I just bought a new camcorder.

[mom2rb]

I just ordered a new camcorder. My last one bit the dust on Christmas Eve. I ordered the Toshiba GSC-R60GB. I looked at one at Conn's yesterday. I liked it but I thought it was too expensive. I found it on line for $423.00. I went ahead and bought the warranty because it was for 5 years instead of the normal 3. My last two camcorders have died at 4 years. The tapes ended up getting stuck. This one is all hard drive. They said it will record for 10 hours on the highest quality setting. I don't think I will have a problem with downloading every 10 hours. If anyone has any experience with this camcorder I would love to hear about it. If not I will let you know next Sunday after I play with it at my boys' gymnastics meet.

 

[Lizziejane]

We got a new camcorder for Christmas too! We got the Sony 60GB hard drive. I love not having tapes or discs to worry about, and it's literally "pick up and go" operation. We're supposed to get 14 hours on ours. I think we've used about 2 hours already just goofing around with it!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I'm looking at camcorders. I'd like an HD one, but I haven't figured out which one yet.

 

[KaitlinsMom]

Just a note on he HD's - I got one for Christmas (JVC model) and the low light filming was just terrible! I could not see my daughter opening her presents! So we returned it and I was looking at the Sony's (HD) The do have a back light feature and a night-time switch (added more light to picture) - Looked really great and I was ready to buy it - But talked with the salesman some more and said that the HD's are nice - But the picture quality is not up to par of the mini DV's (w/ 3 CCD) - So that is the route I went - Was it the right route - I think for me it was - But the HD's are sooooo appealing! Just stay away from the JVC models!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

the HD's are nice - But the picture quality is not up to par of the mini's (w/ 3 ccc)

Darn confusing acronyms. I meant HD as High Def rather than Hard Disk. Both of our TVs are High Def and I'd really like our video to be as well.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I should add that our current model shoots on compact flash cards. It's more reliable that tape or hard disk and easier to handle as well. I love the format, but the picture quality is lame. The sensor is too small. The optics are lousy. It's great that it's tiny and we'll probably keep it for extreme portability, but I'll always hate the video that it shoots.

I've currently got my eyes on a Canon XH A1. I'm just not sure that I want to spend that kind of money until the HD formats stabilize. I suspect that AVCHD might beat out HDV and I'll be stuck with a poorly supported format.

 

[Lizziejane]

Our initial purchase was the Sony 30GB hard drive and my husband was quite upset about the picture. He found it far too soft, and it was very poor in low light. The quality on the 60GB is noticeably better. We knew that HD wasn't going to be the best quality, image wise - we were going strictly for convenience. Anytime I can pick up a piece of equipment and figure it out in 10 seconds or less - that's a bonus!!

 

[KaitlinsMom]

I've currently got my eyes on a Canon XH A1. I'm just not sure that I want to spend that kind of money until the HD formats stabilize. I suspect that AVCHD might beat out HDV and I'll be stuck with a poorly supported format.

I did think about waiting till the HD formats stabilized - (Our TV's are in HD as well - but I thought you meant Hard Drive) - But needed something for now, and the one we got is HALF the size of our previous one (8mm-Sony) -So it will be nice to be able to carry my camera and camcorder in the SAME bag - and not have to choose which one I want to bring! (or I would bring both and suffer later with a hurting shoulder!)

 

[allyn]

kaitlinsmom, i think the salesman was feeding you a line. from what i've read on sites like camdorderinfo.com, the picture quality of any high-def camcorder blows away any standard-def camcorder.

 

[mom2rb]

When I played with the camcorder at the store, I thought the picture quality was great. I guess I won't know until I get it. It should be here on Friday. I am not the best at taking pictures or filming things. The smaller and easier to use the better. I think my kids would rather have pictures and films that are not perfect than none at all.

 

[KaitlinsMom]

kaitlinsmom, i think the salesman was feeding you a line. from what i've read on sites like camdorderinfo.com, the picture quality of any high-def camcorder blows away any standard-def camcorder.

Sorry, I should have spelled out instead of using abreviations! I wasn't talking High-Def - I thought Mark was talking Hard Drive - That is what I meant when I put HD (and what the salesman was talking about) - We didn't even look at the High Def cameras - Just didn't want to pay those prices yet since I just got an XTI and some lenses - We really don't use the camcorder as much as we should, and I take tons of pictures, so to go for the better camera instead of the camcorder was the better fit for me -

The High Def's do look wonderful though!