digital video camera suggestions

[Jon Brakel]

I'm looking for a digital video camera and am soliciting suggestions. I'd like to use a non-tape option like a hard disk drive. This will be used for the USWDGC and other local events. I'd like to keep the budget around the $500 - 700 range.

[white_rhino]

My personal opinion on this is to buy a cheap mini DV tape based one for now until a couple of years down the road when solid state recorable camcorders become available.  Hard drive based camcorders are out there but the moving parts of a hard drive scare me for datat loss, plus its a LOT more expensive to fix should something go wrong.  Unfortunately we are not quite there for a good tapeless camcorder.

Personal opinion of course

[white_rhino]

If your gonna get one though I'de get the JVC Everio GZMC200 because it uses 4GB removable micro drives, so unlimited storage, easy computer transfer, small package.  You can get them cheaper than list at amazon.com in the new and used section.  **Not so good in lower light situations**

[white_rhino]

1 more thing, if you go with the microdrive one get a replacement plan for the microdrive, just in case though they are usually pretty stable.

[Jon Brakel]

I appreciate the suggestions and the warning about the HDD models. Solid state is the way to go but I'm not going to use tapes in the mean time. The 1.8" drives that the HDD camcorders use are the same ones used in mp3 players and ipods. They were engineered for mobile use. I think affordable solid state memory camcorders are still a couple of years away and if I get 2 years of use out of this one I'll be satisfied. Plus at $149, a replacement 1.8" drive would be a pretty cheap DIY repair project! 

[white_rhino]

Tru, DIY it anit to bad

[Mike Clark]

From what I have been reading the video quality of the hard drive camcorders is pretty shabby at this point. Your best video quality is on the Mini DV tape format. This has nothing to do with the Hard drives or anything else. It has to do with companies trying to hit a pricing point and they have sacrificed video quality for the convienice of the hard drive. Sony has a better video quality than JVC at this point. But from all reports I have read it still leaves alot to be desired. If this is for rebroadcast on the internet it may not matter all that much. Since video quality over the internet is not that good to begin with unless you are going to have massive bandwith.

Take a look at http://www.camcorderinfo.com/. They have some good info and reviews.

[Jon Brakel]

Mike, that's a nice site, thanks for the link. It looks like the video quality of the hard disc drive models varies from sucks absolutely to is almost OK. Good to know. It would be good to not have to use tapes, but I'm going to have to give this some more consideration.

[discmonkey]

I sell this stuff for a living.  Stay away from the hd cams.  Several reasons.  Never buy first gen technology.  Most of these companies have only their first gen stuff out.  Too many bugs and not enough features.  What if you need more room than the hd allows?  Unless you're bringing your laptop with you, or getting to a computer regularly, this can be a big problem.  In the end, minidv is the only way to go.  Best picture quality, great price points, tons of features, proven technology, and you can buy tapes anywhere.  I'm not sure of the reason you really want an hd cam, but if it is that important, wait a year to buy.  Whatever you decide, email me or pm me with the model you've picked and if we carry it at work, I'll check pricing for you (I have some flexibility in that area).

[Jon Brakel]

I just don't want to deal with the tapes. It's the same reason that I have a 1GB microdrive in my digital camera. I can take 400+ pictures, which is about 1 days worth of shooting and about how long the battery lasts, and I don't have to change media or remember what media I've used or where it is, etc.

Most of the video cameras seem to have a battery that lasts an hour or two. The small hard disc drive camcorders have enough room on the hard drive for 4 hours at their highest quality, and I can download to my laptop more often than I can charge the camera.

However, I appreciate the advice and the offer to price check for me. I may wind up going to minidv just to get a better picture for less money. I'll let you know once I settle on a model. Thanks!

[Abelardo Arenas]

I have an JVC Everio MG70 ( 30GB hard drive camcorder). I'll be using it to record the Aurora tournament, by the way.

It records up to 7 hours on DVD quality, or up to 37 hours on economy mode. In taping a local league night, the zoom worked fine for staying at the tee box, and zooming in for some putts (up to 300 feet away). It has a 10x optical zoom, but the digital zoom can go up to 400x.

So far, it has worked really well. discmonkey was right about first generation technology, however. I couldn't find a working 5 hour battery for half a year (because JVC wasn't done designing one that worked in this camera). I bought my Everio last summer a few months before it was released in the USA. So I paid $1,000 for it. But they are a lot less expensive now. And the batteries are now available at less than for half the price I paid for mine.

But that's the only problem I've had with it. The picture is decent. The software which comes with it is pretty good. And it also stores up to 10,000 digital pictures (and the manual says it still has room for video). But the photo resolution is only 2 meg.

So if you can find one for a decent price on Ebay, give it a try. I've had mine for over a year, and it hasn't given me any problems.