Which HD camcorder?

[Taxidermy Artist]

Hello

Can anyone advise me on a good HD camcoerder to buy?

[fattymcgee311]

I guess these things aren't very popular on this site

Anyways, after days of scouring forums and review sites I bought the Canon Vixia HF100 from Amazon for just under 700 dollars and it is absolutely amazing. I have never been more pleased with a camcorder in my life and the price was great. The ability to swap out the SD card makes it easier to work with and with the prices coming down on larger SD cards, you'll be able to have more storage capacity than with a fixed hard drive in no time.

One thing that you might want to consider before you buy an HD camcorder is the software to edit HD files on the computer. You have to have a pretty robust machine in order to edit them and the software can get very pricey. I had to buy Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 in order to work with the m2ts files that the Canon creates and to save them into other formats. Oh, and forget about uploading them to the web because they are HUGE files and you need a very fast internet connection (upload speed as well) in order to share them online. HD is ahead of a lot of other technology right now so you may want to consider those factors.

[CobraComander]

I just bought a Sony Handycam HDR-SR11 and love it.

[aristotles]

I just bought the Sony HDR-TG1. It's the most compact camcorder I've owned period. The maximum resolution for video is 1920X1080 which is higher than the HDV based cameras at 1440X1080 stretched.

So far I've only had a chance to play with it a little bit but I can confirm that it works great with iMovie 08 on the mac.

I lost my HDR-HC3 last summer in the trunk of a taxi that dropped me off at the Barcelona airport. Because of that experience, I wanted to find a small camera that I could carry with me easily in my pocket but still be able to shoot HD video.

I plan on shooting some footage during the day this weekend during the tallship events here in town and posting it on my .Mac sight. I'll post a link on this sight to give you guys an idea about quality.

[aristotles]

Here is a sample from my HDR-TG1. It plays back great on my PS3 from the Memory Stick with 5.1 Dolby Digital and a resolution of 1920X1080.
http://gallery.mac.com/aukkonen#100000

The sample is of course not 1080 but it gives an idea of what to expect.

[neckedness]

No camcorder can beat my Sony HDR-SR1
Too bad it is discontinued. Most people still prefer it over the newer ones.

[aristotles]

Originally Posted by neckedness

No camcorder can beat my Sony HDR-SR1
Too bad it is discontinued. Most people still prefer it over the newer ones.

How is it better than the newer models? Shouldn't the reverse be true? Anyway, I looked at the 60 and 120 GB HDD based AVCHD models but I decided to go with the TG1 because it was so small and now in my testing with just a 4GB stick, I have to say that I think my might the right choice for portability without really sacrificing any perceivable quality.

I suspect that the 8GB stick I bought to complement the 4GB one that came with it will be more than enough for each daily outing on my London visit. I would bet that I will probably have to swap batteries before the 8GB stick would run out.

[jhansla]

Originally Posted by CobraComander

I just bought a Sony Handycam HDR-SR11 and love it.

I just bought this almost a month ago of Amazon for $1139.99. This thread sparked me off to go look see if the price had changed. It is now $1019.99...so I have asked Amazon for a $120 refund.

Fantastic camcorder though. I love it

[The_Snowman]

Originally Posted by Taxidermy Artist

Hello, Can anyone advise me on a good HD camcorder to buy?

Speaking as a first time camcorder user, I did the same research as you and came up with SANYO HD1000

Absolutely a great choice for beginners although more experienced users may disagree, and they are allowed to do that

There is an updated model coming out soon, you may want to check that also - the SANYO HD1010

Review and pictures here

Uses the new Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) cards, very handy. Camera is easy to use, easy to hold, works for me..

I use SONY Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 8 for editing; it is great some short clips you can view at the Webshots link below

[plee]

I have the Sony FX1 and CX8, of course the FX1 is a great camcorder but not everybody wants to carry that around that's why I also got the smaller CX8, it's decent but in low light it's kinda noisy...

This a good site for the Sony's

http://www.sonyhdvinfo.com/

[aristotles]

Originally Posted by The_Snowman

Speaking as a first time camcorder user, I did the same research as you and came up with SANYO HD1000

Absolutely a great choice for beginners although more experienced users may disagree, and they are allowed to do that

There is an updated model coming out soon, you may want to check that also - the SANYO HD1010

Review and pictures here

Uses the new Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) cards, very handy. Camera is easy to use, easy to hold, works for me..

I use SONY Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 8 for editing; it is great some short clips you can view at the Webshots link below

Not bad but the only thing I noticed is that all of those cameras only capture sound in Stereo.

[quexos]

Originally Posted by neckedness

No camcorder can beat my Sony HDR-SR1
Too bad it is discontinued. Most people still prefer it over the newer ones.

the Sony HDR-SR12 can beat it

[Chevypower]

the sr12 is the leading consumer camcorder for this year and also beats older models including the sr1 - sanyo is a word that just should not be uttered - people need not speak such crap. I don't care if you're a beginner or enthusiast, a crap camera will always be a crap camera

[dtrush]

Went with the Sony HDR-SR12 as well. Used it a bunch at the Zoo today. Cost $1300 or so 4 months ago. Great purchase. Plenty of space 120gb to write to. Works well with PS3. Probably burns to blu-ray very well since it's AVC. Haven't got that far yet with it. Nice picture quality and battery life is decent.

[DigitalfreakNYC]

I just got a panasonic with 5.1 surround. Absolutely loving it. Light as hell...and wonderful. $499.

[quexos]

Can anyone explain what's really different between CMOS and CCD ?

[Deadset]

CCD vs. CMOS

The technologies and the markets that use them continue to mature, but the comparison is still a lot like apples vs. oranges: they can both be good for you. DALSA offers both.

Click here

[quexos]

Originally Posted by Deads3t

Click here

Very interesting article thanks.

[ObiTrentKenobi]

Originally Posted by neckedness

No camcorder can beat my Sony HDR-SR1
Too bad it is discontinued. Most people still prefer it over the newer ones.

You're silly . I prefer ANY of the JVC's over most of the Sony's. The ease of video editing the files on a pc or mac is 10 times easier. The raw files are supported in a larger variety of software. Plus at a lower cost, you're getting the exact same picture/audio/physical build qualtiy.

[rogman]

Originally Posted by Taxidermy Artist

Hello

Can anyone advise me on a good HD camcoerder to buy?

I've had my Sony SR11 for about a month. Used it for a trip to Disney World and love the video quality! Also takes awesome stills too! The convenience of doing both at the same time can't be beat. I took about 670 still images with about the 4 hours of video I took on the trip. All together I've taken about 6 hours of video and 1100 stills. The hard drive is near full now and I'm planning to buy a new PC to have the horsepower to create the hi-def DVD's. Will eventually get a BR burner too.

The Sony's performance in low light is a little hit or miss, and the autofocus could be a little better too. Overall, we've been very pleased.

The BIG downside for me is that I need to send it in for service. The touchscreen quit working and there's no way to get to most menu options w/out it. Also, I can't transfer any more files to PC (for backup) because you need the touchscreen for that too.