Which Sony DCR-HCxx?

[o27]

Hi.

I need to buy a DV camcorder ASAP as i became daddy 4 days ago. I´ve been looking at the Sony DV DCR-HCxx series as it´s just going to be point-n-shoot - so that the missus also can use it

So could someone explain to me what the difference is between the cheapest 3 sony models:

DCR-HC17E
DCR-HC19E
DCR-HC22E

I´m leaning towards the 19E but is there any difference according to the 17E?

I know the 22E offers a docking/Handycam station - but does that offer any real advantes opposed to no docking station? I mean is it only useful in order to make the connections easier?

I can get the 17E in a shop around the corner for the same price as the 19E online - only differences is 1-2 days shipping via online store - is the 19E worth that?

Hope you can guide me a little as it´s my first camcorder ever!

[o27]

could use a little quick info/help here guys

[MarkE19]

Well I've just had a look at the Sony Camcorder web site here and only the 19 & 22 are listed, not the 17. Full specs of both of them are listed, but I think the main difference is that the 22 has DV-in which lets you copy video back from a PC via firewire to a new DV tape for archiving. the 19 only has DV-out.

Mark.

[o27]

well i wont be needing the DV in - so if the docking station doesnt offer much of an advantage I probably go for the 19E

[shovon]

Hi O27

I am looking at getting the Sony HC19 too. I see from what Camcorder magazine that it won the Editors Gold Award for best value cam under £250.

The review didn't have a bad thing to say about it and said that even if the cam was priced at nearer £400 that it would still be worth it!

It has I-link DV out (although the firewire cable isn't supplied) its got a USB connection, Widescreen filming ability and a good Carl Zeiss lense. Super steady shot and night filming mode. Review said the colours and quality of the filming were great for the price. Looks easy to operate too.

Best of all, i've found it at Argos selling for £199.99 special offer. That's at least £30 cheaper than any other competitors including online sellers! Also Argos are doing a deal were you can purchase 5 X Sony Mini DV premier tapes for half price thats £10 down from £19.99 when you buy this cam.

If you want one I suggest you reserve one pretty quickly as they're selling fast!

Good Luck.

[o27]

Nice sounds likes it a good choice then - I´m glad to hear as i ordered one earlier this afternoon

Hehe i live in Denmark so i had to pay 280punds for the cam. - unfortunately not many UK resellers are willing to ship abroad.

That review you´re talking about is that a online article? if so i could really use a linky as it would be nice with some reading about my upcoming cam

You mention it has 16:9 widescreen capabilities, so i guess this is not full widescreen capturing? I´m gonna view my stuff on my LE-32R51b so it would definately be nice if the 19E had true widescreen capabilities.

Hopefully i´ll get it tomorrw.

[shovon]

Ok, I have been doing some further research.

Apparently there is the HC19 and the HC19E whch is the later updated model.

Supposedly HC19E does add a widescreen capability in that it uses less of the CCD to produce the widescreen 16:9 look, this in turn reduces the quality of the picture so it is not as good as filming in the the default 4:3. It does not appear to be 'True Widescreen' in other words. Another thing you will notice is that the LCD on the cam is not a widescreen LCD so you will see a letterbox type screen while filming if you choose to record in 16:9 widescreen format.

The review I saw was in 'What Camcorder'. I do not know if that is available where you are. I cannot find any online reproductions of the article.

So it remains for me to see if Argos are doing the HC19E for £199.99 or the older HC19. I hope it is the former as they don't give enough detail in their description.

Let me know how you get on with your cam o27 by adding to this thread

[o27]

sure will do so when i get my hands around it - and it´s the 19E model i´ve ordered.

Now i just need some good fast software for editing and burning

Man this project seems to get more and more complicated - just as i thougth finding the right cam would do the trick i find a lot of threads in here about converting, editing and burning to dvd´s etc.

Seems like i have some long readings ahead!

So far it seems that the best/fastest way to produce a good quality dvd is by using Canupus ProCoder ver. 2 for converting .AVI to MPEG2 and then TMPEnc DVD Author 1.6 for converting the MPEG2 to dvd and using Movie Maker or Nero Vision Express to capture the raw .AVI files to the PC - is that somewhat correct?

[MarkE19]

If ultimate quality is what you are after then you can go the way you describe to create a DVD. However for somebody just starting out with editing it is a long winded & complicate way to do it. IMO you would be much better just getting an all-in-one program to do everything, and the results are still very good. As you seem happy enough to use the search on the forum I'll save the wear & tear on my fingers & keyboard and let you find the programs recommended by myself and others on here. Most of them do everything, or you could use the free Movie Maker 2 to do the capture & editing and get a separate program to create the DVD, such as Ulead DVD Movie Factory or Nero etc.

Mark.

ps, shovon - the nameing of Sony camcorders with an 'E' at the end just means that the model is specifically designed to be sold in Europe. Many retailers just advertise their cams without the 'E' stated in the model number, but as long as it is a UK based company (which Argos obviously is) the camcorder should be the HC19E

[o27]

Ok then i´ll probably just start out with one of the all-in-one programs. Sorry if this means a little wearing of your precious hands Mark But I would appreciate if you could tip me of in the right direction, considering a one-in-all software - as there´s simply just too many programs discussed in here.

But after reading several of your post, it seems that you might know just a tad more about the good software, than i do atm

[MarkE19]

Beer tokens tend to make the pain in my fingers more bearable

OK then, the favourites are:
Adobe Premiere Elements
Sony Vegus Studio

and then:
Ulead Video Studio
Pinnacle Studio (as long as you can get it stable, many can't!)

There are as you say many others and I'm sure users will be on here recommending what they use. The best way is to download the free 30 day trial that AFAIK are available for all of them, and see which one(s) you like best. They all cost around £40 so your best bet is to see which offer the best & easiest workflow for you.

Good luck,
Mark.

[shovon]

Thanks for your suggestions Mark and I stand corrected about the 'E' addage.

Got the Cam from Argos today and it has a widescreen mode ( I know this is not the true widescreen feature as such but it looks OK on my widescreen TV). Was I kind of right about the the fact that in order to produce this fake widescreen that the CCD records at a level of less quality?

I will probably experiment with Windows Movie Maker 2 first and see what i can produce. Am I right in thinking that WMM2 doesn't allow DVD production as standard and there are no plugins available to enable this?

One last thing, what are your thoughts on bags for this cam? I looked at one of the official Sony bags you can get for little DV cams but it doesn't seem that special and comes with another battery and its £79 so a little too expensive for me. If I am going to get a bag I would like a good quality one with padding and a soft lining like a Lowepro 'Edit 100' perhaps. But it also needs to be compact with maybe space for a spare tape thats all. I don't want something that will defeat the whole object of getting a palm sized cam.

[MarkE19]

Originally Posted by shovon

Thanks for your suggestions Mark and I stand corrected about the 'E' addage.

Don't worry, it confuses a lot of people and the question of what it is there for gets asked from time to time.

Originally Posted by shovon

Got the Cam from Argos today and it has a widescreen mode ( I know this is not the true widescreen feature as such but it looks OK on my widescreen TV). Was I kind of right about the the fact that in order to produce this fake widescreen that the CCD records at a level of less quality?

What these cams do is mask off the top & bottom of the CCD to give the widescreen effect. This causes there to be less lines of information recorded, ie lower resolution. If it looks good to you then that is all that matters.

Originally Posted by shovon

I will probably experiment with Windows Movie Maker 2 first and see what i can produce. Am I right in thinking that WMM2 doesn't allow DVD production as standard and there are no plugins available to enable this?

No, MM2 is just a basic editing program and I'm not aware of any plugins for it. However for a freebie it is very good IMO. if you are happy with what you can do with it then just get something like Ulead DVD Movie Factory or Nero etc to create your DVD's. Full help and advice on useing MM2 can be found at www.papajohn.org

Originally Posted by shovon

One last thing, what are your thoughts on bags for this cam? I looked at one of the official Sony bags you can get for little DV cams but it doesn't seem that special and comes with another battery and its £79 so a little too expensive for me. If I am going to get a bag I would like a good quality one with padding and a soft lining like a Lowepro perhaps. But it also needs to be compact with maybe space for a spare tape thats all. I don't want something that will defeat the whole object of getting a palm sized cam.

Official bags are always OTT in price IMO. What I always do when I have new equipment that needs a bag is go along to Jessops or any other camera shop and put the camcorder in a few bags and see what works best. Often the official bags end up holding the cam but leave little or no room for the charger, spare battery and tapes, which is no good for me.

Mark.

[shovon]

Again thanks for your answers Mark, much appreciated!

[setmac]

Have read all your comments.
I'm off to Argos tommorrow.
Dare i suggest. The best basic editing is to get an apple mac and use imovie. With regard to exporting back (after editing) to your camera. You should be able to buy a gadget from Jessops or similar that alters the software of your camcorder to accept back on to tape. Always good to keep a master.
I have what is now a dated Sony DCR-TRV10e and purchased this gadget over 5yrs ago and have never had a problem.