Camcorder

kiwichick

Hello All,

I am hoping to take advantage of the sales and buy a much longed for camcorder, all my family are in NZ and I would love to be able to send them DVD's of the grandchildren.

I dont want to spend a lot of money but equally dont want to waste the money I do spend on something that is below par.

I'm not hugely techincal but manage to get my head around most things if I have an instruction manual!

I've not used a cancorder in about 6 years and am sure that they have moved on in leaps and bounds! I would prefer to be able to connect to my laptop for editing, is that possible, do they come with USB ports? Would also love to be easy to transfer to DVD easily in order to send them to NZ.

Is anyone able to point me in the right direction please??

Huge thanks in advance,
Allison.

BillScarab

Traditionally camcorders hvae firewire ports to connect to a computer, but not all computers have firewire. A lot of modern ones do have USB however instead. Many of the modern ones record to SD cards so if you have a card reader on your PC you can also get the videos off that way.

The main questions are how much do you want to spend and do you want standard definition or high definition?

You can pick up a HD camcorder for aroudn £300, SD ar around £170 and up. There are some cheaper HD camcorders like the flip ones or the Kodak Zi8 but they're aimed more at people videoing short clips to upload to the web. They tend not to have so mny features.

[Deleted User]

I'd go for something like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-DCRSR37ES-Handycam-Camcorder-Built/dp/B001PGXA0K/ref=pd_ts_ce_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

Reduced by another £25 in the last week or so.

basmic

You will not regret buying the 'Veho VCC-002 Kuzo HD Camcorder' (link to manufacturer's website) for £99.99, with free delivery, from Play.com:- http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/11439338/Veho-VCC-002HD-Kuzo-Super-HD-1080p-Camcorder/Product.html

Here are some sample videos on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vcc-002&search_type=&aq=f

Bear in mind the above videos have been downscaled and recompressed, to suit YouTube's player requirements - so you are not seeing the full quality of the camcorder.

Before buying my Veho VCC-002, I came across a raw movie from camera on the internet - it was literally like watching a moving photograph, the quality was so good!

Anyway, it's upto you if you want to buy it or not. I can see why you'd be reluctant to buy an unheard of brand (and so was I, at first) - but check out all the reviews online, and they all tell you this is a great camera considering the price!

SnowWhiterThanWhite

Deleted_User wrote: »

I'd go for something like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-DCRSR37ES-Handycam-Camcorder-Built/dp/B001PGXA0K/ref=pd_ts_ce_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

Reduced by another £25 in the last week or so.

I bought this one last week from Comet-£199, less £30 cashback direct from SONY.

It's brilliant, no more messing around with tapes/discs, as records straight onto hard drive. Have tested it and really easy to transfer the footage onto PC and then onto Disc - There is also an easy option of just transferring straight to disc (as long as you don't want to edit anything)

It is simple to use, didn't even need to read the manual!

BillScarab

Paul_R wrote: »

You have to decide if you need HD or SD. If HD, then I'd take a close look at the Panasonic SD9 (if you can find it) and any other Pana video camera as they often have cashback deals (the bain of the USA sales ideas). Look for £300 but these are actually incrasing in value due to the high-speed optics used in them.

I was apprehensive about the SD card video quality, but it's top notch, and easy to transfer or edit.

Not sure if you'll find the SD9 now as it's been replaced by the SD10, see the second post.