buying a camcorder ?

[disc-spinner]

want to buy a camcorder for hols , kids, and stuff , then to put on disc (vcd or dvd-r ) what should i look out for as there are so many features ( mp4 mp5 this and that , help please

[mustardman]

Simple answer : buy the best camera you can afford. There is a vast difference in quality as the price rises, but starts to slow down at about $3000.

I've had bad experience with JVC, so bad I ditched it and bought a Canon, and am really pleased with it. About $2500 each... I suppose that makes the cost of the Canon about 5k, ahh well, was glad to be rid of the JVC.

MM

[theReal]

I'd buy a Mini-DV camcorder in any case, no other formats like DVDs or other types of cassettes - Mini-DV is the standard and can be edited well in a lot of different programs.

You don't need fancy features like a 300x digital zoom or digital effects. What counts are the real features like a good optical zoom, good image stabilization, a good display and good handling.

Things that I cherish are also: manual white balance, manual iris control, manual focus control. If you're not experienced then you rather leave all of these in auto-mode, but as soon as you want to make more professional-looking videos you will need the manual controls (and you can only use them right if you're able to switch easily between auto and manual through a simple button and not through the menu)

You'll get the best image quality with a 3CCD camcorder but these are pretty expensive. Also the size of the CCD is important for image quality, some are 1/4" the better ones are 1/3" (AFAIK the 3CCD models are always 1/3", the biggest CCD size so far in Mini-DV prosumer models)

[dionisos]

panasonic had relased this year a 3ccd home-user camera (about 400USD on market)
they got leica lens (dicomar) and some good extras...
if i would go for a new consumer camera this would be my choice.
on other hand panasonic got one model more pro-sumer (DVX100a) that IS ideed my choice (i´m receiving one this very week) that costs about 3.1 USD... but got amazing control of luminance, chrominance, white balance, zoom and focus... etc

hope it help
ah.. almost forgot... sony just released a new model of they HDV FX1 pro, a pretty amazing machine... around 4k (non-pro model) and 6k (pro model)

[theReal]

We have the Panasonic AG DVX-100a at work, it's a very good camcorder indeed. Works almost like a pro camcorder (it's the only prosumer model with a professional manual zoom).
In most lighting situations you can hardly or not at all see a difference to our 2/3" pro camcorders. The only two things that still suck are the manual iris control and the manual focus wheel (though the manual controls are much better than with other prosumer models, like i.e. the Canon XL1S).

But hey, it plays in the pro league and it competes pretty well for its size and its prize (the pro camcorders I was comparing it to start at 25,000USD...)
I'd love to have the DVX-100A but I don't have enough money currently... :(

[dionisos]

correction:
HR-FX1 HDV sony´s camecorder is costing 3,600k US at bhphotovideo.com
for one 1080i camcorder is quite a bargain...
anyway i still prefering dvx100a
cheers

[theReal]

for one 1080i camcorder is quite a bargain...I don't really like the concept of the new HDV consumer camcorders: datarate is relatively small (same as MiniDV), the format is MPEG2 and AFAIK NOT I-frame only (very bad for editing) and it is still interlaced.
The number of lines is higher than with conventional DV, but it doesn't seem to be nearly as professional as MiniDV (because of the first two forementioned reasons
Seems to me like the typical higher-numbers-will-sell trick: label a computer "3GHz" and people will buy it no matter how crappy the rest of the machine is - here it's the "1080" label that makes forget about the downsides...

[dionisos]

100% agreed.
that's exactly why i purchase a panasonic instead of sony hdv
;)

[yg1968]

I would get a Sony DV camcorder. Be sure to get one that has the passthrough feature (sometimes called the analog to digital converter). It will allow you to use your camcorder to capture DV.

[theReal]

yg1968, the pass-through is a very good point (if there's any desire to convert analog material to digital video).
Pass-trough includes the very important feature that the DV-in is functional or can be made functional via software hacks (well, the best solution for the camera's video heads would be an extra standalone DV recorder, but that's a very expensive extra...).

I would get a Sony DV camcorderIn the highest-price-league the competitors are on the same level of quality (Panasonic, Canon, Sony) but I dunno about current lower priced consumer models. Sony is never a bad choice with camcorders, I guess.

If you're going for the up-to-4000$ league, then Sony also offers a very nice camcorder, the DSRPD170. It's a DVCAM camcorder, that means it's the same DV compression codec but with a higher tape speed. It minimizes drop-outs and makes recording very reliable although with a lower recording time of only 40 minutes per 60min tape (also the real professional reliability can usually only be achieved with DVCAM tapes which cost a lot more than normal MiniDV tapes, although they're cross-compatible)

[yg1968]

I meant for the lower end models. The quality of the 600$-1200$ Sony camcorders seem to be better than their competitors. I have no experience with the higher end models. But I think that the initial question was for basic use such as filming the kids, etc. I doubt that he has any use for the more expensive camcorder. But your explanation was more complete than mine on the passthrough feature. Thanks,

yg1968

[bsr]

I own a Sony PC101 miniDV and like it a lot.
The best thing about the Sony's is the on screen touchscreen.
Makes things alot easier once you get use to it.

Plus has a Carl Zeiss lens, :D , if that really does anything?:D

But as the other posters said, get what you can afford.
My biggest gripes are low light performance with the DV cams, as you can see someone recommended to look for in a cam above.
3CCD is suppose to be a lot better for this, but $costly$. Seen the panasonic for low cost, but haven't read the reviews about it yet.

Definatly buy a light for the cam if taping the kids inside, or if you can find one with a light built in.

Concentrate on optical zoom of at least 10x, but I think thats the minimum they offer anyway. Digital zoom is useless if you like quality.

Most of the bells and wistles that come with a cam you probably won't use for basic recording.

[dionisos]

After one year recording almost day-by-day with SOny PD170 i'm glad that i bouth DVX100a
Thanks god and kisses good bye for sonys 3ccd cams