help buying a camcorder

[MOMO2DK]

Hi,
We are heading to WDW in a few weeks. My husband's winter bonus is burning a hole in my pocket. I would like to buy a camcorder. I've been looking at the Sony camcorders that record directly onto a DVD disc. It seems like it would be easy to use for someone as techno-challenged as me. But it also appears that I may have to upgrade my computer to have a DVD play/write drive in order to edit, which would be ok. Additionally, my sis moved to Australia and I would love to be able to send her DVD discs of Family events etc...

Thus, please I am hoping for advice on this decision. The clock is ticking and I would love to get one in time for our trip on the 21st.

Thanks!!!!!
Martha

 

[JESW]

Thanks for posting this question as we are looking for advice too! (We would like to get one before our April trip) Hope you get some replies and some suggestions!

Jill

 

[bnlbebes]

Bumping up for any suggestions for reasonable DVD camcorder.

 

[Taylor]

I purchased a Panasonic PV-GS50D Mini DV camera for our WDW trip in October. I have been extremely happy with the quality of the video and the small size of the camera. It includes a sandisk memory card, and I purchased an additional one also. The camera takes video, MPEG's, and digital still photos. It does not burn directly to a CD though, which is the only shortcoming it has. I had to purchase a firewire cable and card to burn onto a CD.

 

[battricia]

I've mentioned this before, but I had checked out the dvd camcorders from sony, and the discs only hold about a half hour of footage, which means you have to change the discs every half hour you're recording. I'm not sure if this matters much to you, but they show a 2 pack of dvds as being 23.00 on the sony site. I would suggest getting a digital 8 camera, and getting a dvd burner for your computer. You can get a digital 8 camera for about 350 - 400 (sony), the digital 8 tapes are about 6 dollers or so per tape, and they hold about 70 minutes, and you can record over the tape once you've burned it to dvd. this camera will plug right into your computer, you can edit it with a video editing program and then with the dvd burner on the computer you can burn a dvd with probably about 2 hours of footage. You can get a dvd-rw drive for about 200 dollars at best buy, or most major electronics stores. I personally think this is the best way to go at this point in time. (meaning the dvd burners in the camera will get better with time, but right now they only burn a small amount of footage onto a fairly expensive dvd.)

tricia.

 

[laurie31]

I bought a Hitachi DVD camcorder (the DZ-MV350A) for our Disney trip and loved it! It records directly onto a DVD, which can be played back in our DVD player, or obviously on the camcorder. It was lots of fun to watch the video without having to rewind/fastforward, and you can start recording again instantly without having to fastforward to the blank spot as you would with a videotape. It uses mini-dvds which won't play in all DVD players, and they record for 1 hour. I did not find it much trouble at all to change dvds that often - one hour is a long time - I even taped all of the parades and Fantasmic without a problem. (these things are only 20 mins or so each, and those were the longest things I taped). Most taping (for me) was my kids with characters and on rides, which only lasts a few minutes. Extra DVDs fit easily into my waistpack, along with the extra battery that any camcorder would need after a day in the parks I know that they will come out with something better and cheaper next year, but that would be too late for our trip I do not regret my purchase at all and I LOVE how small and light it is. I can actually keep it in my purse and have it handy for those everyday occasions when something "tape-worthy" happens. In fact, it fit into my waist pack on the trip (and I have a very small waistpack).

I haven't upgraded my computer to DVD burning capacity yet, but I would like to Even without editing, the DVD is so much easier to watch than a tape. You should look at several and pick one you like Just make sure to get it in time to make some practice recording so you can get used to all the settings. I found better deals on mini-dvds and extra batteries on ebay than at the store where I bought the camcorder. Note that the dvds come in +R and -R. My camera uses the -R and -RW (you can re-record on the RW ones, not on the R ones). Watch closely to make sure you don't buy the wrong kind.

Feel free to PM me if you want to know more.

Laurie