in the market for a HD camcorder

[tru2blu707]

hello all... im in the market for a new sony HD camcorder.... can anyone give me any insights on which one they prefer? or a website where i can read some consumer reviews? i was checking out the hdr sr8 and the hdr sr5c. anyone have any of these or recommend something else?

[davidAZ]

I've done some looking myself and found that the Canon HG10 is the best one for my needs. It generally retails for near $1000, but there are some deals out there.

I ordered the HG10 about three weeks ago from a website... www.bestpricecameras.com for $380. This is a super low price, and the price seems to fluctuate there quite a bit. It is also my understanding that the sale is for the brand new camera itself, and it doesn't come with the standard extras like software and stuff.

It is my understanding that bestpricecameras.com is a rock bottom price outlet, but their customer service is real lousy. I'm generally on hold for 20min just to talk to a sales rep. I haven't been charged for the camera yet, and I'm hoping this sale comes through. My full opinions on this retailer isn't complete yet, I'm assuming that the holiday season rush is the primary reason for the extra delays.

[tru2blu707]

thanks for the reply david...i saw the hg10 retail for about 1099 at best buys. that camera is another option for me....im gonna check out the websites you mentioned as it seems they have a better deal.

[tru2blu707]

Originally Posted by davidAZ

I've done some looking myself and found that the Canon HG10 is the best one for my needs. It generally retails for near $1000, but there are some deals out there.

I ordered the HG10 about three weeks ago from a website... www.bestpricecameras.com for $380. This is a super low price, and the price seems to fluctuate there quite a bit. It is also my understanding that the sale is for the brand new camera itself, and it doesn't come with the standard extras like software and stuff.

It is my understanding that bestpricecameras.com is a rock bottom price outlet, but their customer service is real lousy. I'm generally on hold for 20min just to talk to a sales rep. I haven't been charged for the camera yet, and I'm hoping this sale comes through. My full opinions on this retailer isn't complete yet, I'm assuming that the holiday season rush is the primary reason for the extra delays.

I just ordered a sony hdr sr7 on this website. its the lowest prices ive seen anywhere. hopefully everything goes smooth and ill recieve my camcorder soon

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by tru2blu707

thanks for the reply david...i saw the hg10 retail for about 1099 at best buys. that camera is another option for me....im gonna check out the websites you mentioned as it seems they have a better deal.

Definitely take a look at the HG10... I don't own it but have used one and it's a nice camcorder. So is the SR8, though. www.camcorderindo.com is a site I like for reviews and a discussion forum for consumer and prosumer camcorders.

[ckenisell]

You guys will never see these cameras. bestpricecameras is a scam.

[ckenisell]

By the way, if you plan to do any 24P shooting with this camera, you should take a look at this review.

Switching to 24P in bright light, the color performance and apparent resolution are more or less identical to the 1080/60i. Obviously, Canon is going to tout any consumer camcorder with true 24P. In the case of the HV20, they were absolutely right to do so – the video looked beautiful and managed to side-step the staccato look of older camcorders with a “24P-like effect.”
Not so with the HG10. For whatever reason (and we have our theories), the 24P video on the HG10 looks terrible. Both panning and tilting create a very choppy movement, even when moving slowly. This is not the motion blur you might get when shooting at a slow shutter speed in 60i. It’s a stuttering, chug-chug-chug effect that absolutely kills the shot. Our best guess is that the progressive scan and output is in conflict with the AVCHD compression, which is extremely taxing on the processor. HDV is less processor-intensive, which may be why it looked so much better on the HV20. Regardless of the reason, we don’t recommend shooting in 24P unless you’re going for a special effect.

[OneBigJedi]

I just purchased a Sanyo HD1000. It uses an HDSC memory to record to, so there are very few moving parts to break. The pistol grip style is also great to shoot with, you can get a lot more angles holding camera this way. It is also very Macintosh friendly which was a big plus for me!

You should at least take a look at it. Amazon has it for $649. One 4 gig chip holds 50min of 1080i video with really great audio. An 8gig chip last 1.5 hours.

[SmilesLots]

Anytime you find a great price, check resellerratings.com. Best Price Camera has been a scam business for a long time. Sorry to be the second harbinger of bad news. I'm surprised the State of New York allows them to continue. They have several other names BTW that they do business under, so watch out.