which camcorder to buy?

[azul123]

I think this thread has went overboard. The poor fellow only asked for a simple camcorder for family stuff and some of you are showing off.

No one answered his real question.

:bsmilie:

What would be a good videocam compact enough for family everyday use yet captures clear video which can add soft filters etc.. and which can have external mike that can capture clear good sound?

That might be a good start.

../azul123

 

[jaegersing]

davidhiten,

thanks for the inputs.

so in your opinion for a casual user like me, what really should be the model i should be looking at?
personally, i dont really like DV tapes because of storage purposes.
i dont like the real time transfer into PC, and i dont like to store the tapes.(i'm running out of space in my 2 dri-cabis).

thanks for reply.

Hi Jeanie. If you don't plan to edit the videos, a DVD camcorder might be a good solution for you. You can play the discs in a DVD player without having to hook up the camera to your TV every time.

Need to warn you though, that I am trying to sell a DVD camcorder so I suppose I am biased, ha ha. It's a brand new Sony DVD-808E that I won in a competition. Never used, and has full warranty. Details here:

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=327369&highlight=jaegersing

Price is negotiable. Pls PM or email me jaegersing@hotmail.com if interested.

 

[jaegersing]

- What's the budget?
- If it's just for record sake keep to HDD, it's cheaper on the long run

Yes, budget is very very important, because there are many cams available over a huge price range.

Regarding HDD cams, it depends on how you want to use it. The HDD on the cam will get filled up pretty quickly, so you need to have a means to archive the footage somewhere, and then a means to retrieve it for playback. I think HDD is better if the user wants to edit the clips into a different form and then discard the original footage. But if the preference is just to shoot and playback with no editing, tape or DVD is probably more convenient.