[RICARDOMINSKI]

Really sorry ,just started looking on this forum last few days (spent about five months at the LCD tv forum before buying one two weeks ago) and am desperate for some advice. I am being being nagged by the wife to buy a camcorder before Christmas to shoot some footage of her new nephew. Am looking to get a miniDV camcorder around the £200 (or cheaper !?) mark and advice or comments would be much appreciated as after looking at models/features my head is buzzing! Please help!

[redsox_mark]

For that budget I recommend the Canon MV890/930/960 range.

Quality-wise they are all more or less the same. The 890 is the cheapest, and has a microphone input (so you can use an external mic). The 930 loses the mic input, but gains a memory card slot and the ability to take stills on it. The 960 is like the 930 but adds DV and AV input.

(DV input allows you to save editied productions back out to tape. AV input allows you to convert from analogue sources to digitial, e.g. a VHS tape, or to use an external "bullet cam").

[Intenso]

Or even the Canon MV901 from Curry's for £179 similar to the MV890 but slightly higher speck eg zoom. It also comes with a free copy of Pinnacle Studio 10SE.

[redsox_mark]

Agree - the MV901 is like the MV890 with a larger zoom. Seems only available at DSG retailers (Dixons/Currys/PC World). Also a good choice.

[RICARDOMINSKI]

Sorry to be a pain but if I decided to go for a DVD camcorder would the HITACHI DZBX35EUK Digital Camcorder on offer from Currys be any good? Which one would you choose from this or the Canon MiniDV mentioned above? Any comments greatfully received!

[redsox_mark]

I don't recommend the HITACHI DVD camcorder. If you want to go DVD you really need to spend more and get something like the Sony DVD205.

As for the Canon models, it depends on what you need. If you don't need stills or DV/AV in, then the MV890 or MV901.