[TheDevil2004]

I've been looking at camcorders for 5 months now and I am still no closer to making a decision. My little boy is due at the end of Feb and I was hoping to have sorted something by then.

I do not seem to find anything that is 100% suitable as they all have pros + cons - bad reviews + good reviews, I have a budget of £800 and just feel dissapointed that I do not feel 100% confident with any product.

I only need the camera for filming the family, however, I want one that is worth the money, and will still be half decent in terms of technology/format in 2 years or so time.

I'm not interested in a DVD camcorder and have actually been looking at the SONY SR1 (online anyway), I keep getting mixed reviews on this and it only makes my decision even harder. Every SONY shop I have been in don't have any on display so I cannot even see one in real life, the staff have no idea about its pros and cons and all they can show me is a picture in their catalogue, this concerns me as why don't SONY shops stock this particular model? is this going to be one of the SONY models/formats (AVCHD) that is just forgotten about, discontinued with no customer support offered in the near future?

I have an idea of dimensions after seeing the Tape based equivalent and looking at the catalogue dimensions realise that it is considerably bigger.

I have so many concerns though, will AVCHD editing software really materialise?, will it be a pain in the a**e and time consuming to edit footage? (nothing fancy just cutting out bad scenes/sections), will AVCHD be a format that will be around a long time?

I do not have a HD TV, but, agree that I will in the future and would like to have the footage in HD, in the meantime though, where will it be stored?? and how will I watch the footage that I have recorded in HD now?

I have read that I will need a Blu-Ray player in the future to watch HD (is this correct?), however, after spending a small fortune on my Denon system this is not something that I wish to purchase now or anytime soon.

I have also being looking at the Sony tape equivalent, however, the tapes only last 30 minutes (I think) which will be a pain and the format surely is a dying breed. I know it is cheaper, however, £600 is still a lot as in 12 months time they probably wont even offer this format anymore (probably will, but HDD will be more popular) and I will be stuck with an old fashioned camcorder.

I have read also that Sony and I think Panasonic are releasing new camcorders shortly, should I wait? will they be any good for me? and will they be in my price range?

Basically I wish somebody would just say, buy this one, it does this this and this, it is better than this this and this because.... and it is money well spent.

Any advice is greatly appreciated..

[senu]

Originally Posted by TheDevil2004

I've been looking at camcorders for 5 months now and I am still no closer to making a decision. My little boy is due at the end of Feb and I was hoping to have sorted something by then.

I do not seem to find anything that is 100% suitable as they all have pros + cons - bad reviews + good reviews, I have a budget of £800 and just feel dissapointed that I do not feel 100% confident with any product.

I only need the camera for filming the family, however, I want one that is worth the money, and will still be half decent in terms of technology/format in 2 years or so time.

Anything you buy now will not be out of date in 3 years time

I have so many concerns though, will AVCHD editing software really materialise?, will it be a pain in the a**e and time consuming to edit footage

I share these concerns too but there is no stopping the march of technology

........, will AVCHD be a format that will be around a long time?

Hard to say However you can buy now, store your AVCHD footage on an ext HDD and when the technology matures you still have it ( provided the HDD remains OK) You can burn to DVD as data files as a second backup

I do not have a HD TV, but, agree that I will in the future and would like to have the footage in HD, in the meantime though, where will it be stored?? and how will I watch the footage that I have recorded in HD now?

On the said HDD or optical discs for copying back to whatever format supports it

I have read that I will need a Blu-Ray player in the future to watch HD (is this correct?),

Absolutely not ,you can play off the camcorder, Stream from PC (HTPC), There is the HD DVD equivalent or use HDD based ( or network media players supporting HD) .. or..You can wait till BD becomes more mainstream

I have also being looking at the Sony tape equivalent, however, the tapes only last 30 minutes (I think) which will be a pain and the format surely is a dying breed. I know it is cheaper, however, £600 is still a lot as in 12 months time they probably wont even offer this format anymore (probably will, but HDD will be more popular) and I will be stuck with an old fashioned camcorder

.
No, tapes are one hr , and can be more
The fact that Sony Panasonic want to promote AVCHD for comsumer use may mean HDV seems a bit less popular but Sony have just released 2 new tape based HDV camcorders, Canon less than 3 months ago and Sonys Semi-Pro line-up is all tape based
Tape is not dead ,, If its dying it is doing so very very slowly. I would confidently buy another tape based HDV camcorder now kowing that its user base is very wide. editing is now more mainstream. Dv conversion is childs play. and the tapes themselves are the archive of the footage. Futhrermore any claims of AVCHD being better quality than tape HDV shoud be taken with a pinch of salt

I have read also that Sony and I think Panasonic are releasing new camcorders shortly, should I wait? will they be any good for me? and will they be in my price range?

They have.. Unless more are on the way

Basically I wish somebody would just say, buy this one, it does this this and this, it is better than this this and this because.... and it is money well spent.

Doing that would be prescriptive ....plus .its your money and budget
Like you, I love the Idea of HDD but Im rather more comfortable with HDD with SD for now .
For HD , Having had 2 tape based HDV camcorders so far I would rather stick to tape till HDD based AVCHD has matured or tape become extinct ( whichever comes first)

[redsox_mark]

Lots of (good) questions. Where to start..

If you haven't already you might want to read this thread... it is also dealing with the same debate you are (HDV for AVCHD)
Honeymoon Camcorder

Both are good. Personally I think the HDV option is probably a better one for you (I'll explain why), but it will come down to how you feel about tape. If you can't face tape as you think it is old technology then go AVCHD... but it may be a bit harder...

I have so many concerns though, will AVCHD editing software really materialise?, will it be a pain in the a**e and time consuming to edit footage? (nothing fancy just cutting out bad scenes/sections), will AVCHD be a format that will be around a long time?

The software will really materialise - Sony has said Vegas will support it this spring. It is likely to be harder (i.e. need a faster PC) than the HDV (tape) format. Will it be around a long time? Hard to tell. One thought is that it is just a stop gap until Blu-Ray based DVD cams are available. It's a new format so it's not going away anytime soon.

I do not have a HD TV, but, agree that I will in the future and would like to have the footage in HD, in the meantime though, where will it be stored?? and how will I watch the footage that I have recorded in HD now?

If you don't have a HD TV, then the way to go is to create SD DVDs for now, but also save a High Def version, which you can later re-issue (as a Blu-Ray DVD or whatever). And this is where HDV (tape) camcorders have more options. I have a HDV camcorder. What I do is:

- Shoot HDV
- Capture HDV on the computer
- Edit HDV (editing support is widely available)
- Create a SD DVD of the edited footage
- Create a HDV tape of the edited footage (for later use)

The idea being that in the future I can pull out those tapes and create a Blu-Ray DVD (or a HD-DVD).

Alternatively, with a HDV camcorder, it can output DV, which can be input into a settop DVD recorder, as an easy way to create a DVD for now. Then you can keep the original tapes... again and do something HD with them later.

Tape solves your "where do you store it" problem. You store it on tape.

With AVCHD (assuming you can edit it), you can also make SD DVDs... and do much of the same. But you have to think about how to store the HD clips (e.g. to DVD), and you can't use the DV input to a settop recorder option.

I have read that I will need a Blu-Ray player in the future to watch HD (is this correct?), however, after spending a small fortune on my Denon system this is not something that I wish to purchase now or anytime soon.

Not quite correct. Blu-Ray players are the only thing today (I know of) which play AVCHD discs. Others are creating high def DVDs on ordinary DVDs to be played on HD-DVD players. You can also play files from a PC or media player. (Playing HDV is easier... playing AVCHD needs a monster PC to play smoothly). You can always play by simply connecting the camcorder to your HD TV.

however, the tapes only last 30 minutes (I think)

No, a standard tape is 60 mins. There are also 80 minute tapes. With the SR1, in top quality mode you can shoot 4 hours. But if you are going on holiday and want to shoot more than 4 hours you have an issue unless you bring a PC. With tape you can just bring or buy more tapes.

I have read also that Sony and I think Panasonic are releasing new camcorders shortly, should I wait? will they be any good for me? and will they be in my price range?

I've posted some threads on the new models. There are 2 new HDV cams which will be in your price range (HC5 and HC7). There is no new AVCHD-HDD cam announced (the SR1 is a pretty new model anyway). There are also new AVCHD-DVD models (but you don't want DVD). Panasonic has a AVCHD cam which uses SD memory cards rather than HDD which looks interesting. Pros and cons of that of course... you will only be able to record something like 20-30 mins on a 4 GB memory card... but they will grow in size...

[senu]

Posting at the same time as Mark ( as usual)


Similar answers different delivery ( and slant)

Hope you dont find them too similar and