buying a Digital Camcorder

[kaml20]

Hello this might be a little off the topic but i think it might be relevant here. I am about to spend a lot of money on a digital camcorder which one i dont know but I do know it is going to cost a lot of money and that I want good quality equipment. I am first researching which ones are top of the market and have the most features. If there is any way anyone could help me out please reply.
I must be able to use the camcorder as a camera as well, to me equipment is as much important as the video i recieve from it. please help and thanks for your time!

[e_z out]

I love the Sony TRV - 900 to bits. It's a slightly older model but gives fantastic image quality, is very compatible in terms of device control, allows s-vhs input and feels great in the hand.

The analogue input has been extremely useful to me.

[theReal]

I'd check for analogue-in capability (however, you can unlock that function on many camcorders) and maybe pass-through capability for recording DV to HD with the camcorder as a hardware encoder. With many camcorders you have to record to tape first and then capture to HD - that's not really great. If you can pass through the signal it's much better.

[HomerJ]

Thereal,

Quote :-
"With many camcorders you have to record to tape first and then capture to HD - that's not really great" although there a few camcorders coming on the market which write direct to disc, but they are few and far at present.

This is what camcorders are all about !!!!!!
You go out into the middle of nowhere, with your "little" camcorder record video, then bring it home, where you have all your big lumps of hardware.

Anyway, you are definately right about the "analogue in" feature. These days a lot of camcorders offer this feature, it can save you over £200 in buying a dedicated Analogue to Digital converter ,if you want to record from say a TV.

Kaml20

One site I would recommend for information on the latest in DV camcorders is :- www.dvdoctor.net full of information, and a wealth of experts.


HomerJ

[theReal]

HomerJ,

that's what I meant - if you want to record from TV, but the camcorder doesn't allow to pass-through the signal to the computer, then it's almost useless as an A/D converter. Having to record to tape in this case isn't good - it exhausts the camcoreder's mechanics, you need extra time to get the video on HD and you can only record up to 90 minutes at a time.

--> Only if the camcorder can pass-through analog signals to Firewire, you can really use it as an A/D converter. If you don't want to do that anyways, it doesn't matter, of course :)

[kaml20]

in the beginning all i wanted was a digital camera so I could sell products on ebay, but then I found myself wondering why I should pay 200 bucks when a camcorder at 5 or 6 would do the job, yes thier camera function isnt probably state of the art but come on Im only talking about ebay. thanks for the link, im looking into sony's line of camcorders and of course now i think im gonna buy direct from sony its probably cheaper and I wont have to do the go around with the dept store guys. anyways im still looking for the perfect one and hopefully I will get it. ( my brother also wants to make his car videos in which the passenger is out the sunroof or holding the camcorder out the car ) another reason for high tech camcorder (a stupid reason but hey) thanks alot, im still looking and if anyone has one they like please post. im looking at the trv series
once again thanks e_z out theReal and HomerJ

[kaml20]

TRV900 is a little expensive huh? anything for about 400-700 dollars that is capable of something like that?