[copthis1]

.... having spent hours researching and finally deciding on the Panasonic GS230 or the Canon MD160, I sat here and thought that all I will do is go on holiday and film the kids in the pool, inside the mobile home etc etc.... maybe a sports day or two, Intend to edit but in fact never get round to it and just copy it to DVD through my recorder. Therefore maybe I should save a bit of money and buy the Canon MV101, I assume the picture quality will be similar??

I was watching some old tapes from my Canon Hi8 model and in reasonable light i was highly impressed with the quality of the images so again shall i save myself a few quid and buy a cheaper camcorder?

Would there be much difference in the MD160 images against the MV101?

Cheers

[redsox_mark]

There is very little difference between the MD101 and the MD160.
The GS230 will give you a bit better colours and seems to have less motor noise. But you can't use the image stabilisation in widescreen mode.

[copthis1]

The MV890 is now in Argos for £139.99 hmmmmm decisions decisions.

[copthis1]

Next question MD101 or 890....... sorry

[redsox_mark]

The MD101 is £148 at Amazon....

There is very little difference between the MV890 and the MD101. Go for the cheaper one, or the one you like the look of better...

I'm picking up the MV890 in about an hour mate from argos - reduced price.

If you can wait until tomorrow, i'll give you my review.

cheers.

[copthis1]

cheers..... i've got one reserved so I would appreciate a comment today as I will pick it up on the way home tomorrow.

Well, its better then the samsung i had yesterday, but i'm still not totally impressed.

The picture is "OK", but it's not perfect. It's not as good as my old hi8 cam.

You can hear the motor noise. it's more high pitch then the samsung, but i guess there is the mic port, so i can use an external one if i like when filming and its quite.

I cannot be botherd to take it back, and send off for the Panasonic NV-GS80eb which i think i would try now. As that has no motor noise when you read the reviews posted in the other thread.

Cheers.

[copthis1]

I have an old Canon Hi8 and the image quality is exc. I always thought that as time went on things got better not worse...

I'm reluctant to buy anything in case of disappointment.

[redsox_mark]

In general things have got better, but you are looking at budget models. I bet your old Hi8 cam cost more than £140.

[jetinder]

I'm still in the same boat as you lot.

Redsocks and Senu have been a great help but i still cant work out which one i want, but i do want a mini dv with widescreen or 4.3 which can look like wide screen on a 42 inch plasma.

Looking at them on a 42inch plasma the Samsung is a load of kak, JVC GRD-760 is much better but is let down by bad auto focus some times, apart from low light situations image quality is very good.

Sony HC37 is meant to be the best, aint tried it on a 42 inch screen.

Anyway went to Currys and played around with it, in dark scenes and low light in colour mode it was as grainy as hell, in normal scenes it was as good as the JVC.

But HC37 and HC45 havent got wide screen, they are all 4.3, HC47 has wide screen but not 40 x zoom, HC47 has wide screen but its got 25 x zoom and is also £50 more for essentialy the same camera as the HC37 but with widescreen and costing £50 more for that.

Dont know what the auto focus is really like at tracking things like horses etc as never tried it home.

Havent tried Canon MV890 or 101, but from reviews i've heard their low light is very bad........... and they dont look as good as JVC or Sony.

On MV890 dont know how grainy normal movies are like............. and i dont know how good or bad the auto focus is, as like SLR cameras camcorders use auto focus points but none of the technical specs list auto focus points.

On SLRs it easy
i.e.
The Canon EOS 1D III and Canon EOS 3 have 45 auto focus points so can "see" better than EOS 5D which has around 9.

Over all feel like giving up as all camcorders have good and bad points, trouble is finding the one your happy with...........

Will have to see if i can get hold of a Canon, but am loosing heart...........

Below is Canon's website for Mini DVs.
:-
http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Prod...tal/index.asp#

http://www.cnet.com.au/camcorders/ca...9274402,00.htm

The MD160 has the same spec as JVC GRD-760, so it should have similar performance.

Will have to see, i guess the MD101 has the same autofocus etc as the MD160 so if i can see the 101 in real life that would give me a good view of what the MD160 could be like.

[Danjugan]

I too am having all the same dilemas having been looking into getting a camcorder for about the last six months. I should have bought the MVX460 about 4 months back when I saw one for 300quid. Now I am thinking of the MD160 as I want to be able to record back to miniDV for achiving - but the price difference between the MD160 and the MD101 puts me off the MD160 due to the fact that I wont get any better quality and I bet that I will never get round to editing and recording back anyway. Then I hear about motor noise and low light performance etc etc and then I hear about the Panasonic or Sony equivalent and then I never decide... I want one to jump off the shelf at me and it just hasnt happened yet (pathetic really)

[copthis1]

Just ordered a Panasonic nv gs80 £201 delivered tomorrow and I can claim a free extra battery, case and tape from Panasonic.... that'll do

[Deanali]

Originally Posted by copthis1

Just ordered a Panasonic nv gs80 £201 delivered tomorrow and I can claim a free extra battery, case and tape from Panasonic.... that'll do

LOL I've just paid £209 for mine a week ago, but won't get it 'til next Tuesday (Due in stock Monday). Same deal with the free stuff etc., this was the clincher for me. I also got 2yrs warranty included. I havn't seen many, if any, bad reviews from actual users of this camcorder so am hopeful it will be just what I expect!
Let us know what it's like!

[redsox_mark]

Havent tried Canon MV890 or 101, but from reviews i've heard their low light is very bad...........

All the camcorders in this price range have a single 1/6" CCD; low light performance is an issue for all of them. This isn't an issue specific to the Canon models. In fact, the MV890 comes out pretty well in camcorderinfo.com's reviews (see this review of the ZR700 (MV960); it also references the performance of the ZR500 (MV890)

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...erformance.htm

[Danjugan]

Does anyone know if the GS80 has DV in ? I have seen a review which says it does but a spec that says it doesnt... Thanks.

[Deanali]

Originally Posted by Danjugan

Does anyone know if the GS80 has DV in ? I have seen a review which says it does but a spec that says it doesnt... Thanks.

I don't think it does. I downloaded the manual from Panasonics website and it says on page 34 "This model cannot be used as a Recorder"

[redsox_mark]

The European GS80 does not have DV input. The US model does, which is probably the source of the confusion.

[Danjugan]

Thanks.

Thats rubbish - but it is for tax reasons isnt it? I bet the Eurpoean one does and it just needs hacking...

[redsox_mark]

Yes, it is because of EU tax laws.
I doubt it can be easily hacked... years ago you could buy "widgits" for some models to enable DV-in, but for recent models I don't think it is possible.

[Danjugan]

So, no matter what I look at if I want DV-in in this price bracket I have only the MD160 available to me. So what price do I put on being able to record back to DV rather than storing elsewhere? As a complete newbie with no camcorder experience I had thought that I would want to edit out all the rubbish that I am bound to record and then save back my stripped down version to DV to maintain the quality. But is it worth an extra 80quid...

[redsox_mark]

Hard one to answer. In the old days (pre writable DVDs), DV-in was essential for editing, allowing you to save your edited project.

Today it is still useful, and something I would want to have, to output a copy of your edited project in the full quality DV format. But these days as you will most likely make and watch a DVD of your edited project, it's less essential. If you save the original tapes and the files from your video editor you can always re-create the edited project from that.

[jetinder]

Originally Posted by Danjugan

So, no matter what I look at if I want DV-in in this price bracket I have only the MD160 available to me.

You also have the JVC GRD770 that has DV-in.

[Vyger]

Hi all, Started reading this thread on night shift as my old GRD5 is starting to give up the ghost and have been thinking of buying a JVC HDD cam.

My reading was to put to rest some reservations I had on post editting capabilities on HDD cams which doesn't seem to be an issue but then I remembered the old dog of tape camcorders, Motor noise, and wondered do you get any noise or pick up from the HDD on HDD camcorders?

The JVC I am thinking about is the 140 (40GB), but I know Sony and Panasonic have offerings too. It's still early in the research phase for buying, maybe in a week or two.

[jetinder]

If you have software like Magix Movie Edit or Sony Vegas etc etc they should have filters which could get rid or reduce tape noise.

[Vyger]

Thanks, Jetinder. It's been quite a few years since I done any editting on the PC so I am sure the software market has changed.

I will have a read up on those two programs regarding their capabilities, if they edit mpeg files as well as managing sound noise then they should do the trick.

Any other recommendations also welcome.