[daz4590]

Hi everyone,

I'm relatively new to these forums but I've been looking around and thought why not.

Last year I purchased a Sony DCR-SR32 30gb Hard disk camcorder and I was really impressed with the 40x optical zoom. HOWEVER after doing a few projects I saw how bad the quality was and how my friends standard olympus camera took better video than my expensive camcorder.

So I am looking to get a new camcorder however with my setup of a Mac Powerbook G4 1.67 Ghz 2gb Ram I don't think I could edit HD footage efficiently. So I thought a 3ccd camera would be better but the only one is the JVC GZ-MG505 but that is over 2 years old.

Does anyone know how good the GZ-MG505 is??? could anyone upload some raw sample footage please??

or are there any other hard disk good 3 ccd camcorders??

Thanks in advance!!




UPDATE: another possibility is the Canon FS11 but I would like to know how good the quality is. Thanks

[redsox_mark]

My advice is – don’t get hung up on 3 CCDs vs 1 CCD. Instead, look at your budget, and select the best model for that budget.

The SR32 was not a very good camcorder. But low end MPEG2 models (HDD or flash memory) don’t tend to be great.

All things being equal – large sensors (be they CCD or CMOS) are better than small, and 3 is better than 1 (with 3 CCD, colour accuracy is the main thing). However – often the choice is 1 larger sensor or 3 smaller ones; often a single sensor model is better.

The Canon FS11 (or FS10, or FS100) are decent for the price. They will be an improvement over the SR32 (though a modest one).

[daz4590]

Thanks for your reply. You have to delve quite deep to get the right stats off some of these camcorders so I'll do some more investigating.

I guess thats the benefit with some of the HD cameras as they have to be at least a good resolution. On the HD front do you think a Macbook Pro 2.0Ghz Core Duo would be good enough to edit the HD video as my Powerbook G4 1.67 Ghz struggles to play it ??? Or would you recommend a mac mini? You see I don't have a large budget but do semi professional jobs for clients.


Thanks

[redsox_mark]

I think the Macbook Pro 2.0Ghz Core Duo would do fine, but I'm not a Mac user; some of them can confirm.

[daz4590]

well I'll have a budget of around £450 so I'll look into:

• Canon FS11
• Panasonic SD5/9
• a better mac

[redsox_mark]

That's a good list. Also consider the Sony TG3, especially with the current £50 cashback, it is in your budget.

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by daz4590

Thanks for your reply. You have to delve quite deep to get the right stats off some of these camcorders so I'll do some more investigating.

I guess thats the benefit with some of the HD cameras as they have to be at least a good resolution. On the HD front do you think a Macbook Pro 2.0Ghz Core Duo would be good enough to edit the HD video as my Powerbook G4 1.67 Ghz struggles to play it ??? Or would you recommend a mac mini? You see I don't have a large budget but do semi professional jobs for clients.


Thanks

The Mac Mini is adequate for AVCHD (e.g. Panasonic SD5 / SD9). You'll find it takes about 2.5x real time to import the files (at present all Mac-compatible editing programmes including iMovie "transcode" AVCHD to something a bit less unwieldy, usually Apple Intermediate Codec or AIC) but once that job's done you'll be sweet. Any Intel Mac will handle the editing side of things, and the faster the processor and better the graphics hardware the faster the importing and rendering. But even the current entry-level Mac Mini 1.85GHz C2D will deal (at least I've heard it on good authority: see here).

iMovie HD (version 6) is capable of editing HD (on an Intel Mac) but will not recognise an AVCHD camera (such as the Panasonic SD5 or SD9) but iMovie 08 (version 7) will - so long as it's version 7.1.2 or beyond, as there was an update issued in June to make iMovie 08 compatible with the Panasonics.

Whatever you do, don't buy a Mac Mini right now unless you absolutely have to! The last upgrade was a year ago. Looks like Apple is gearing up for an update to much of the Mac and iPod line in September, but as usual no one knows exactly what or when.

A good place to visit for Mac-related digital video discussion is http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=80 (Macrumors digital video forum).

There are regular postings of general Mac-related "rumours" and so on here and a buyers' guide (which gives the low down on how far through the product cycle various models are) here.

Andrew.

[daz4590]

thanks for all your help, I think (after looking at some youtube video samples as well) that I will buy either the Canon FS10 or FS11. They seem better than my Sony.

I'll leave going HD for a couple of years or so as I need to upgrade my mac and I'll do that next year.

Thanks everyone!

[daz4590]

Ok well after looking into more the best standard definition hard disk/flash camcorders I can see are the Canon FS100 or the Panasonic SDR H40.

Anyone have any other recommendations or differences between these two??

Its so hard to judge the quality whereas at least with a HD camcorder you have a minimum resolution if you get what i mean.

[daz4590]

right i've finished the quest. I bought a Canon FS100 for £219 then bought a 32gb SD card for £60 so that should be more than enough for what i want. I'll upload a full review and some test footage to my website in the signature hopefully tonight.

Thanks for all your help people.

[senu]

Thanks,
I close this now and you can start a new thread with your tales of Joy with it