[Northtim]

I am about to take the plunge with one of these cameras. Mainly drawn to them by the good name and also I want to passthrough feature to transfer my old Hi8 tapes.

The nad points I have noted are:

Sony - Poor low light performance

Canon - Motor noise

As all features seem similar aside can any owners of the above cameras comment. Read quite a bit from searching this site on the Sony, not a lot on the canon, prob as it is newer?

[laser]

I have a HC42E.

You can download some sample footage from here:

http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/hc...en_footage.mpg
http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/sa...en_footage.mpg

It may help you make up you mind, either way.

[toadoftoadhall]

Hi, I had been looking for a '42 for a month, and got let down by a comp that said they had one in stock. Grab it if you can. Its been discontinued and can be had at a reduced price, if available. I found one after i bought the canon at the Sony centre in Worcester reduced, cant remember the price tho.

I ended up buying a canon, and it does indeed suffer from motor noise. Mine is the MVX300i

All cameras are pretty dire in the low light department, dont let that put you off.

How much is the 42 btw?

toad

[Northtim]

HC42 is not much available anymore but have seen a couple of places for around £300.

Canon is £265-270.

Is it the MV960 that you got? (edit - oohps see it was MVX300i!)

Really need to get a camera in the next couple of weeks but don't think I will find any detailed Canon reviews in that time as it seems to be new out.

[Northtim]

I am probably going for the Canon MV960, seems good value for money and Sony HC42 is scarce now. HC96 is I think the only Sony alternative with AV in for my Hi8 tape conversions but its a lot more money!

Do I need to look for a special cable for the AV passthrough, or is it just Red/Yellow/White cables?

Thanks

[toadoftoadhall]

the cable will probably come with the camera. On mine it is a 3 phono ( red white and yellow) to a mini jack plug. But some cameras come with s-video input which is better.

Just done a conversion with my canon and the quality is brilliant, and dead easy to do, apart from having to record to tape first. i didnt know about disabling the software camera control ( see my post about av in probs )


toad

[Northtim]

Cheers for the help Toad.

MV960 on its way via Amazon for £258. Much cheaper than the Sony's and hopefully at least as good quality.