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.

[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.

[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.

[RClarke]

For the price? Canon HF100. You can find it for less than $700 with video quality that matches the sony's and JVC's previously mentioned in the thread. Just bought one last week I absolutely love it.

[Deadset]

We got the Canon HG10 earlier this year and have not been let down. The camera has high def recording capabilities, takes great still images, impressive zoom, great image stabilization, easy to switch between modes, and more importantly, extremely easy to use the software to make DVD's and mpg2 files.

The things I don't quite like about it, it needs bright light, although I think there's a setting for recording in dimmer settings, you have to have a power cord plugged in to connect it to the PC, the USB connection is underneath the LCD viewer, so you have to have that open when connected to a PC, and no manual focus.

Other than that, I love it. It is a Hard drive camcorder, just an FYI

CNET has a complete review here

[kurtlingle]

I bought the Canon HV20 for $675 (in March 08) and just love it. The HV30 (the newer model) is nearly the same.

It's a great camcorder and I love the 24p mode - which works great in low-light situations.

Some of my footage is stunning (on the beach - sunny days) and looks better than most OTA shows/news/ etc.

I also use Pinnacle Studio 11 plus for editing and creating Blu-ray AVCHD (on DVD). This will play in my PS3 and supposedly in most blu players. It's just a DVD with the video files in AVC. I can fit 40 min of AVCHD on a single layer DVD or 80 min on a dual layer DVD. It works/looks great.

[rogman]

Originally Posted by rogman

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.

Camera's back- Sony repaired it very quickly and free of charge under the warranty. Luckily, they didn't need to format the hard drive so I didn't lose anything! Can't wait to burn some AVCHDs!