Camcorder advice/recommendations required - another one!!

[inzaman]

I am after a camcorder, i have never owned one before and thought it would be easy; select a budget, purchase, and start filming, but after reading through a few threads i now have myself tied in knots

I have up to £500 to spend and what i am looking for is something that i can use to film inside and outside of the house, not a great deal of filming but the odd few minutes or hour here and there. We have just had our first child and i really want to capture him on camcorder. I want to be able to name the files on a PC as the date and film reference etc.

I was all set to get a standard def but for my budget i can possibly go for a hidef one but i have now read that i might need to buy a new PC etc as it appears that you need a powerful processor to mess about with hidef material from a camcorder. I thought that i could just film from a camcorder, copy the film to a PC, name it, and then rip to a DVD for playing on a BD player or the PS3. Can i do that if i dont want to do any editing etc or do i definitely need a new PC? or would i be best saving the money and going for a standard def one as i could possibly edit that on my current HCPC or lap top? But then again i dont think i need to edit as i just want to name the files, or do I?

I hope you can understand my conundrum and help with the above, also what Camcorders either SD or HD should i be looking at? Thanks

[Boogie Badman]

I just bought a toshiba GSC-K80H from Comet for £299, I cannot see anything better for the money.

[redsox_mark]

I thought that i could just film from a camcorder, copy the film to a PC, name it, and then rip to a DVD for playing on a BD player or the PS3. Can i do that if i dont want to do any editing etc or do i definitely need a new PC?

With a High Def, AVCHD cam, yes you can do that - create an "AVCHD disc" (or a Blu-Ray disc if you have a Blu-Ray writer), even if you don't have a fast PC. It is if you need to edit or play it from a PC that the speed becomes an issue.

Panasonic SD9, Sony SR10, Sony TG3 are models in your price range. Or a bit more, the Canon HF100.

[inzaman]

Originally Posted by redsox_mark

I thought that i could just film from a camcorder, copy the film to a PC, name it, and then rip to a DVD for playing on a BD player or the PS3. Can i do that if i dont want to do any editing etc or do i definitely need a new PC?

With a High Def, AVCHD cam, yes you can do that - create an "AVCHD disc" (or a Blu-Ray disc if you have a Blu-Ray writer), even if you don't have a fast PC. It is if you need to edit or play it from a PC that the speed becomes an issue.

Panasonic SD9, Sony SR10, Sony TG3 are models in your price range. Or a bit more, the Canon HF100.

Thanks for the response, can i create the DVD from current DVD writer software i.e. i will copy the file from the camcorder to the PC HD and then chose to rip to DVD. Also with the above camcorders can you play directly from the camcorder to a TV. Sorry for the probably basic questions but this is all new to me

[rhubarbe]

Having just checked your HT link I see you have a PS3. If you bought a Panasonic HDC-SD5 from Amazon for just £350 (with free delivery) you would have an excellent HD camcorder that takes SDHC cards that you can take out of the cam and bung into your PS3 and play the HD video direct from the PS3.

You can then transfer the raw AVCHD files from the SDHC card to the HDD of your PS3 for storage (take a backup to another HDD before you delete the files from the card).

Now, lets here no more about DVDs, right?

[inzaman]

Originally Posted by rhubarbe

Having just checked your HT link I see you have a PS3. If you bought a Panasonic HDC-SD5 from Amazon for just £350 (with free delivery) you would have an excellent HD camcorder that takes SDHC cards that you can take out of the cam and bung into your PS3 and play the HD video direct from the PS3.

You can then transfer the raw AVCHD files from the SDHC card to the HDD of your PS3 for storage (take a backup to another HDD before you delete the files from the card).

Now, lets here no more about DVDs, right?

Hi thanks for that i appreciate the response and recommendation - i will check out the SD5 as £350 seems a good price and will save me £150 from my budget, could i still rip to dvd though to play via a BD player. For example if i wanted to watch the footage on my tv in the lounge on a BD player but not wanting to carry my PS3 into the lounge?

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by inzaman

Hi thanks for that i appreciate the response and recommendation - i will check out the SD5 as £350 seems a good price and will save me £150 from my budget, could i still rip to dvd though to play via a BD player. For example if i wanted to watch the footage on my tv in the lounge on a BD player but not wanting to carry my PS3 into the lounge?

It is easy to play SDHC OR MEMORY STICK cards in the ps3 but if the cards are downloaded onto the ps3 drive they will only play back one file at a time for me and others i read asking about it.
My pc is slow but will not make avchd disks,well it starts off ok but there is only so much time for anyone.

[rhubarbe]

As far as I was aware you can burn the AVCHD file onto a normal DVDR and play the files in the PS3.

I can't comment about only playing one at a time because I don't have a PS3.

What I do know is that most PCs using a progamme called TSSpliter can join or split AVCHD files in to one long 'un, so the problem of one at a time is history.

[senu]

Originally Posted by rhubarbe

As far as I was aware you can burn the AVCHD file onto a normal DVDR and play the files in the PS3.

I can't comment about only playing one at a time because I don't have a PS3.

What I do know is that most PCs using a progamme called TSSpliter can join or split AVCHD files in to one long 'un, so the problem of one at a time is history.

This is true
To be found HERE

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by rhubarbe

As far as I was aware you can burn the AVCHD file onto a normal DVDR and play the files in the PS3.

I can't comment about only playing one at a time because I don't have a PS3.

What I do know is that most PCs using a progamme called TSSpliter can join or split AVCHD files in to one long 'un, so the problem of one at a time is history.

Yes rhub making an avchd disc from dvdrs is what i have tried with various software but if your pc does not want to know Using TSSpliter would meen using before downloading on the ps3 so:anyway the little sweety loves hdv.

[rhubarbe]

I use TSSplitter on my Pentium M760 laptop (not very fast at all) and it seems to chew its way slowly through it. Uploading a huge file to the PS3 would take a bit of time though....