Video Camera Advice

[Purpleheart]

Well, my old Sony Viewcam, which served faithfully for many years recently met with a little accident, and fell off its tripod. (On to a concrete floor :( )

Things didn't look too bad at first, but when I opened it, a couple of little springs and sprockets fell out.

At this stage, it may have been salvageable in the right hands, but I decided to try and fix it.....the rest is history.

So now I am on the lookout for something new.

But what to go for ?

Things that record on tapes seem like yesterdays technology, although they are a fraction of yesterdays prices.

Mini DVDs seem ok, hard drives.....gotta be better....right !! ??

What about those ones that get advertised like 5 mp digital video camera, and they only seem to record on the little memory cards. Can they produce a full size image, or are they just suitable for posting stuff on the net.

Anyone got any advice, comments ??

Cheers - Ph.

[ian]

do you want to be able to replay your old tapes or will you get them converted to whatever format you buy now??

don't expect any new video camera to last as long as the old one (the screen on SWMBO's camera died at 2 years of age — it's not worth repairing as what cost $1800 in early 05 costs about $900 now)

what's your budget? the cheapest Cannon I know of is <$500 records onto 3" DVDs and at the price has to be considered disposable


ian

[Stu in Tokyo]

We recently got the JVC-Victor Everio GZ-MG575-B and I really like it.

http://www.jvc.com/Resources/00/00/85/36.JPG

I test drove a LOT of cameras in store, and the thing that sold me on this one was the ease of use. There is a little joystick thing to the right (in the pic) of the LCD and it is VERY easy to thumb around. Conversely, the Sony, which was a contender for my money, uses on screen touch button things, I found my fat fingers always pressing the wrong button, and this was really frustrating.

Mine has worked well for shooting the videos I put up here (linked to YouTube) and stuff like kids grad from school etc.

I really like it.

Cheers!

[ubeaut]

I have the latest Sony HDD(30GB Hard Disk Drive) and it's bloody brilliant.

Throw away the Digital tape and the cd cameras and get one of these I have tried many others and had 6 different ones over the years and this one really is the bees knees.

Not cheap but........ Have a look for yourself CLICK HERE (http://www.sony.com.au/dis/dis/catalog/product.jsp?id=HDRSR1&section=prod&term=hd+avchd)

Cheers - Neil :)

[Slavo]

Depends what you want it for. I am still partial to tape over HDD or flash memory, but when I bought my camera (Sony HDR-HC3) the jury was still out on whether the compression used to whack the footage on HHD/Flash was the goods - but it seems to be working OK and the convenience of the HDD/flash is a good selling point.

Check out the reviews on http://www.camcorderinfo.com

[Fox3]

At the risk of heresy :rolleyes:, I picked up a Cannon S2 IS which is a still camera which also does video (640x480 or 320x240 at 15 or 30 fps) and have been rather surprised at the quality.

My need was more for a decent still camera though. Video purely secondary and only because it came with it :D. Still nice that it seems to do a decent job, either that or my old 8mm and vhs camcorders were worse than I thought :(.

[bsrlee]

I recently purchased a bottom of the range Sony MioniDV camera - they still use the same batteries, you can play back your old tapes and they have USB connection to your PC so you can convert them to DVD. The new cameras only recharge thru' the camera, the separate charger is up to a couple of hundred more.

My research indicated that the MiniDV camera format is still more robust than the HDD cameras, with miniDVD coming last for recording on the run - there is not much difference if its only going to stay on a tripod, but if you are chasing kids (of all ages) the MiniDV is less likely to loose the plot.

If you have the $$, then get an HDD camera as well.

[Purpleheart]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

To answer a couple of questions.

All the footage I shot with the old "Sharp Viewcam" was subsequently recorded on to VHS tapes. I have a VHS connected to my computer, so I can capture and burn the old tapes to DVD.

Regarding a budget, I'm not going to spend $5000, but $1000 seems to get you some fairly good features for what I want to do, so I'll probably be looking at things around that mark.

Hmmm, time to get looking (and saving !) :D

Cheers - Ph.

[Landseka]

don't expect any new video camera to last as long as the old one (the screen on SWMBO's camera died at 2 years of age — it's not worth repairing as what cost $1800 in early 05 costs about $900 now)



ian

Ian, I dont know what brand your SWMBO has (had) but for interest I have a sony mini dv in which the screen died. Took it to the sony doctor & found it was a known problem & they replaced the ccd free of charge & now its like new.

Regards

Neil

[Fox3]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

All the footage I shot with the old "Sharp Viewcam" was subsequently recorded on to VHS tapes. I have a VHS connected to my computer, so I can capture and burn the old tapes to DVD.


I've done that from some of my old VHS tapes and it works pretty well but it is time consuming.

I do this under wincrap because I haven't worked it out under Linux yet :blush2:.

I have a Leadtek TV-2000XP Expert and I feed that from the VHS recorder. I use the utilities that came with that to capture edit, if necessary, and transfer to DVD. Works fine.