Camcorders

[totaltrials]

I've looked at some of the recent topics on here about camcorders but not much help come of them.

If you can answer any of the questions or have any input, especially experience that would be great.

I'm after a new camera, theres a few choices i'm interested in, but I don't know what would be best, I've read a load of reviews and tried finding info about the formats and benefits but there's never a clear answer. So I'm looking at:

High definition camcorders, but what format?

AVCHD or HDV? from what I can understand, avchd saves to mpeg 4 rather than mpeg 2 like hdv, so it's better quality.

But, are these formats easy to download to my computer? Easy to edit? Do you have to upload one big file or can you capture certain parts like you would with a tape.

Secondly, this brings me onto the type of method of saving the video.

Hard drive, Flash memory card, or Mini dv.

With Hard drives, I'd like to know about capturing and editing really. Whether it's similar to a tape, is it better, any benefits over a tape?

Flash memory card cams in avchd seem to be the next big thing, but why? Surely a hard drive is better than 4-8gb memory card.

I'm looking at Panasonic and especially Canon camcorders as they seem to have the best reviews and are well priced.

I'm Don't want to spend more than £500 but I'd feel better off at around £400. This ebay shop seems to be knocking out cams pretty cheap:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/electronic-king-i...9QQftidZ2QQtZkm

And lastly, is it worth forking out in high definition when I can buy an sd camcorder for pretty cheap these days, even with 3 cdds.

Thanks for any help.

Edited July 29, 2008 by totaltrials

[JD™]

I can't help you with much, but the harddrive vs flash drive bit will literally be because flash memory is solid state (no moving parts) and so isn't liable to f**king up when the camera shakes like a hard drive can be. Access times are generally quicker too.

In regards to HD or not HD, my personal vote goes with not yet. The camera quality that was out a few years ago that was top notch then is generally still better than the cheap HD stuff, so why bother until it gets a bit cheaper still?

[manuel]

I would say Flash >> miniDV >> HardDrive ... purely for the lack of moving parts

At the moment AVCHD is "ok" to edit on a mac and pretty poor on a PC - you basically have to transcode, which macs just do with FCpro. There are a couple of pc programs that can do it but premier has no support for AVCHD.

Which is annoying - as AVCHD cameras seem pretty stonking value - and Im a premier user ....

[totaltrials]

I can't help you with much, but the harddrive vs flash drive bit will literally be because flash memory is solid state (no moving parts) and so isn't liable to f**king up when the camera shakes like a hard drive can be. Access times are generally quicker too.

In regards to HD or not HD, my personal vote goes with not yet. The camera quality that was out a few years ago that was top notch then is generally still better than the cheap HD stuff, so why bother until it gets a bit cheaper still?

So, I take it there have been problems with hard drives f**king up or breaking down? But even though flash memory cameras are reliable, is it worth it? Because a hdd camcorder has a lot more space.

I would say Flash >> miniDV >> HardDrive ... purely for the lack of moving parts

At the moment AVCHD is "ok" to edit on a mac and pretty poor on a PC - you basically have to transcode, which macs just do with FCpro. There are a couple of pc programs that can do it but premier has no support for AVCHD.

Which is annoying - as AVCHD cameras seem pretty stonking value - and Im a premier user ....

Are hdd cameras very unreliable then? Ah darn, I use premier too. So avchd is good but not so good but takes longer to edit etc? Would you say it's worth getting avchd over normal hd if I used a program that could transcode it? Or is there not much difference in quality etc?

Anybody else have any help whatsoever? Even just recommend me some good cameras you like. I'm still no closer to deciding. I might try and bug people on a camcorder forum.

Thanks.

[manuel]

So, I take it there have been problems with hard drives f**king up or breaking down? But even though flash memory cameras are reliable, is it worth it? Because a hdd camcorder has a lot more space.

Are hdd cameras very unreliable then? Ah darn, I use premier too. So avchd is good but not so good but takes longer to edit etc? Would you say it's worth getting avchd over normal hd if I used a program that could transcode it? Or is there not much difference in quality etc?

Anybody else have any help whatsoever? Even just recommend me some good cameras you like. I'm still no closer to deciding. I might try and bug people on a camcorder forum.

Thanks.

A 16GB flash card will hold waaay more than 1 battery life of recording from a camera and will be easier to transfer stuff to a pc (you can get a cheap card reader to do the job fast and easy).

Personally Iam in the same boat I need a new camera as mine just broke and I see no reason to get a standard def one...

AVCHD is a bitch - there is no two ways about it - I managed to DL some sample footage to have a play with... and in premier the only way I found to do it was to transcode to DVCPROHD (chops 1920 *1080 to like 1280*1080 in a widescreen pixel aspect) and edit that (not that ive worked out a decent export mode (couldnt get a DVCPROHD export and DivX wouldnt work from premier))

but then the mega upside is cheapness (oh and not using tapes) - Ive not seen many HDv cameras available ? and they all seem pricey... AVCHD wise you can get a panasonic SD9 for under 400 quid - which had decent reviews (but also some bad ones)

the benchmark at the moment are the canon HF10 / 100 AVCHD cameras at around 550 for the cheaper one. Ive had a little go on the HG10 hard drive versions - and they are goood.

but yeah if anyone had any wise suggestions that would be great.

[totaltrials]

A 16GB flash card will hold waaay more than 1 battery life of recording from a camera and will be easier to transfer stuff to a pc (you can get a cheap card reader to do the job fast and easy).

Personally Iam in the same boat I need a new camera as mine just broke and I see no reason to get a standard def one...

AVCHD is a bitch - there is no two ways about it - I managed to DL some sample footage to have a play with... and in premier the only way I found to do it was to transcode to DVCPROHD (chops 1920 *1080 to like 1280*1080 in a widescreen pixel aspect) and edit that (not that ive worked out a decent export mode (couldnt get a DVCPROHD export and DivX wouldnt work from premier))

but then the mega upside is cheapness (oh and not using tapes) - Ive not seen many HDv cameras available ? and they all seem pricey... AVCHD wise you can get a panasonic SD9 for under 400 quid - which had decent reviews (but also some bad ones)

the benchmark at the moment are the canon HF10 / 100 AVCHD cameras at around 550 for the cheaper one. Ive had a little go on the HG10 hard drive versions - and they are goood.

but yeah if anyone had any wise suggestions that would be great.

One thing about flash cards which i'm not sure about is; when you want to capture certain parts of the video to your computer, do you have to just save one big file? Or can you capture parts like you can using a tape (i.e like using "capture" in premiere). How does the camera save the video to the flash cards? One big file? lots of smaller files? I suppose the same would go for hard disc drives too.

The avchd sounds like a pain, but as you said they do seem like good value.

[manuel]

Every record to stop is just one file... so If you whack down you camera on a tripod and press record for an hour you get one big file ..... (i think - it may do a no filesizes bigger than XGb style split)

[that NBR dude]

The best people to talk to are the guys from Creative Video Productions. They are the UKs (maybe even the worlds) biggest camera and production compnay and if theres something they dont know, its not worth knowing. You can give them a ring on 01572 854222 or visit www.creativevideo.co.uk and drop them an email.

Even if they dont stock or sell what you are after in your price range, they can offer an immense amount of advice, which can be far more relaible than forum reviews ect. You can even book a day in their workshop, and they will let you play around with cameras to get a proper hands on experience before you shell out all your hard earned pennies on something you may not need. I'll never buy camera stuff from anywhere else now.