[Shidoishi]

Hi There,

I don't know much about camcorders...

I once brought a Fuji finepix camera on a whim and I have never looked back at the decision... it was an amazing buy.

Similarly I went out on a whim and brought a Tosh camcorder (KH80E... oops!

Stay away from the Tosh, it comes with high blood pressure for free.

I brought one yesterday from Comet, thought it was a fantastic deal... as you do.

Took it home, was very impressed with the image quality and ease of use.

Captured my daughters first birthday.

Uploaded the movie to the PC... this is where the trouble started.

It's fine when playing back on the camera's LCD screen, it's fine when playing back on the TV with the supplied leads... when playing back on the laptop, the playback was so jerky it was nausiating. Even when you copy the files from the camcorder using the supplied software, to watch them locally... no improvement.


I spent the best part of the night trying to understand what the issue was to no joy.

I though it may have been the computer? but luckily my comp is pretty powerful, so that wasn't the issue. I watch bluray movies from my HDD on a second screen while desgining in adobe on the other and I have never had an issue... so I couldn't understand what was going on here. Even tried various mp4 players... no joy.

Finally spoke to COMET and they said it may be a camcorder software issue and it's not unknown... come in for a refund or exchange - Which was very nice of them.

So, I brought the SONY DCR-SR35E and it's much better. In all honesty, the HD quality of the Tosh is almost as comparable to the non-HD technology of the Sony. Plus more record time, more features, more zoom, cheaper, more maneagable... and it fits snuggly in the liliputian case I brought from Comet for the Tosh... in which only the Tosh could fit... with no leads or accessories fitting.. mad or what!

The rave for the HD technology is understandable, but I'd wait until the technology is robust enough and common enough to not have you pulling out your hair while kindly ironing out the bugs for the manufacturers

So... stay away from the Tosh... Go with Sony or Panasonic.

If you want to spend a little extra (twice as much to be fair!), their top of the range Sony is a really nice cam with night / IR vision (for all you UFO hunters - it's a steal.)

Hope that helps... there's nothing like losing valuable footage.

Also, if you see a cam you like online and comet have the same camera, take a print out of the price and site and Comet should offer to match it.

Good hunting.