[P-P-S-S]

I am looking to get a HD camcorder but am not clued up on how the technology has developed so far. I have done some research and am a bit confused about the prices as well. I mean you can get expensive ones like the Sony HDR TG7VE for £600+ and you can get the likes of Sanyo VPC CG10 and Samsung U10 for £100+. Is there major differences between these models? Is there anything i should look for when buying a HD camcorder?

[glesgaguyav]

Originally Posted by P-P-S-S

I am looking to get a HD camcorder but am not clued up on how the technology has developed so far. I have done some research and am a bit confused about the prices as well. I mean you can get expensive ones like the Sony HDR TG7VE for £600+ and you can get the likes of Sanyo VPC CG10 and Samsung U10 for £100+. Is there major differences between these models? Is there anything i should look for when buying a HD camcorder?

You get what you pay for IMO, any cam can have an HD logo stuck on it but there's much more to it than that, lens quality, sensor size/quality are only two things to take into consideration.

The cheaper cam's are only good for Youtube IMHO, it depends on your final use for the video, if you require real HD high quality video, then you have to pay the price.

[P-P-S-S]

I dont intend to use it for YouTube or anything like that. It is going to be a family camcorder. Is there any specific HD camcorders that are recommended?

[chewoot]

Hi, budget is the driver followed closely by what you want it for. If you will be using in daylight outside then most cameras will do the job well. Indoors and low light is a seperate matter though, i have a panny hs300 and first off was dissapointed with the low light quality (let me explain), i was expecting great quality and dont get me wrong for corders out there it is one off the best sub £1000 but it is still way behind what your eye see's. I think that was the major shock.
So cutting a long answer short, daylight above £300 all good, low light and indoors the more you pay the better you get.

[glesgaguyav]

Originally Posted by P-P-S-S

I dont intend to use it for YouTube or anything like that. It is going to be a family camcorder. Is there any specific HD camcorders that are recommended?

Canon have a good reputation, all the major brands have their strengths and weaknesses.

Check the reviews here
Camcorders - Independent Camcorder Reviews, Ratings & Comparisons

[Googlefan]

Hi all,

I'm also looking for an HD camcorder but don't really know much about it. I have a few general questions.

1. How much capacity does one need to store 1 minute of HD recording? Depending on the quality settings, in-between 50MB and 150MB? in-between 3GB and 9GB for an hour?

2. How fragile are hard disks in such a piece of equipment? Drop once, game over?

3. How come the optical zoom is a lot less than with SD camcorders?

4. When using the digital zoom on an HD camcorder, are results ok? or does high def mean more problems when zooming digitally?

5. Storing downloaded recordings can only be done on Blue-Ray?

6. I have an old SD panasonic camcorder (mini DV) and probably will buy a Panasonic again. When comparing the "20" line with the "200" line, I notice a different "image sensor" (1 / 6" MOS versus 1 / 4.1" MOS x 3). This results in significantly more "effective pixels" (1.47 vs 9.15 Megapixels). I don't really understand this. An high def signal is always 1920 X 1020. Isn't 1.47megapixels too limited for high def and 9.15megapixel way too much??
Anyway, will I notice the difference on a 50 inch Pioneer Plasma?

Thanks for your time?