[tsutton]

I'm still undecided to go with a budget HD Camcorder or go with the expensive route.

As we may know, there are plenty of budget HD Camcorders out there, but I am more leaning toward the Panasonic HDC-TM20 Camcorder which I can find one at £499.99 inc VAT which is on the expensive side.

What can the expensive HD Camcorder offers that a budget ones can not?

[richardstringer]

I certainly wouldn't class £499 as expensive. I'd class that price range as budget. I've got a Sony HDR-XR520VE which costs £1,050 and thats only classed as top end consumer or mid range overall, with the broadcast camcorder costing over £1,500 being at the top of the range. It all depends on how much you have to spend. When I buy something new, I always near enough skint myself for a week so I can put every penny towards getting something thats as good as I can afford. That way I know i've managed to get myself something that is truly worthy of making me excited everytime I use it, and something that is capable of making my jaw drop to a certain level when watching the recorded video on my tv. Watching my kids in high definition, with the kind of image quality that the HDR-XR520 is capable of is, well, something that, 5 years ago, I never thought i'd see.

I would have to say that, in my opinion, in the £500-£600 range,the best camcorder is probably the Canon HV30 which sells for about £600. Now thats an awesome camcorder for the price, god picture quality is totally excellent. If you're not willing to save up, or just dont wanna spend that much then there's the £400 Panasonic HDC-SD20 which is also a damn good camcorder really. Not as good as the Canon HV30 but hey its not as much money.

Have a look at these you tube videos of the camcorders and you'll see the image quality (make sure you click on the little 'HD' icon to see the highest quality) :

Canon HV30
YouTube - Canon HV30 - 50i to 25p Slow Motion test 4

Panasonic HDC-SD20
YouTube - Panasonic HDC SD20 Zoom Test In Full HD

If you want to spend even less than £400, then there's the Panasonic HDC-SD5 which sells for about £350. Here's a demo video of that one :

Panasonic HDC-SD5
YouTube - Panasonic HDC-SD5 Macro test

It all depends on how much you wanna spend, but if you care a lot about image quality then it definately pays to spend more, or at least as much as you can possibly afford. Hope this helps you. I was a little scpetical in the start of spending nearly £1,100 on my HDR-XR520, but jesus, i'm glad I did. Everytime I look at what i've recorded, I sit back and smile. When I buy something, I try and think of it as something i'll have years before replacement, so thats why I spend everything I have on each item when I buy each new item. You may be different.

[tsutton]

Thanks for the great reply!

From what I can see, Panasonic HDC-TM20 and Panasonic HDC-SD20 are the same, just that the difference is the built in flash memory.

Think I will go with the Panasonic HDC-TM20.

Cheers

[Fodda]

Originally Posted by tsutton

Thanks for the great reply!

From what I can see, Panasonic HDC-TM20 and Panasonic HDC-SD20 are the same, just that the difference is the built in flash memory.

Think I will go with the Panasonic HDC-TM20.

Cheers

You're right, the TM20 is the same as the SD20, with the inclusion of 16GB of flash memory. I was going to buy the TM20, but noticed that for the difference in price I could get a 16GB flash card and still have a lot of cash spare. Even the guy in the camera shop was surprised... I got the SD20, a 16GB flash card and little bag for £20 less than the cost of the TM20 on its own. Plus I got the free 16GB card or 3-year warranty Panny offer card too... So that's another 16GB coming at some time.

Seriously, unless you can beat the deal of the SD20 WITH 16GB card, you're wasting money on the TM20.

[tsutton]

You're right... it IS much cheaper to get the SD20 than the TM20 - thank you for pointing it out!!

Now time for me to hunt around for a good priced SD20!

[Fodda]

I got a good (haggled) price for the camera, 16GB flash and small camera bag from London Camera Exchange. Not quite as cheap as a web price, but I had great service and was able to take it then and there and use it next day when out with my grandaughter.

The SD20 is available very cheaply from QVC apparently, see the separate SD20 owners thread for latest cheap prices. Don't forget to factor in memory prices when you look at the camera price itself. And the free flash mem or 3 year warranty deal is only available if you ask for a demonstration in store of the camera according to the small print in the brochure... Although plenty of people seem to have received the offer from the QVC site.

[TallPaul]

The SD20 is due to be replaced within a week with the SD10 so there are some good deals around on it at the moment as its effectively end of life. QVC is now £360 (was £329), John lewis are £329 but only have demo models left, new SD10 looks like it will be £469 (based on Amazon).

In terms of flash recorders that use SDHC the Sony HDR-CX105e also seems quite good, very compact and £402 on Amazon.

The HV30 is supposed to be very good and is also on offer at the moment but be aware its a TAPE based recorder, using HDV format of AVHCD on tape. If your like me I would go for some form of digital recorder rather than tape, a lot less to go wrong in future.

Oh, and I found it useful to search on Vimeo.com for the cameras and see some sample videos to get an idea what they can do, they have HD videos as well.

(in case your wondering I bought a Canon HDD based camcorder, but only as Wilkinsons were doing them cheap - see other thread - same price as the SD20 and Sony 105 made it irresistible).

[961]

The quality is all in the lens. Stick to Sony, Canon and Panasonic

There's good advice in buying a model just being replaced. Makers bring out new models every 6 months or so. Often with little tweaks from the existing one. Dealers sell off the old stock at great discounts and that's where you get a great bargain