Nikos Mom
I want a video camera that sends video directly to Youtube, can zoom, video at night and has some form of stabilization. What would you recommend?
Answer
Consumer level HD camcorders have 3 problems. 1) Blurry, fuzzy, out of focus areas closely around people in videos taken by consumer level HD camcorders. 2) Any movement, even a wave or lifting an arm, while in front of a recording consumer level HD camcorder, results in screen ghosts and artifacts being left on the video track, following the movement. Makes for bad video, sports videos are unwatchable. 3) Mandatory maximum record times - 1 hour, 30 minutes, 8 minutes, 3 minutes - all times advertised as maximum record time for some consumer level HD camcorders. No event i have aver been to is that short. Either take multiple camcorders or pack up with out getting the end of the event.
With a MiniDV tape camcorder, record 60 or 90 minutes ( camcorder settings), 90 second or less to change a tape and record for 60 or 90 more and repeat till you run out of tapes.
You can get a Canon ZR960 for $250. It is a MiniDV tape camcorder, has a Mic jack.
Consumer level HD camcorders have 3 problems. 1) Blurry, fuzzy, out of focus areas closely around people in videos taken by consumer level HD camcorders. 2) Any movement, even a wave or lifting an arm, while in front of a recording consumer level HD camcorder, results in screen ghosts and artifacts being left on the video track, following the movement. Makes for bad video, sports videos are unwatchable. 3) Mandatory maximum record times - 1 hour, 30 minutes, 8 minutes, 3 minutes - all times advertised as maximum record time for some consumer level HD camcorders. No event i have aver been to is that short. Either take multiple camcorders or pack up with out getting the end of the event.
With a MiniDV tape camcorder, record 60 or 90 minutes ( camcorder settings), 90 second or less to change a tape and record for 60 or 90 more and repeat till you run out of tapes.
You can get a Canon ZR960 for $250. It is a MiniDV tape camcorder, has a Mic jack.
What is the best Hard Drive camcorder on the market?
Sandra D
I was planning on buying Sony SR47 (60 GB) hard drive camcorder, but I did not read too many good reviews on it.
($399.99)
Any suggestions??
Answer
Just to be clear - the Sony DCR-SR47 is an entry level, consumer grade, internal hard drive based camcorder. It is nowhere near "best".
Personally, I do not recommend internal hard drive based camcorders because of their known problems with vibration, loud audio, and high altitude... they can stop recording under these conditions. Flash memory and miniDV tape do not sffer from these problems. As well, HDD camcorders can be VERY challenging when the camcorder breaks and the video has not already been transferred to a computer. The removable media used by miniDV tape and flash memory can be used by other camcorders so access to the video is easier after camcorder failure.
The video file formats are the same when comparing HDD and flash memory - assuming the lenses and imaging chips are the same, the video quality from these camcorders is the same. The only difference is the storage media. Standard definition DV (used by miniDV tape based camcorders) is much less compressed and results in better video quality - again, assuming the lenses and imaging chips are the same size as the "equivalent" HDD and flash memory camcorders... MiniDV tape based camcorders require your computer to have a firewire port. HDD and flash memory camcorders use USB to copy the files - but many times those files need to be converted using a utility like MPEG StreamClip before a video editor can deal with it.
I strongly suggest you stay with miniDV tape (Sony DCR-HC62, Panasonic PV-GS320, Canon ZR960) or flash memory (Canon FS100) and skip hard disc drive camcorders. The ZR960 and FS100 have a mic jack (but no manual audio control) that other camcorders in this class do not have.
Just to be clear - the Sony DCR-SR47 is an entry level, consumer grade, internal hard drive based camcorder. It is nowhere near "best".
Personally, I do not recommend internal hard drive based camcorders because of their known problems with vibration, loud audio, and high altitude... they can stop recording under these conditions. Flash memory and miniDV tape do not sffer from these problems. As well, HDD camcorders can be VERY challenging when the camcorder breaks and the video has not already been transferred to a computer. The removable media used by miniDV tape and flash memory can be used by other camcorders so access to the video is easier after camcorder failure.
The video file formats are the same when comparing HDD and flash memory - assuming the lenses and imaging chips are the same, the video quality from these camcorders is the same. The only difference is the storage media. Standard definition DV (used by miniDV tape based camcorders) is much less compressed and results in better video quality - again, assuming the lenses and imaging chips are the same size as the "equivalent" HDD and flash memory camcorders... MiniDV tape based camcorders require your computer to have a firewire port. HDD and flash memory camcorders use USB to copy the files - but many times those files need to be converted using a utility like MPEG StreamClip before a video editor can deal with it.
I strongly suggest you stay with miniDV tape (Sony DCR-HC62, Panasonic PV-GS320, Canon ZR960) or flash memory (Canon FS100) and skip hard disc drive camcorders. The ZR960 and FS100 have a mic jack (but no manual audio control) that other camcorders in this class do not have.
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
