DVD Camcorders
 

I'm looking to buy one of these things for the holiday.

Anybody have any experience with either the Canon DC 50, or the Panasonic VDR-D310? Or even experience with other similar models in each companies product line-up?

Thanks.

When I was shopping for a video camera, I passed on the DVD units because of size. I heard, but didn't confirm, that the writing to DVD slowed down the camera and decreased battery life compared to tape, so I went with DV tape instead.

I also went for DV, as I was convinced that it had the best recording quality out of all of the camcorders in the $200-$800 range. I really wanted to get an HD, but when I saw how poor the lighting was I skipped on that too. I like the DV... with the 1394/firewire it's a pretty good setup as long as you get a half way decent machine. I got the Sony HC-48 and couldn't be happier for the price (circa $400)

SONY has a rugged HD cam, if you can stretch your budget, this will be a good choice.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665089063

Yeah, forget DVD go DV or HDV. If you want a great camera for the price, get yourself a used Sony VX 2000 on ebay. They are not HD but the picture is crystal.
Here's one...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-VX-2000-Mini-DV-3-CCD-NTSC-Video-Camcorder-16x9_W0QQitemZ190176201711QQihZ009QQcategoryZ20333QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Good luck using mpeg files for video editing. Not the greatest idea.

I just recently bought a couple of these ( http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/351515-REG/Sony_HDRFX1_HDR_FX1_HDV_1080i_Camcorder.html ) for use in an airplane. They work great in the air and the image stabilizer works like a charm. I just fooled with them a little bit on the ground but found them almost foolproof (though I am aware that nature can always design a bigger fool).

The one caution I have is that if you want to do fancy editing the 1080i format will demand pretty pricey software in Winders. I understand that the cheap-ass Mac video editor can do it pretty well but I haven't used it.

Put on an HD flat screen and the difference between 1080i and everything else is pretty evident.

I bought them from B&H and have had good support from them. Also from Sony.

B

B&H is the best store period, bought all my cameras and camcorders from there, no one can beat the prices there but in case you are shopping there personally, I suggest that you know what you wish to buy. The store is packed to the hilt most of the times and most shopping there are pros and know what they want, the sales guys won't have patience for the indecisive ones.

The iMovie tool works pretty well on the MAC but, if you're a Windows man, there's a way with the Windows Movie Maker (WMM) in XP.

Do all the taping you want. Then, later on, download the free Windows Media Encoder (WME) and install it on a machine with a big drive and use WME to encode the DV out of the camera to a wmv file (or files) on your hard drive. You'll need a Firewire converter card (we use a PCMCIA card in a laptop, I don't know what's available for a box machine...) to get the DV into the computer.

You'll need to fiddle with the encoding stream settings to optimize WME's wmv output or you either have a file that's unmanageably large or, uselssly low resolution. Then use WMM to edit the .wmv file, WMM has about the same capabilities as iMovie...prepackaged video effects, titling, etc.

Personally, I think the titling sux in both iMovie and WMM so instead, in post, I generate a still frame in Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator and output a jpeg that I dump into iMovie or WMM and transition into and out of the frame. You may also be able to do an animation in Flash and output a clip to wmv and use that as well.

I'd skip the DVD camcorders completely. They are an outgoing technology that never had much noteworthy success in the first place. Look for a DV, MiniDV or a harddrive based one instead.

Well DVD is easy to carry to different places, DVD players are in every household, so its easy to carry a DVD rather than the camera or download the movie from HDD to PC and then make a DVD. SONY has memory stick camera as well.

Picture quality of the DVD camcorders is horrible compared to mini DV. Also, you run into compatibility issues as not necessarily all players will play the burned discs.

I use a Sony video cam with tape and it works really great you can download with no problem and use several programs for editing then burn to DVD and not have to worry about compatibility problems.

Thanks for all of your replies. I'm not sold on the DVD format, so the HDD and miniDV comments are helpful.

It seems that there are enough pros and cons for all formats, makes, and models that a decision isn't going to be easy.

About the best "tip" that I can pass on is that there's no substitute for putting your hands around the camera and making sure that it fits, is balanced and you're confortable with the controls.

While I have no real problems with mine, I do find that the motorized zoom function is slightly annoying because of 1) the motor gearing zooms faster than I'd like and 2) the control is overly sensitive and not in the best position for me.