Camcorders

[Patrick]

I'm looking into buying a camcorder. Need help deciding on which one to buy. Maybe BaconCheeseBurgerDeluxe can help me out since he works for an electronics store.

The folks at Best Buy seem to think Sony makes the best camcorder. They're big on the new DVD Recorders....but they are pretty pricey. Seems like on tha tape side, Mini DV is the big thing. And then there's old 8mm Hi 8's.

I'm actually leaning towards the DVD recorder right now. You can play the actual DVD in your DVD player, instead of having to hook up the recorder to the TV to play the specialty tapes. Also, seems like DVD produces better picture quality than tape.

What are your thoughts?

[jbrown84]

Stay away from HI-8. It's so obsolete I can't believe they still sell them.

I'd go with a Mini-DV Canon or Sony.

The DVD ones are still very new technology and your capabilities for editing and such are limited. And the picture is actually higher quality on mini-DV. DVD is compressed video, which means the quality is lost so that the file size can fit on the disk.

[BailJumper]

We have a Sony hard drive camcorder. I really like it! You simply plug it into your computer and it treats the movie like a regular file you just drag and drop. Plus, no more buying tapes or worrying about getting dirty recording heads from dust going into the tape carriage. The best part is you can tape all you want and then go back and remove scenes from the HD before dubbing the movie to your computer, VHS tapes or DVD's. I really think these will replace all cassettes.

My dad had the DVD model. Didn't like it at all. The DVDs are pricey and only hold about 30-minutes on HQ. Plus, they don't always play on all DVD players.

[SoonerDave]

Well, I'm one of those archaic Hi 8 guys, but it still works.

My next camcorder purchase, whenever it happens, will be an HD version...though I doubt it will be the $1,499 hard drive version Sony has out there right now.

-soonerdave

[BailJumper]

I bought a 60GB Sony HD camcorder for about $600 online. Be sure and buy the extended warranty if available. I still do not completely trust the technology yet.

[jbrown84]

We have a Sony hard drive camcorder. I really like it! You simply plug it into your computer and it treats the movie like a regular file you just drag and drop. Plus, no more buying tapes or worrying about getting dirty recording heads from dust going into the tape carriage. The best part is you can tape all you want and then go back and remove scenes from the HD before dubbing the movie to your computer, VHS tapes or DVD's. I really think these will replace all cassettes.

That's really your best bet. Professional video cameras have all gone tapeless.

[ultimatesooner]

I bought the gf a 30GB Sony HDD camera for Xmas. She seems to like it so far and its nice not to have to worry about having blank tapes, dvd's, etc

[SoonerDave]

So, when hard-drive based high-def camcorders hit the market en masse, will we all be talking about Sony's HD HD camcorders ? Will THAT be confusing, or what?

-soonerdave