[DJ Dave]

Good morning all

I was recently pondering on whether to buy a new HD Camcorder - with the lowest price tag of £892 (Sony HC3) I decided to wait a while for the HD revolution to evolve as they are obviously very expensive and there are only a limited amount of models available on the market.

I decided to take a risk and buy a second hand DVD Camcorder on Ebay. I ended up buying a Sony DCR-DVD200E which came out 3 years ago along with the DCR-DVD100E. The DCR-DVD200E was priced at £1000 when it first came out and was mainly sold at around £750 once it had been out for a while.

I ended up paying £369 for an almost brand new one so I thought I had secured a reasonable deal.It arrived yesterday and it looks in mint condition - all the sundries are still sealed up so it's all in new condition.

Should I have spent the same budget on an alternative newer Sony DVD Camcorder?

[tony @ suffolk]

I think you've done the best thing here Dave. I've just bought a Panasonic miniDV camcorder after doing lots of research into the matter, and although a tape format might seem a bit "Old Hat", the high quality and the better editing possibilities still make it a better bet than a DVD camcorder. I'm certainly delighted with mine, and very impressed with the software you can obtain to edit with.

Enjoy!

[DJ Dave]

Hope so Tony.

The problem is that I have spent £369 on a decent DVD Camcorder which is in mint condition and did retail at £750.........

BUT

I don't see how HD camcorders are going to be much lower than £500 to purchase in say 2 years time - so maybe I was better off paying £892 now for a HD camcorder rather than £369 now and £500 later.

[redsox_mark]

Personally.. unless the ability to shoot and immediatly play on a DVD player is important to you, I would either bite the bullet and get the HC3, or get a miniDV one for the time being. You'll see lots of threads debating DVD vs. mini DV format.

Mark