Hi,
I'm new to camcorders and I'm looking for an entry level one. Im thinking of spending £100-150 but could possibly stretch to more for a good one. I've had a look around and it looks like miniDV is the best option in this range. I need to have a USB output for uploading them (I'm not sure if that's standard). I'm not looking for anything amazing, just something to record home movies on.
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers

Tim

[redsox_mark]

Yes DV will be best, but you won't find USB for uploading the video. Any models with USB it will be only for stills.

[senu]

Originally Posted by redsox_mark

Yes DV will be best, but you won't find USB for uploading the video. Any models with USB it will be only for stills.

Not only that, even if you could get a non-DV usb model with your budget , it would be more of a "gadget" with suspect( or frankly ) "rubbish" video and audio quality

So stick with DV ( and forsake USB)
or
Up your budget to around £400 to get a decent HDD/SD card USB model

The problem with wanting "just something" for home movies is that the quality may be so uninspiring and underwhelming that it will end up getting little or no use as time goes on.

To be sure, even with very good ones there will be times of disuse but its good to know that when you do need it you can rely on the quality
Happy hunting

I got the impression that this had fire wire connection for video, is that wrong then? If they don't how can video be uploaded to pc? is a video capture card required?
Cheers

[redsox_mark]

DV (and HDV) camcorders require Firewire to capture video.

HDD or flash memory based cams use USB to do this. (In this case it's not really capture, it is copying files).

That is what Senu was explaining.

So if I buy one with a firewire connection it will be possible to record it onto a laptop but it is done in realtime whereas the more expensive USB models can just transfer the data file?

Ok now Ive worked that out are there any recommendations for a DV camera under £150.
Cheers

[senu]

Canon MD 101 s a popular one. I think it has been replaced by the similarly specified and costing MD 205