[gingaman]

Hi all

I noticed an earlier thread (thanks Pebble) about Apple selling off MVX25i cams cheaply but then many orders were cancelled as Apple didn't have the stock !

Well, they now have the MVX200i available for £199 (free shipping), just ordered one at the weekend and has been shipped today

If anyone fancies a reasonable above budget Canon (albeit a 2004 model) then this is a bargain I think.

Cheers

Gingaman

[carrera]

I ordered one Saturday night & it has apparently been shipped today.

Very comforting following my recent experience with online orders at Dixons.

I hope we haven't made a poor choice

[gingaman]

My MVX200i arrived this morning, very quick delivery.

I'm sure it will be better than most budget cams you could find even upto £300 but for £199 you can't beat it - even in the Canon outlet on Ebay these go for £210-£230 and they're refurbished ones.

Gingaman

[carrera]

Let me know what you think when you have had a play with it. Even if mine is delivered tomorrow I'm away from home so will have to be patient.

Can you confirm it has true 16:9 recording or does it just chop the top & bottom from the 4:3 image. I thought it had, but doubt has been thrown on that in this In Car Camcorder
thread.

[gingaman]

First impressions are very positive, feels much more solid (and expensive) than any of the previous 3 budget cams I've used (MV400i, JVC DF470, MV850i). Much better image quality than the MV850i that I have just returned as I wasn't impressed with it at all, there isn't so much grain and the auto-focus is instant, the MV850i had slow auto-focus and always seemed out of focus when used indoors with just a few lights on filming the kids but not the MVX200i

As for True 16:9 I'm not sure. When you turn it ON the image you see is indeed a little bit wider (maybe 10-15%) but the height of the image (visible pixels) is also reduced by 10-15% - is this true 16:9? I was expecting letterbox bands of black but not the number of visible pixels in height to reduce!

BTW, there's much less motor noise recorded than with the MV850i so that's another bonus also!

So far I'm very happy, for £199 it really is a bargain, have fun

[gingaman]

Thinking about this true widescreen 16:9 format, I think it is really just a half-way-house solution. To go from 4:3 (or 12:9 if you like) to true 16:9 the width should just be increased by 33% with no decrease in height, but what the MVX200i seems to give you is an increase of width by about 15% and a decrease in height of about 15% to give you 16:9 - not perfect obviously but better than just chopping 25% off the height as some camcorders seem to do to go from 4:3 to 16:9.

Hope I explained that Ok

[carrera]

I was thinking about it from a different angle, but came to a similar conclusion.

If you have a true 16:9 CCD, then if you are recording at 4:3 then you must be chopping of the left and right parts of the CCD, and only using it all when at 16:9.

If the CCD is 4:3 ratio, then when you record at 16:9 the CCD soesn't use the top or bottom parts of the CCD.

So maybe the Canon way is to have a 14:9 CCD, which chops a bit off the left & right when recording at 4:3, or bit off the top & bottom when recording at 16:9.

In other words a CCD which is not optimised for either 4:3 or 16:9.

I think I came to the same conclusion as you. Perhaps someone more knowledgable will be along in a minute. (Oh and my camcorder also arrived yesterday, it's waiting for me :-) )

[gingaman]

That sounds plausible, I hadn't really thought about it from the CCD perspective, just from what image it produces.

At least in terms of resolution you're not losing much, systems that just cut a portion off the top and bottom are effectively reducing the resolution in 16:9 mode, so I don't mind too much I'm happy.

The MV850i that I returned did have true 16:9 widescreen plus a cheap and cheerful 0.6x W/A lens attachment, but those are the only 2 things I think you could say it had over this MVX200i - I could always get a W/A lens attachment if I later decide I need one for indoor shooting.

BTW, the Widescreen mode is only an option in manual mode, not easy mode, no big deal I suppose.

Cheers

[cliveg]

Hi...I've just ordered one...hope I'm not too late!!

Just been into Jessops and had a play with the MVX300, which is similar in size and spec...quite impressed with it...hopefully the 200i will live up to expectations!...

Cheers,

Clive

[gingaman]

Clive

They are almost identical in spec but the MVX200i has the added 'i' benefit of giving you DV In (and also AV in) so you can backup your edited footage to tape again.

The MVX300 does have 18x optical zoom against 14x on the MVX200i.

Apart from that just cosmetics I guess. Cheapest MVX300 is about £290.

MVX200i is excellent value for £199

[cliveg]

Thanks Gingaman... I see they've sold out!!!...I'm being told mine is being shipped today...I flippin' hope so... , cos i've just put my old camcorder on e-Bay!!!

Cheers,

Clive

[gingaman]

Hi Clive

Yes I noticed they were now sold out - funnily enough there's a few new MVX200i cams now available on Ebay, last week there were none, I wonder where they suddenly came from

As long as your order status looks OK then I'm sure you'll get it

Cheers

Gingaman

[cliveg]

Cheers Gingaman....just had an e-mail confirming order!...

Should be shipped today hopefully...fingers crossed!

Clive

[cliveg]

Poo!!...they've just cancelled my order!

..and after they confirmed this morning...and they've taken the money from my account!

Just had a right go at 'em!!

Ah well...back to the drawing board!

Cheers

Clive

[carrera]

Oooh, sorry to hear that cliveg. They didn't last long did they ?

[gingaman]

Sorry to hear that Clive

Sounds as though Apple just had a drop-shipping arrangement with Canon (to quickly sell old stock before new models come out) so they never actually see them - my paperwork wasn't the usual Apple paperwork come to think of it.

I guess £299 elsewhere sounds expensive now - maybe the mvx300 appeals for £290, unless you already had your eyes on something non-canon.

All the best

Gingaman

[cliveg]

Cheers Gingaman...might go for a Sony 42E...more expensive, but it's what i was looking at originally.

Thanks again mate for the heads up anyway...appreciate it.

Cheers

Clive