Looking for a new cam £600 +

[mellow8th]

Hi All,

I'm looking for suggestions for a digital camcorder which has:

USB support
Audio in (not XLR)
Preferably HD
Preferably 3CCD
MiniDV or HDD

All the editing would be done on PC using Vegas, and I'll mostly be doing musical events/ interviews, hence the need for microphone in..

Any recommendations? Ideally I'd like to spend no more than £800..

Thx

[redsox_mark]

Looking at your list:

USB support
Audio in (not XLR)
Preferably HD
Preferably 3CCD
MiniDV or HDD

Most if not all camcorders in this price range will have USB support, but in the HDV or DV models it is only for stills or low quality video; you need to use Firewire to capture. HDD cams will use USB for video transfer.

In this price range you can get SD with 3 CCD (e.g. Panasonic GS500), or HD with 1 CMOS. The new JVC HD7 is coming soon and will have 3 CCDs, but will be well more than £800.

The choices which get closest are:

Sony SR1 (AVCHD HD/HDD): £840 here
http://www.purelygadgets.co.uk/showp...hp?prodid=2796

Sony HC7 (HDV): Just out; £795 here
http://www.purelygadgets.co.uk/showp...hp?prodid=3322

In April the Canon HV20 becomes an option; it is also HDV and a rival to the Sony HC7
http://www.bestcameras.co.uk/shop/ac...amera_338.html

All these models are High Def, have mic input. All are single CMOS. All have USB, but only the SR1 uses it for video transfer.

Vegas can't edit AVCHD yet, but there is a free update to Vegas 7 coming this spring to add it.

[mellow8th]

Many thanks for the recommendations - the Sony HDR HC7E is looking to be the one, as it really seems to have everything I'm going to need.

Thanks for clearing up the USB issue as well - the AVCHD format doesn't seem to be mature enough for my liking yet, so I'm going to avoid those HDD cameras in the meantime

HDR HC7E here i come


T