best camcorder for less then £200

[jonneymendoza]

Hi i am looking for the best camcorder for my budget of £200 to use with me when i go off to the philippines.

i dont know much about them, only that their are a various different ones such has HDD based ones, DVD ones and the one im familier with, the DV tapes one.

i also want this camcorder to be easily hooked up into my laptop where i can store and edit footages from the camera.

i realize that those High-def ones would most likely be out of my range so im not too bothered about those ones.


Also, what are the best makes for camcorders? cheers in advance

[jonneymendoza]

Any suggestions? cheers

[senu]

Your choices are determined by your budget; Best and £200 dont go together
For ease of transfer
Canon Fs100 or Samsung MX20 are SD card models. There is a Toshiba Camelio ( dont know it much ) and a Panasonic model

Spend a bit more , Sony and JVC make some HDD models.. but quality is average, at best

Tape .... best bang for buck for quality but Transfer to Laptopn requires firewire, is real time and 1Hr=13Gb
Canon MD 205 or similar
None is Hi def
There is a thread dedicated to the FS 100 and a sticky thread reviewing the MX20
Both have pros and cons
No camcorder at this budget is going to set the world on fire but the tape models :what you lose in convenience you gain in quality
PS: dont bother with the DVD models

[jonneymendoza]

with SD card models, is the quality of the video as good as the tapes? how much space does the sd card take? say for example an hours worth of footage.

[senu]

Originally Posted by jonneymendoza

with SD card models, is the quality of the video as good as the tapes?

No tapes record DV AVI and card mpeg2 9 and MX20 H.264
The Cards vary in what they can take. it would depend on the quality selected
On the MX 20 for instance " fine" takes a 4Gb card will take 2 hrs and for Mpeg2 at best setting 1 hr
SD card model for high def are much closer ( some say equaly to or better ,) than tape though but that is another level of video and you couls hadly get 8min in a IGb card

how much space does the sd card take? say for example an hours worth of footage.

See the above answer, it varies

[jonneymendoza]

Do i loose quality if i keep taping new footage over and over on the same tape? my parents have the old DV tapes one, not the mini tapes. i use to use that and hook it up to my laptop to record the footage in my pc.

damm it did take alot of space lol

[senu]

Originally Posted by jonneymendoza

Do i loose quality if i keep taping new footage over and over on the same tape? my parents have the old DV tapes one, not the mini tapes. i use to use that and hook it up to my laptop to record the footage in my pc.

damm it did take alot of space lol

Im not sure what you mean by old DV tapes . DV tapes were generally not domestic.
MiniDV tapes wre.. are you sure you dont mean Hi -8?
To answer your question. Tapes are reusable but not indefinitely
The idea is that they are so cheap that you shouldnt need to do this
Tapes have the advantage that although big on the PC, the actual tapes are thier own backup/ archive. Even with the newer formats you will need to have some storage strategy as you may fil up your HDD or lose the footage if the PC HDDs crashes ( and need reformating ect) or fails and needs replacing.
As for taking up space.
The idea is to keep the tapes , only capture as needed
If you want to make a DVD , do that , then wipe off the original captured footage to make space
If you want to have them as a PC friendly format. also convert in software , then wipe off the original knowing the tape is still there if you want to recapture at a later date

[jonneymendoza]

ahh yes i think its called Hi -8 tapes. my parents camcorder doesnt use dv tapes but the ones that are slightly bigger

[senu]

Originally Posted by jonneymendoza

ahh yes i think its called Hi -8 tapes. my parents camcorder doesnt use dv tapes but the ones that are slightly bigger

They were generally used in analogue camcorders although Sony made some Digital8 camcorders ( I still have one which works well) to use them to record digitally
The thing with MiniDv and Digital 8 tapes and indeed the Pro tapes (DV cam ect) use by Pros is that transfer is linear until the footage gets onto a PC
/ Mac or customised HDD based editing suite
In these day of USB drag and drop that is seen a a P**A but some of us still continue to use it