HDD cam to match my old sony?

[Akcron]

Hi Folks at the moment i have a Sony DCR HC 42E minidv camcorder. its getting a bit old now and was thinking of changing to a HDD one.
So is a HDD camcorder quality as good as my old Sony?
And what would you recommend as replacement for upto 300.00?
I am not botherd about High def at this time.
Thanks for any help

[A n d r e w]

I'll hazard a guess here (formed partly on the basis of experience, mind you!) that there's not a single hard drive or flash memory based standard definition camcorder under £300 that will rival mini DV for picture quality. The video is more compressed and the result is poorer video.

Any particular reason you're after a hard drive? You might also take a look at Canon's line of memory card based camcorders, e.g., FS200.

[Akcron]

First thanks for the reply.
Ill take a look at the Canon, so really the industry where SD is concerned is going backwards in picture quality with the SD and HDD cams then?
i thought they would be better. thanks again for the reply