[Gojira]

My 12 year old 8mm Sony has recently bitten the dust and so I am in the market for a new camcorder.

The 2 that have caught my eye are:

Canon mvr600i

&

JCV GDR50


Both appear to be much of a sameness & I wondered if any owners could give me some feedback please.

Also, I will need a firewire card & cable. Are they all of the same quality? I have seen a card & cable for £15 inc online. Is this a false economy?

Thanks as always!

I've just taken a Canon MV630i back for a refund. There is just too much noise in the audio. The mic picks up the tape motor really well, so anything quiet (like someone talking on the other side of the room) can't be heard clearly. I'd avoid any of the Canon 600 series.

Hi, just wanted to agree with peachfuzz

The canon 600 series have a massive problem with noise... there have been several letters in camuser about it.

In fact, Canon seems to have recognised the problem... the new 700 series out this year has 'apparently' fixed the problem (again according to a news piece in camuser this month)

By the way... dont cut corners with your firewire card... it certainly is false economy.

Get something decent like a soundblaster.

Picking up on the cancn thread of things,

Canon have indeed recognised the problem and the 600 series has recently been discontinued, the 700 is out now so hopefully that should have superior sound quality. However I think the 700 is DV out only, dont know whether thats important to you or not, but the 700i will be in/out and is out soonish.

I would give the Canon a go, as they have a belting optical zoom.

[den9112]

i had a canon 550i purchased last year i wish i never bought it i got all the free gear with it , image maker software fire wire card and cable one extremley large carry case one battery and tape ipaid over £600 . the still images were a waste of time and in any dull conditions the picture was grainy , usuall mic and motor problems this is only a my personal opinion on this model . i have since purchased a sony trv 14 (having sold the canon in loot for a great loss }i have now got aprox 8 hours of footage captured edited and burned and what a great camcorder this is for £350 .

It may well be worth looking into the Sonys there are some smashing models available in the £400 region, will post some reccomendations tomo after work. And u cant go wrong with the lenses in the Sony, however I stand by my Canon beats JVC point of view.

matiano, you're right, IF canon's claim that they've fixed the horrible problems with the old series then it'll be a great budget cam... the op zoom as you say is stunning... which makes me wonder... if canon can do it for £500... what's stopping all the manufacturers from doing the same? The digital zooms are a waste of time and yet most stop at 10x... why?

I couldnt tell you why, but you are spot on none of its competitors come close zoom wise. Canons can offer a 22x optical zoom, the best competitor I think is JVC that offers a 16x optical. Sonys/Panasonics, never seem to exceed 10x. I really dont know the reasoning behind it.

which JVC has a 16x optical zoom? I spent £900 on a JVC DV3000 and only got 10x... what a swizz!

Sorry Gojira, we're digressing... the budget panasonics have a good reputation... have a play with a few in dixons (or somewhere else)... you get what you pay for, and in the budget line it becomes a matter of preference... go to the camcorder user website... they've got some good reviews on there... or buy one of the mags... they're normally pretty close

The Dx25, DX75, and D70 all have 16x as far as I know, and are all around the £500 mark. A swizz indeed!

Have u come to any conclusions Gojira?

[Gojira]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I have (having spoken to a satisfied owner) opted for the Canon MV600i.

I picked one up from DV Electronics @ £330 inc delivery (which took 48 hrs! Excellent!)

I have to say I am most impressed with both the camera quality & the anologue>digital convertor.