Does anyone know what would be a reasonable replacement for a Sony CCD-V600E H18 camcorder which was stolen from my father's car. It was about 12 years old.

???

[redsox_mark]

Because of the age of the old camcorder it’s hard to say.. I don’t know that particular model, and details of it are hard to find. It physically looks similar to the Video 8 Sony Cam I had 14 years ago, so assume it is probably similar in quality (a bit better being Hi8).

It is somewhat “apples and oranges” to say what is a replacement model. With the exception low light performance*, I would think that even a good entry level miniDV cam would produce video as good or better than the Hi8 cam.

So then it comes down to budget, and also what features you want/need – e.g. do you want to shoot full quality in widescreen mode? Will you want to edit and output back to tape (DV-in)? Or you could go for DVD or HDD cams (see recent threads on the pros and cons of both).

If you have insurance I think the insurance company will have a hard time figuring out the value.

*low light performance: All camcorders are better with good light. Analog camcorders aren’t better at producing a quality image in “lowish” light, but they will produce an image (albeit a very grainy one) in some very low light situations, where a digital camcorder will just not be able to see much of anything. But in these conditions you are still better off with a digital camcorder with a nightshot mode (which most have).

[maxmat]

I still use a Sony V600 E , 540.000 pixel, Hi 8 , excellent performance of automatic white balance in every condition, and a near professional saturation of colours.

In my opinion the grooving technology doesn't necessarily mean you will have the same thing just improved, but instead quite different objects , with some plus, perhaps a lot of plus, and some minus too. And some problems will remain the the same, the support above all. So you always have to do a compromise. If you don't need editing , and want an easy support , the new DVD video recorders could do well. But till last year DVD didn't compare with mini DV for sharpness and saturation of colours, if the last one was your first aim.

I was asking myself what to do, when I casually read your question. It's not easy for me too. I think we should look at the middle-high consumer products.

In 1992 , when I purchased V600E, the choice was quite easier, simply because the low end products were too low, or didn't exist at all. I chose Hi 8 because I like editing, and at that time with VHS stereo over dubbing wasn't available.

Coupling V600E with the tape recorder Sony VS -1000 I own, editing is quite fast compared with digital, ( looking at the amount of hours my friends need ). VS 1000 has a joggle, so the editing is manual , somewhat as with the old films, or reel tapes for musical recordings

After a thoroughly reading of some reviews, the best followers could be the Sony HDR-HC1 if you don't care for unavailable support ( it records on hard disk) , or the Panasonic DDR- 300, at a lesser degree of colours saturation, but with an universal support, in that the last one records directly on DVD .