Digital Camcorders

  • Thread starter Vonie
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Vonie

Vonie

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thevonsteinery
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooook.


I've been looking for a new digital camcorder for the fam and need some advice and experience.

First thing's first; does anyone have one that records right to a DVD? I so, what format are the videos recorded in? Are they just .avi or something or are they stupid DVD player ones?

Also does anybody have suggestions for a good one in the US$550-600 range? A DVD one or an internal hard disk one is preferable.

Free mittens to anyone who helps. Thanks.

And please no links to Newegg searches, I could do that myself. First hand experience is happily welcomed.
 
I love my Samsung XC210L:

samsungscx210l2ndcam.jpg


It records to a 1GB internal HDD and has a SD slot if you want more storage

Another thing is the helmet cam is kinda cool if you have a use for it.

It can play MP3's, take digital pictures, record voice and of course record video and has an adjustable recording quality( if for some reason you need it)
 
Vonie
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooook.


I've been looking for a new digital camcorder for the fam and need some advice and experience.

First thing's first; does anyone have one that records right to a DVD? I so, what format are the videos recorded in? Are they just .avi or something or are they stupid DVD player ones?

Also does anybody have suggestions for a good one in the US$550-600 range? A DVD one or an internal hard disk one is preferable.

Free mittens to anyone who helps. Thanks.

And please no links to Newegg searches, I could do that myself. First hand experience is happily welcomed.
Click to expand...

Right, well I'm very happy with our Sony DCR HC19:
DCRHC19.jpg

It's mini dv, which is essentially a diddy tape, but don't be put off. You can record well over an hour on each tape, depending on how much you pay for one, and they're very good quality. It's probably been replaced with something else now, but they're all roughly the same underneath.

As for DVD camcorders, I wouldn't even go there. The DVDs only store 30 minutes of video each (because they're half the size of normal ones), and cost a packet. Anything stored on them will be in .ifo format (or whatever the standard dvd file is, I forget) so you'll need a dvd ripper to get anything from them onto your pc. If it's got a USB or firewire port, you can do the play on the camera and record through the PC thing, but then it's no better than a mini dv one.

If you're after a hard drive, I can't help you. The general advice from me is head for a Sony. They're surprisingly cheap.

EDIT

The hard drive one looks pretty good. Find a few you like the look of, and read as many user reviews as you can. From my (little) experience with small things containing hard drives, make sure it's reliable. HDD camcorders are relatively new (in comparison to mini dv cameras), so there'll probably be a few teething problems.
 
Jondot
It's mini dv, which is essentially a diddy tape, but don't be put off.
Click to expand...
I was just looking at those and they seem like the best compromise, fairly cheap aswell.
The Sony DCR-HC96 looks nice. The analog-to-digital converting fearture is cool, too.

Jondot
As for DVD camcorders, I wouldn't even go there. The DVDs only store 30 minutes of video each (because they're half the size of normal ones), and cost a packet.
Click to expand...

That is exactly what was turning me off to them, I think I won't go there.

Jondot
If you're after a hard drive, I can't help you. The general advice from me is head for a Sony. They're surprisingly cheap.
Click to expand...

Really? I've found them to be more expensive than Mini DV or DVD ones of the same quality.

And, yes, Sony is the only way to go.
 
Oh, I didn't mean the HDD ones are surprisingly cheap, just Sony in general. I expected them to be far more than they are.

But yeah, I'd have a mini dv. They're much cheaper than the DVD and HDD cams, so if you spend $600 you'll get a high end mini dv in comparison to a low end DVD or HDD.
 

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