Newbie - Sony HC51 / HC62

[jmp_78]

Hi all,

I hope you can provide some welcome help!

I am after my first camcorder and am considering the Sony HC51 for £120, or HC62 for £190. As far as I can see, the advantages of the latter are a 1MP CCD (up from 800k on the HC51) and a firewire input. My two main questions are follows:

1) Is it worth paying extra for the better CCD on the HC62 - am I going to notice a little difference? I used a friends Sony HC19 (which is same as HC51 I think) and thought the quality was 'acceptable'.

2) Do I need a firewire input as on the HC62? I don't know whether to edit the footage on my PC and then burn it to a DVD, or send it back to a tape?

Any advice would be appreciated! Also... I currently have NO editing software (other than XP Movie Maker which is OK), and no way of actually BURNING the movies to DVD. Which software would you recommend I buy for this?

Thanks again,
Jamie

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by jmp_78

Hi all,

I hope you can provide some welcome help!

I am after my first camcorder and am considering the Sony HC51 for £120, or HC62 for £190. As far as I can see, the advantages of the latter are a 1MP CCD (up from 800k on the HC51) and a firewire input. My two main questions are follows:

1) Is it worth paying extra for the better CCD on the HC62 - am I going to notice a little difference? I used a friends Sony HC19 (which is same as HC51 I think) and thought the quality was 'acceptable'.

2) Do I need a firewire input as on the HC62? I don't know whether to edit the footage on my PC and then burn it to a DVD, or send it back to a tape?

Any advice would be appreciated! Also... I currently have NO editing software (other than XP Movie Maker which is OK), and no way of actually BURNING the movies to DVD. Which software would you recommend I buy for this?

Thanks again,
Jamie

it is always better to have the option of firewire in and being able to store edited films on tape as well as dvd,tape is still a more reliable storage medium than home dvd.