OT: Digital Camcorder recommendations?

[Rav]

Hello Guys,

I'm thinking about getting a camcorder so that I can send video to the folks back home and also when I ever visit home I can take loads and bring it back with me.

I don't have any clues about camcorders, the last one I used was an old tape one that my Dad had. I don't have any pretensions of filming the next Citizen Kane, but do want reasonable quality. Huge zooms aren't important but a lot of it would be indoors so low light probably is.

Does anyone have any recommendations for one or a website I can read up. I tried a web search but virtually everything was trying to sell me something. I'd like this to be kept to below $500 as I don't think that I'll be using it all the time.

Thanks,

Rav.

 

[Shoaz]

These days you can get a really, really kickarse camera for $500. Take a stroll through Best Buy, many of them are a lot less than that.

I'd recommend a camera that uses the MiniDV digital tapes. The tapes are small, hold an hour's worth of shooting, ar easy to find and are not expensive. I have a Canon ZR200 that I like a lot, and their current models are great for less than what I paid for this one (~$300). Tons of features, no reason to go as high as $500, IMHO.

 

[itln.stln]

A good place to check out to see some reviews and really good prices is NewEgg. You probably already knew about it but I figured I would mention it since I just bought a digicam from them this week.

 

[Off Road SHO]

Costco or Wallyworld (Wallmart)

Tom

 

[Rav]

Thanks guys..

Now for a stupid question. Can I connect this to the computer to make a DVD? That would be ideal as then I could post the DVD to my Mum and Dad and they could just pop it into the DVD player.

Any websites I could read more about this?

Thanks,

Rav.

 

[yamahaSHO]

These days you can get a really, really kickarse camera for $500. Take a stroll through Best Buy, many of them are a lot less than that.

I'd recommend a camera that uses the MiniDV digital tapes. The tapes are small, hold an hour's worth of shooting, ar easy to find and are not expensive. I have a Canon ZR200 that I like a lot, and their current models are great for less than what I paid for this one (~$300). Tons of features, no reason to go as high as $500, IMHO.

I agree with Eric. I have the ZR300 and I like it a lot. I'll keep this until HD camcorders are reasonably priced, then I'll pick one of those up.

 

[Philthy]

Most (all?)camcorders will have some sort of output. My Sony has a USB and firewire (IEEE 1394) outputs along with S-video and some sort of Sony output. It was a really good camcorder when it was new, now it only qualifies as sorta good. It came with video capture/edit software, but it's pretty old/cludgy by today's standards.

Once you capture the video into your PC, you should be able to plop it onto a DVD (probably as an AVI) no problem.

If people ask me, I tend to recommend Sony camcorders, the quality is usually there and they all have a pretty standard method of operation.

 

[Shoaz]

Yeah, just look closely at whichever cameras are interesting you the most and see how their output interfaces are set up. If they have a USB 2.0 you can likely plug it directly into your 'puter, do some easy edits (like add titles, whatever), and burn it onto a DVD. If the output is firewire only then you'll need to add a Firewire card to your 'puter if it isn't a Mac.

Be careful, some of the camcorders that also do still pix will have a USB port, but it's ONLY for downloading still pix off the internal flash memory. Make sure it says that it'll download video through the USB if that's what you want. It'll likely need to be USB 2.0 on both ends to do that, but that's not that big of a deal these days.

 

[93silverbulletSH0]

http://www.cnet.com is my favorite place for electronic reviews and info.

 

[SHO2NV]

I just recently purchased a Canon camcorder that records on a mini DVD. They're playable on most DVD players. If you get the discs that are dual layer you can record on both sides, which equals an hour of recording time. I'm happy with it so far.

 

[DVJ38]

I would go to Circuit City's or Best Buy's websites and read up on the products. They also have customer reviews about the products too. Always good to know what regular people think about the products. You'll have to help AZSHOCLUB film some racing videos and exhaust videos now!