Posted by Ridwan Hughes on 08/28/05 11:52

In article <des0q9$4im$1@nwrdmz03.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com>,
martin.cross8@NOSPAMHEREbtopenworld.com says...
> Looking to get a camcorder for when I get married in October. Dont really
> know a lot about them but would like one that I can use to upload the films
> onto the PC, edit and mess around with them and then burn to a DVD. I know
> they do DVD Camcorders but they looked a bit pricey so wondered if anyone
> here had a reccomendation of what type to go for ?

I'd avoid DVD camcorders, they compress the video too heavily compared
to DV of which the tapes are cheap and easily available, 5x 60min SP
/90min LP for �20 and that's Dixons prices.

A plain DV camcorder is what you'll be wanting, connect it to your PC via
firewire so you can copy the video over to your pc (no recompression
during transfer) where you can easily edit/burn to DVD with good
software. DV video needs roughly 13gb per hour of footage.

Ignore gimmicks like digital still image capture onto a memory card - the
results don't stand up to the qualty of a proper digital camera.

I have a nice almost palm-sized DV camcorder, Sony DCR-HC30E which I
specifically went for because as well as the standard firewire port it
has analogue video in/out, the extra 4 hour battery I got really helps
and the touchscreen LCD means it's easier to control than having buttons
plastered all over the place, especially useful for manual focusing and
spot metering (just press the screen where you want to focus/meter).


If you can afford it, spend a little more than you expected to, I
overspent on mine and am very happy with it, if I'd gone for a lesser
quality unit I'd probably be a bit disappointed and wishing I could
upgrade.


--
Rid

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