Digital camcorder, words of wisdom?

[Chipper]

Folks,
We're thinking of buying one but the range of options is a bit bewildering. Stadard definition, high def. Hard disk, tape, DVD storage, etc etc.

Anyone got thoughts on what's good to have, and what's less good?

Got up to £200ish to spend, but less would be good! Don't want it for anything too fancy, shots of the boy, hols, maybe the projects etc. So fancy features aren't important, just want a solid thing with decent quality.
I'd like to be able to edit vids fairly easily, just make clips and run them together sort of thing, my old man lives abroad and we don't see him often so sending vids would be great,
Cheers all.

 

[stormin]

We got a Sony Hard Disk camcorder a couple of years back for around £200. Was fine until just short of a year old and the hard disk went wonky.

Tip 1 always regularly back up your hard disk contents. We've lost quite a bit of footage of our youngest taking his first steps and crawling for the first time

Took it back to large chain store they sent it away for repair but came back same as. Quick word with the manager at the store and we got the original value of the camcorder against a replacement. Put about £30 extra in to get a High Def Sony Hard Disk model and what a diference. The image quality is far superior to the older normal style.

Tip 2 make sure it's High Definition (1080).

Downside is we haven't got a high def dvd player so have to convert back to normal format to play them via DVD on the telly or give as DVD's to the grand parents. Mostly we just watch them on the PC or Laptop from the hard drive which is no hassle.

Not sure how robust the hard drives are in these camcorders. I suspect our first one became damaged with a slight knock, so if your not the careful sort it may be worth buying the extended warranty. A repair will be almost as much as a new camera no doubt.

 

[M@tt]

i bought a new camcorder not too long ago for the birth (and subsequent growing up) of our son.

After some research I opted for a SD card model. The tape versions (miniDV) are a pain to transfer anything off as you have to replay the entire tape to rip it to your computer. The Hard disk ones as stormin mentioned are prone to not liking knocks so the SD card ones ticked all the boxes for me as there's less to go wrong, the media is cheap and you can instantly transfer the files to your computer/media centre for viewing/editing.

I initially made the mistake of buying a Toshiba Camileo H20 which seemed on paper to tick all the boxes (read cheap!) but in reality it was utter ****e! unless you were outside in blinding sunlight the camera wouldn't work. Inside everything came up as pitch black. Luckily i bought it from tescodirect and they gave me a full no quibble refund a couple of months later (once i finally got round to using it and found out it was pants!)

After getting some advice from some lads on my car forum as quite a few of them are into cameras and the likes for motorsport photography and track day filming i was recommended a Sanyo Xacti. I got the HD1010 model for £269 which i realise is slightly over budget but is definitely worth it. It's proper HD, the picture quality and sound are ace. It has a massive range of features and does everything i could possible want it to. I t also doubles as a 10mp (iirc) digital camera

i got it from camerabox (http://www.camerabox.co.uk/product1.asp?ProductName=Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1010&ProductID=5620) but other places such as pixmani list it as high as £441!!!
(http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/1895101/art/sanyo/xacti-hd1010-high-definit.html)

Have a search on youtube as there are quite a few camcorder review s and also examples of footage from differnet camcorders

hope that's of some use

Matt

 

[mart]

First & foremost I am no expert. I had often thought about getting a digital cam corder one day, but with no real need it was just a passive idea.

Then, Aldi had one for£120 in the “special buys” that they have on a Sunday & Wednesday. I thought I would have a punt on that, I only have a bit of interest. I was pleased when I found out it was German built. It has a removable SD card that can be slotted in Asia’s machines to take prints off. (The same facility in some photo shops on the high street).

It came with 2 batteries (one being a spare)
A 4GB SD card
Various leads for connection to the TV and PC
Mains charger
Carry case
Remote Control
BUT NO MINI TRIPOD (Had to fight them for this with the help of trading standards).

What is it like?
Outside its great. The 10 x optical zoom is very impressive-made me feel like a private detective!
Indoors in low light it’s not good-grainy footage
The most interesting bit is the ARCSOFT software bundled with the camera. You can be watching video footage on the pc and just click your mouse button at any point and there you have stills of each click. This also works when watching any commercial stuff like music vids/films etc. Just click the mouse at any point and there you have stills of anything you want to print off down at Asdas for 30p each.

It takes stills of course too, but I found the most natural shots are taken by clicking the mouse at near random moments of your video footage. You can save the files as either JPEG or BITMAP

The make is TRAVELER see link. If you don’t want to spend much, and intend taking mostly outdoor pics then I would say go for it. The software is worth having for what it can do.

http://h8349.serverkompetenz.net/htdocs_traveler/uk//hd10xi-uk/index.htm

 

[Sam]

i bought a new camcorder not too long ago for the birth (and subsequent growing up) of our son.

After some research I opted for a SD card model. The tape versions (miniDV) are a pain to transfer anything off as you have to replay the entire tape to rip it to your computer. The Hard disk ones as stormin mentioned are prone to not liking knocks so the SD card ones ticked all the boxes for me as there's less to go wrong, the media is cheap and you can instantly transfer the files to your computer/media centre for viewing/editing.

I initially made the mistake of buying a Toshiba Camileo H20 which seemed on paper to tick all the boxes (read cheap!) but in reality it was utter ****e! unless you were outside in blinding sunlight the camera wouldn't work. Inside everything came up as pitch black. Luckily i bought it from tescodirect and they gave me a full no quibble refund a couple of months later (once i finally got round to using it and found out it was pants!)

After getting some advice from some lads on my car forum as quite a few of them are into cameras and the likes for motorsport photography and track day filming i was recommended a Sanyo Xacti. I got the HD1010 model for £269 which i realise is slightly over budget but is definitely worth it. It's proper HD, the picture quality and sound are ace. It has a massive range of features and does everything i could possible want it to. I t also doubles as a 10mp (iirc) digital camera

i got it from camerabox (http://www.camerabox.co.uk/product1.asp?ProductName=Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1010&ProductID=5620) but other places such as pixmani list it as high as £441!!!
(http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/1895101/art/sanyo/xacti-hd1010-high-definit.html)

Have a search on youtube as there are quite a few camcorder review s and also examples of footage from differnet camcorders

hope that's of some use

Matt

There is one on fleabay for £219 .

 

[Chipper]

Excellent, thanks a lot guys it's all very helpful.

 

[toddy]

i would get a ssd one as well(solid state drive) as they are alot more hardy and the battreys tend to larst longer.

and on a side note i have got me JVC hdd cam for sale. if you can get it today i will sell for £80 with all leads and disc's. as tomorrow it will be going into cex for cash for the car

 

[migwig]

I got a Canon mini DVD one a couple of years ago. DVD's play straight into the home DVD player. No problems with it at all.

 

[Chipper]

Reckon I'll have to go to a shop. Reading stuff on the net, the acronyms and options are properly doing me head in... But I've got a head start thanks to the words above, so cheers all.

 

[Furry Freak]

Pop into your local Branch of John Lewis, they can sort all of the mumbo jumbo out for you. I bought one from them on Tuesday - to do just what you said that you want. Simple, basic, but good. Got a Sony Handycam for £149 with a £30 cashback from Sony!!! Very pleased so far. Excellent quality and great sound. Internal 4GB memory and slot will take Duo card which go up to 16GB at least. Image stabilizer, stills shots, low light setting. Worked it all out in 10 minutes on the touch screen.

Neat

FF

 

[GeorgeB]

I got a Canon mini DVD one a couple of years ago. DVD's play straight into the home DVD player. No problems with it at all.

Potential problems are:

- minor scratches on the DVDs, even seconds after the recording, and they may turn non-viewable, i.e. a disaster for anything important. Home baked DVDs are never as robust as movie DVDs, etc from the shops.

- the complex and fragile nature of the portable DVD recorder (camcorder) itself probably means it won't last long and is susceptible to dust, vibration and other threats.

Back up to some other media frequently!

I wouldn't touch any camcorder with moving parts, with a barge pole. Not DVD, not hard disk; none of them. I agree with others here that a solid state device which records to SD cards is the only way to go.

 

[johnakay]

is there a proper name for these sd camcorders.
tried feebay none only this and I don't like it.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sanyo-Xacti-H...ctronics_Video_Camcorders?hash=item4a9b5258e3

 

[M@tt]

try this search for camcorders with internal memory and memory cards

http://photography.shop.ebay.co.uk/..._pcats=625&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=15&_sc=1