Recommend me a camcorder

[DavePage]

Apologies in advance for this thread - this question probably crops up in threads time and time again.

We are off on our Holidays soon to Florida, so I want to get a camcorder for the trip. We are going for 3 weeks so a hard disc camcorder probably makes more sense.

My initial browsing about has put me onto a JVC MG630, which has a 60Gb Hard Drive and HDMI Output for upscaling also which is a nice feature for a standard definition camera. These are about £260 in Comet but have done a search on the net and found one (in Red) for under £210 delivered.

Anybody have any other recommendations, or opinions on the JVC? I did have a look at the 120Gb version in Costco but cheapest I have found that one is around £300 (just over £320 in Costco) and the only difference I can tell is the HDD size. I think with me looking for a good quality standard definition 60Gb HDD should be more than enough space wise.

All ideas and help much appreciated. We are going in a month so have a little bit of time to make a decision and get one.

[DavePage]

Has anyone got any suggestions?

[mmace]

what's your max budget?
is there a reason you're not considering an HD camera?

will you be editing?
if so, what's the spec of your PC (and would you consider upgrading if it's not a quad core or i7)?

[DavePage]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

MAX Budget - not really set one, but I am after value for money - dont want to be spending a fortune on one which we are going to use for our trip and then might only use quite infrequently.

I was looking at HD, but there are a few good reasons why I am kindof discounting it. Price being one of the reasons because to get a decent HD Camcorder would mean spending a lot more money than I really need to. I know the price of HD Camcorders is coming down and you can get one for around £400 but how good are the cheaper ones? I think a good quality SD Camcorder would probably be better than getting a cheap HD one for what I need it for. The other consideration with a HD one is storage as we are going away for 3 weeks so dont really want to be running out of space and certainly dont want a raft of SD Cards or to have to take a laptop to download the footage to so I can free up the space.

The JVC I have listed and been looking at seems very good for the price I have seen it on the net for. It had HDMI Output and upscaling (I know, it might be rubbish but its a nice feature on a reasonably priced camcorder).

As for editing - very unlikely I will be doing much to be honest. I am after something purely to use on our holiday, and then from time to time (and future holidays) afterwards. Not going to be shooting any masterpieces or doing major editing

[DavePage]

To throw another one into the mix, just been looking again and for an extra £65 on the best price I have found I can get the JVC GZHD10 which is a High Def one (just been looking on You Tube at reviews and it looks good, but its misleading because its not fully HD because its 1080i not 1080p).

Only concern is its only a 40Gb one which claims to do over 20 hours High Def footage which should be OK for our 3 week trip, but thats probably at a low quality so probably a fair bit less on a normal or high quality setting.

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by DavePage

. . . (just been looking on You Tube at reviews and it looks good, but its misleading because its not fully HD because its 1080i not 1080p). . .

Nothing misleading about that. "Full HD" is marketing clap-trap that means nothing. 1080i and 1080p are both full HD resolution.

[DavePage]

I would have thought 1080i wouldn't technically class as Full HD because its not true 1920 x 1080 resolution (my thinking is HD Ready TV's are generally 720p/1080i and True/Full HD TV's are 720p/1080p). Still, the JVC HD one seems to be a good one - been thinking about it more and I could get some SD Cards for extra storage if I really need them for our holiday so its looking favourable at the minute.

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by DavePage

I would have thought 1080i wouldn't technically class as Full HD because its not true 1920 x 1080 resolution (my thinking is HD Ready TV's are generally 720p/1080i and True/Full HD TV's are 720p/1080p). Still, the JVC HD one seems to be a good one - been thinking about it more and I could get some SD Cards for extra storage if I really need them for our holiday so its looking favourable at the minute.

Having owned avchd 1920x1080 and currently solely 1440x1080 hdv cams i can assure you the 1440x1080 has as much resolution,in my case its better i get the full resolution after edit, most including myself have to convert the 1920 footage which in my case put it slightly less sharp than my 1080 hdv.

[A n d r e w]

Just to clarify, almost all consumer HD camcorders record 1080i. Some have a progressive mode. But they're still "full HD," whether they can shoot progressive video or not. The "full HD" designation is merely marketing hype (though perhaps useful in as much as it distinguishes between sets which are progressive-capable, and those which are not). But it's not part of the HD spec, which is merely a matter of resolution, not frame-rate.

As a matter of fact, in strictly acquisition terms (as opposed to playback, which is a completely separate issue), interlaced video is often preferable to progressive in scenes that involve moving objects, and the implementation of progressive video on consumer camcorders is often pretty mediocre.

Incidentally, Sony consumer camcorders typically do not offer progressive shooting modes - but you'll find they're still labelled as "full HD." It's the label that's misleading, because it's vague, not the claim that 1080i camcorders are full HD - if you see what I mean.

[DavePage]

Cheers for the updates guys.

I think I will get the JVC HD10 one - certainly not top of the shop in terms of what it can do, but for £300 can I really quibble for what on the face of it seems a very capable HD Camcorder. I am going to read a few more reviews when I get time just to make sure - oh, and if I do get some MicroSD cards just in case I need more space

[DavePage]

Ive ordered a HD-10 now It more than fits our needs for the holiday and was cheap for a Hard Disk HD Camcorder at £300. Plus there is an offer on at JVC which might give me £50 cashback too.