[reddeviluk]

Hi folks, first poster here and like most people I am looking for some advice. The wife and I are travelling to New York in April for a short break and we want to be able to record as much of this trip as possible. As you would expect this will be recording outdoors, indoors and also at night (very important as we want to go up the Empire State Building at night). We are more “point and click” people with out digital camera and expect a camcorder to get the same unprofessional usage, so ease of use is important too. Have had a quick flick through a camcorder magazine and in their top 10 of under £500 camera was a JVC GR-D340, this is a miniDV? Camera, the magazine states the price is £300, but we’ve found it in our local Curry’s for £149. Would this be a wise buy?. I have spoken to a friend of our that says JVC are poor and we should stick to Sony or Canon, any thoughts on this?.

I would eventually like to joining the camcorder up to my home PC to edit and also burn the image to DVD, my PC has both firewire and USB (if this matters).

Also since we don’t go until April would we be better buying now or should we wait in case of price drops, or should we buy from the US?, are there savings to be made?. Our budget is around the £250 mark, £300 with case, tapes etc would also be considered if there is a starter pack out there worth buying.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice offered.

Cheers

RD.

[Cliff]

Sounds like a nice trip!
I would say get the camera a few weeks before you go so that you can play with it and get to know the controls and playback some of your practice shoots. That way you will get a better movie in NY.

I certainly would not advise buying a camcorder in the states as #
i) the TV system is different
ii) If there is a fault - it will not be easy/expensive
ii) Duty coming back- your wife will be using most of the allowance!

Have fun

[redsox_mark]

Nothing wrong with JVC - the JVC GR-D340 is OK. But there are others in this budget I like better.

I recommend staying with miniDV - you will need firewire to edit it. Suggested models: Canon MVX450 (if you can find one), Canon MV960, Panasonic GS180, Canon MVX460. The latter 2 are probably a bit over your budget, but can be had around £300.

As Cliff said I wouldn't buy in the US.