a year, then it died and we replaced it with a Sony mini-DV. I don't know the model number off hand(one of the HC's), but it's one of the more basic models and was a little under $300. Both of them had decent image quality, but both do get grainy in low light. I've found the Sony to be more user-friendly.

 

[dcforbreakfast]

Anyone have information on the high definition camcorders. We have been looking at them for about two weeks now. I Love Sony and that would be the only brand I would buy. I originally wanted the hard drive but when I went to the sony store the salesman swayed me against it. said to download the High Definition there is not much software to support it and when you burn it to dvd in High Definition you will need a high definition dvd player which costs about 500.00. If i wanted to play it in standard definition i would have to change the format in a sofware program- This sound like its too much work .

He recommended the minidv high definition because first the photo quality is much better and you have more options with editing and storage. You can play it direct from your camcorder to a High Def TV for the high def for now until the prices of the DVD players come down. When that time comes and we do get one i can then burn my minidv tapes to a dvd in high Definition. It seems to me that the High definition cameras might become more of a standard camera in the future. How easy is it to dowload your minidv video to a computer to make the dvd? And is what i was told true? I'm just so confused so many choices-

I would say unless you are shooting for a professional show, there is no need to spend the extra money on an HD camera. They're extremely expensive and there are so many issues with the editing etc that I wouldn't bother.

You can still get excellent video with a Mini DV. The Sony guy probably recommended the HD b/c it's got a big price tag! I paid a little over 400 for my Panasonic GS320 and I'm very happy with it. You do get what you pay for for the most part, something in the 200-300 range is not going to give you good video quality.

For an editing program, I'm learning Pinnacle Studio 10.5 and it's very easy to use. Basically all you do is run the firewire from the camera to your computer and it walks you right through it. You can even just dump the video straight to a DVD if you want or it will turn it into a mini movie for you automatically with a few clicks (puts in music and titles etc).

Again, definitely go to camcorderinfo.com and read the reviews and comparisons there before you buy. This is something you want to make sure you research.

 

[pirates4]

It's fairly easy to download from miniDV to PC, but you're going to need an IEEE1394 (Firewire/i.Link) port on your PC in order to transfer. If you don't have that, the best you can do is a realtime video capture, which I would not recommend.

One thing to keep in mind about burning high def miniDV to DVD - while there are many software packages out there that can edit high def video and burn to a DVD, you really need an HD-DVD or Blu-ray burner in order to fully utilize the high def camcorder, if you plan to edit and dump down to DVD. You can certainly burn high def to a DVD using a standard DVD burner, but you're limited to 4.78 GB, whereas an HD-DVD burner or Blu-ray burner gives you 15 GB and 25 GB respectively. So all that means is that you can fit less high def video on a standard DVD, but you can still do it. You might just have to make your movies shorter or span them across multiple DVD's.

Having said all that, if I were to buy a new camera today, I'd go high def miniDV. More editing options, exceptional video quality, proven miniDV format.

The statement about the hard drive based high def cameras is somewhat accurate, but I wouldn't base my decision on it. The Sony hard drive HD cameres use the AVCHD format to record in high def, whereas the miniDV cameras use HDV format. There are a few software packages on the market that support editing of AVCHD video, such as Ulead VideoStudio 11 and Sony Vegas 7.0e for PC, or Final Cut Studio for Mac. There are only slightly more packages that support HDV editing, so I don't think it's a function of hard drive versus miniDV, it's more AVCHD being the newer format that will, in my opinion, eventually have as much support as HDV. But personally, I'd still stick with miniDV because of the capacity limiations of the hard drive based cameras. For example, the Sony HDR-SR7 has a 60 GB hard drive, which gives you only 8 hours of high def video at the highest quality setting. When it's full, you either dump down to PC or delete. With miniDV, if you've got another tape, you're off and running!

Thanks for all the usefull information!! I think I learned more from your post that my week and a half investigating on the computer. I dont think my computer has the IEEE1394 link/port is this something that I can easily add to the computer? My computer is a dell and is only about 5 months old. If I burn it on a stantard dvd player from my computer at high def how much time is the 4.7 GB going to give me on the video? And in your opinion should I go with the High Def camcorder or just stay with a digital one.

 

[Robo]

I dont think my computer has the IEEE1394 link/port is this something that I can easily add to the computer?

Other names for this connection are FireWire or iLink.
You can buy a IEEE1394 PCI card to fit inside a desktop computer for about $25-40.

If I burn it on a stantard dvd player from my computer at high def how much time is the 4.7 GB going to give me on the video?

You have some things confused here, but the answer is you can record a "standard definition" (SD) DVD that will play on a regular DVD player and record up to 2+ hours on the single-layer DVD blank and get reasonably good quality (it will be very compressed, but still look good.)

You can't burn a "standard DVD" in "High Def" or HD.
You can "down-convert" HD to SD quality and burn a standard DVD that will have the black bars at the top and bottom of the image.

And in your opinion should I go with the High Def camcorder or just stay with a digital one.

Mixed terms here, too.

High Def (HD)
Standard Definition (SD)
are BOTH "digital" formats.

HD video on a miniDV tape (one format is called HDV) has greater resolution (but much higher compression rate) than SD video on a miniDV (format is called DV).

At the point were we are right now, I'd buy a less expensive SD miniDV camcorder.

In a couple of years, HD will be much more attractively priced.

I can't see how any person not heavily involved in the TV production business or the manufacture and wholesaling of consumer electronics could possibly keep all of these terms or cost-vs-format-vs-quality-vs-record medium-vs-storage-vs-transfer-vs-editing-vs-playback medium... in ANY WAY straight.

(BTW, generally the part-time "salesmen" at big-box electronics stores don't know from NUTHIN' about this stuff!!!)

 

[Micca]

Awesome info on this thread. I'm not even in the market for a new camcorder and I thought it was very interesting.

 

[Gladguy]

I can't see how any person not heavily involved in the TV production business or the manufacture and wholesaling of consumer electronics could possibly keep all of these terms or cost-vs-format-vs-quality-vs-record medium-vs-storage-vs-transfer-vs-editing-vs-playback medium... in ANY WAY straight.

(BTW, generally the part-time "salesmen" at big-box electronics stores don't know from NUTHIN' about this stuff!!!)

+1 to this!

I've been in and out of several Best Buys in the past week, and I have had 3 different recommendations (Mini-DV, DVD, HDD) from 3 different BB associates!

As to my dilemma, my wife's best friend recently purchased a DVD-based camcorder, and has graciously insisted we borrow it for our trip. I'm happy to do that and save the money! Hopefully, HD camcorder technology will continue to improve at the accellerated rate, and I'll be able to get a HD camera in the next couple years.

Excellent info in this thread. I hope it's been useful to others!

 

[pirates4]

If interested in getting a Sony Product I recomend going direct to a Sony Style Store. They seem to know much more about the product. I too went to Best Buy and Circuit City and the salespeople all have something different to say. I needed to correct a few about some fetures a really new alot about. They just said "Really"- "I did not know that". After talking with them I got more confused. I'm going bacK to the sony store tomorrow to ask a few more question before I make my final pick. I just want to get a camera that I will be happy with now and in the future. I'll let you know what I decide- I hope by next week I will have one so I can play around with it before our disney trip in august. I would but from Circuit City and Best by because they do have good prices and usually the 12mths interst free.

 

[dpuck1998]

 

[DISNEY FIX]

Good info here http://www.bhphotovideo.com
Chris

 

[dcforbreakfast]

Disney Fix! Love B H Photo Video. That is where I bought my camcorder (best price and reputable online store---beware of just looking for the best price. Some online sellers are a nightmare. Bait and switch, hard sells on accessories, etc. Check out any website you're going to purchase from by first going to complaints.com and looking them up. It's saved me SEVERAL times)

Ask any professional photographer in the tv biz and nearly all will recommend BH. Oh and please don't give Best Buy your money---what a nightmare that place is. Feel free to surf bestbuysux.org for reasons why.