(Request) Digital Camcorder recommendation

somano

I am looking for a recommendation for a digital camcorder.

I am planning to buy it at a bargain price from US and get my friend to bring it home in the next 3 weeks.

Any suggestions on models and/or sites to buy ?

hpp3

It realy depends on what you are looking for? Are you looking for a D.V camera? BETA camera? or Digital 8 camcorder? Most people go for DV if you are going for DV are you looking for broadcast quality? Or is it for domestic use? If you could answer the above i can certainly point you in the right direction. One word of warning about buying from the state? The camcorder will be recording in NTSC!

elmer

i ordered off these guys - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ hasn't arrived yet but i bought a pal mini dv off them

rymus

i got a sony DCRPC101 PAL mini dv camcorder while in San Francisco last year. Brilliant little doohickey, unbelieveable quality. Cost me about a grand less than Irish retail. Even now it's a good deal cheaper. It's about €1700 over here (last time I checked) and I got it for just under a grand 11 months ago.

only bad thing about it is that the microphone is on top of the unit and so picks up sound from all directions, not just whats in front of the camera. Can be a balls if youre filming in noisy places but overall it's grand. I'm getting a directional mic soon to solve that very problem.

somano

I suppose a dv? Dont know a whole heap about these things. Heres what I want it for. Domestic use using for kids birthday parties, holidays. View through TV maybe use software to make my own dvds ? I guess it would be basic enough model for about €500. Would I then have to buy a bundle of extras like power pack that can be used in Ireland ?

If it tapes in NTSC does that mean I wouldnt be able to watch it on tv ?

DaithiSurfer

You might need a good source of minidv tapes as well.
Something i've been looking for is where to get the cheapets 80 min miniDV tapes in ireland.
Anyone got any ideas?

hpp3

If you are looking at a pal dv camcorder around the 500 euro range, then your best bet is the canon mv 600i! Its very small has a nice 2.5" pull out monitor and most of all it has low lux (works well with very litlle light) I bought 10 of them recently for various different primary schools! The camera comes with editing software and all the conections you need to hook it up to the computer!
The only problem with these is that they have absolutly no manual features except for manual exposure (now for some poeple this is a good thing but for others its a bad thing). But if you only want it for birthday parties and stuff like that then its perfect, you should be able to buy it for about 300 dollars (if my memory serves me correcty).

hshortt

Guys,

Buying a video camera in America you need to be aware of the different formats.

Most of the video cameras in America will be NTSC cameras. This means, that you will be recording in NTSC which is slightly less quality than PAL. This also means that if you hook up the camera to your TV for playback, your TV would need to support NTSC playback (shouldn't be a problem on most modern TVs)

If you hook the camera to a computer via firewire and edit the video for writing to DVD, you need to either convert the streams to PAL (Pad the video, reduce quality) or write the NTSC streams to DVD. This would mean that you will need a DVD player that can play NTSC dvd's. (Now, I have not come across a DVD player that can't play NTSC DVDs) the important bit for DVD's (apart from the picture quality) is the audio stream. With PAL you can have a muxed video and audio stream in a single MPEG2 file that can be written to DVD. However, with NTSC Streams you need seperate video and audio streams as NTSC format does not support muxed streams on most DVD players.

This might be a bit too much information, but if you think about what you will actually do with the footage you shoot then you might need this.

Of course, if you buy a PAL video camera, then you don't need to worry about any of the above!

Cheerio

hpp3

hshorrt on most of the above you are absolutly right. I am unsure what you mean by "you need to either convert the streams to PAL (Pad the video, reduce quality)". You should never loose quality on MPG 2 conversion if you use the right codecs! E.G. AVID codec or Canopus Procoder! (But i suppose it costs money to have that software) Anyway this is a battle which could go on for ages To be honest like what hshorrt said if you have a pritty new t.v player and you just want to watch the material back then go for it! BUT and ther is always a but if you want to transfer what you have recorded on to a vhs - you wont be able to do it, most vhs will play ntsc but they wont record it! If you want to hook it up to the pc and transfer to DVD and if you have any file compression coverter software (thats not the right techy term for it), then you wont have a problem playing you newly created dvds back. I bet you didnt think you would be opening up a can of worms when you created this post

hshortt

Well now then, you are absolutely right. This is something that could go on for ages.

NTSC versus PAL and compatibility issues have been around since the introduction of betamax. The result however is always the same, PAL has a higher resolution than NTSC, (more lines). If you create a PAL DVD from an NTSC source, then no matter what codec you use, you will have to convert the stream.

Now in doing that, you will have very acceptable to excellent quality but you will not have PAL quality.

Anyway, I'm just being picky.

TTFN

hpp3

Yes and so am I! And if it wasnt because of the fact that myself and yourself could bore everyone else reeading this thread i will stop here But may be on another day i would still argue you on your last point

tribble

FYI - Hong Kong (as a former British colony) is PAL - Just avoid Nathan Road and you'll be fine.

(I recommend Golden Computer Centre Wan Chai)

tribble

Amigaman

I have to Say I bought a jvc grd 20 from this crowd worked out at 405 inc vat and Delievery. they have them at the mo for €376...its a good "starter" digital camera.check out
http://www.tvandvideodirect.com/product.php?xProd=163&dealtime

RicardoSmith

You can buy DV cameras from about 500 in Ireland. Don't know why you'd bother getting one out side of the Irl/UK. More hassle than its worth IMO, Panasonic seem to do some nice ones for 599.

muffen

Did you check out the German sites?
It might actually not even be that much cheaper from the states, although the dollar-rate certainly helps.

Anyways, I'd suggest taking a look at www.hificomponents.de and www.mediacheckpoint.de.
If its around the same price, I'd suggest getting it from Germany. You will get the right format (PAL), you won't have the powercord problem (US: 110V 60Hz, Europe: 230V 50Hz) and it will be easier if you have problems.

I've bought stuff from both sites (totalling well over 5000 euros), never had any problems with delivery. Had to return a component once, and that worked out well too (although I had to pay shipping).

Oh, I just had to participate in the whole PAL vs NTSC argument... PAL has better quality, but due to the higher frequency, NTSC is "smoother". You will notice this especially when watching F1 races or something else that's fast moving. They should start using PAL60 a little more - higher quality than NTSC at the same frequency,

somano

emmmm. Let me do a bit of googling and I'll come back to you. Good posting. Think I'll go off the US idea. I did notice that the Canon MV 600i mentioned is €789.99 in Ireland and £364 in UK;)

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by rorook
emmmm. Let me do a bit of googling and I'll come back to you. Good posting. Think I'll go off the US idea. I did notice that the Canon MV 600i mentioned is €789.99 in Ireland and £364 in UK;)

I thought it was cheaper than that in Ireland. Where did you see it for that price?

somano

[URL=http://]http://www.buy4now.ie/galaxy/shopping.asp?location=SD&catid=56&productid=479[/URL]

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by rorook
[URL=http://]http://www.buy4now.ie/galaxy/shopping.asp?location=SD&catid=56&productid=479[/URL]

I find that buy4now site is rarely cheapest. Argos does that one for €769. I think there were cheaper Sony ones in Peats and I thing that DID has a special on another model for less than that.

somano

I have to Say I bought a jvc grd 20 from this crowd worked out at 405 inc vat and Delievery. they have them at the mo for €376...its a good "starter" digital camera.check out

Wow £256 now.

I have waited for prices to come down before new models come out and a Canon MV650I was £349 yesterday but gone today. Gotta be quick I guess.

Sarsfield

This mightn't be the type you're looking for, but Dixons in the Jervis Centre are offering the TRV245 for €399.

It's Digital8 rather than DV and bulkier than DV. But I have one and find it very good. Steady-shot and 0lux (which works really well). I got it last time it was discounted (for €445). It's normally at least €499.

somano

Thanks I saw that myself. Prices are tumbling on all products so I may buy it here or UK. Is the Canon 650i any good anyone ?

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by rorook
Thanks I saw that myself. Prices are tumbling on all products so I may buy it here or UK. Is the Canon 650i any good anyone ?

The Canon 600i is meant to be the best of all the lower end camcorders from what I've read thus far. Was thinking of one myself. Dunno that the 650i offers over that but its lot more expensive.

viking

Picked up the Sony TRV14E at the weekend in the ESB for €599 interest-free over 12 months.

Seems to be a decent camera for my needs.

viking

PS. noticed today in the Indo an ad for a Sharp camcorder in Dunnes for €399.99. Can't see any model number though.

somano

CAn anyone recommend a shop on Tottenham Court Road for buying a camcorder, or more importantly not !