HDC-HS9 or HDR-SR10E

[88pete88]

hey, i dont know much about camcorders but i am off to oz in october and i am after a decent camcorder, today i was in pcworld and had a look at some.
now i cant decide on the panny HDC-HS9 or sony HDR-SR10E, they were both sat there at around the same price £379. i have a limit of £400 to spend on one i am in no rush to buy one 'YET' so better might come down in price .

so if any one owns any of these cams to let me know what they think of them.
I am open to some suggestions of some others in my budget as i have only just started looking for one.
It has to be 1920x1080p and HDD

THANX

[Mr Lazy]

If you can get the SR10 brand new and that's a genuine price then I would snap it up. I find the prices hard to believe as that is around 100 less than amazon.co.uk's prices - are they ex-demo models? Are you sure it wasn't the SD9 rather than the HS9? Apparently the SR10 is better in low light than the Panasonic and the overall picture quality is meant to be slightly better.

Don't get too caught up with this 1080p thing like a lot of people do - realistically you won't notice any difference between 1080i and 1080p unless your display is huge. In fact most people won't notice a difference between 720 and 1080 unless viewing a screen of 37" or bigger and/or sitting two feet away. The performance of any individual camcorder is more important.

[88pete88]

ok, thanx for your reply, TBH it could be the sd9 i saw them in shop but couldnt remember the model so i went on the panny site to try and remember it , it was a 60GB 1080p thats all i remember about it, oh and how it looks, it looked really nice. its a 40" and a 42" that they will be viewed on.

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by 88pete88

it was a 60GB 1080p

That's the HS9. The SD9 is as HS9 without the hard drive (it records to memory cards only).

The SR10 has a single 1/5-inch CMOS sensor, the HS9 / SD9 three 1/6-inch CCD sensors. On paper alone, given the larger sensor, the SR10 might be marginally better than the SD9 in low light, but only marginally. 1/5" is still a tiny sensor.

I second the advice about re "1080p" - hardly worth worrying about in my opinion. The "p" stands for "hype" but they left out the h, y, and e. The SD9 / HS9 offers a fairly rudimentary progressive mode, and produces better results in most situations recording at 1080i, not 1080p. The Sony has no progressive mode as far as I'm aware, but that doesn't mean it's of lesser quality.

[88pete88]

ok, so out of the 2 the sony is recommended? is there any others within my budget (£400) that are of better quality and performance than these 2 that i could look at?

as i will be away for around 3-4 weeks i will have no pc/laptop to clear the HDD, how long will the 40GB hdd hold at 1080i and same question for the 60gb.
i will probably have to buy some memory cards to go with it, so If i fill the HDD can i copy the previously recorded videos from HDD straight to card direct from the camcorder?
and final question, say i record 3HRs of video one day then 2HRs the next day will it split it into multiple files automatically or create it as 1 continuous file?

THANX

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by 88pete88

are there any others within my budget (£400) that are of better quality and performance than these 2 that i could look at?

The next comparable (slightly better) one is the Canon HF100, a bit out of your budget at c.£500.

Originally Posted by 88pete88

how long will the 40GB hdd hold at 1080i and same question for the 60gb.

At top quality, it's about 8GB per hour.

Originally Posted by 88pete88

can i copy the videos straight to card direct from the camcorder?

I don't think so.

Originally Posted by 88pete88

say i record 3HRs of video one day then 2HRs the next day will it split it into multiple files automatically or create it as 1 continuous file?

Every time you press the record button to start / stop recording, the camcorder will create a new clip / file.

[88pete88]

ok thanx for your help, i will keep an eye on them to see what comes down in price, now that i have a better idea of what i am looking for. I have about 8 months before i have to buy one so thats plenty of time.

Cheers

[Mr Lazy]

Originally Posted by 88pete88

can i copy the previously recorded videos from HDD straight to card direct from the camcorder?

I would check the manufacturers websites and/or reviews if that feature is important to you (assuming one of the existing owners doesn't answer here). You need to factor in the relatively expensive cost of Memory Sticks with the Sony.

i will keep an eye on them to see what comes down in price, now that i have a better idea of what i am looking for. I have about 8 months before i have to buy one so thats plenty of time.

Both Sony and Panasonic have announced new models, so I would be surprised if you could still get either of these models brand new in 8 months. However, once the new models are available, you might find some good prices as dealers try and clear current stock, though history has shown that the saving aren't huge (the SD9 being one possible exception).

[88pete88]

Originally Posted by Mr Lazy

you might find some good prices as dealers try and clear current stock, though history has shown that the saving aren't huge (the SD9 being one possible exception).

true, but by me sticking to the £400 the better models should in theory drop in price as the new models are released. Allowing me to purchase a better model than previously stated for around the same price range.

do you think i should buy sooner or later as all the prices of electronics in the uk seem to be going up ?

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by 88pete88

the better models should in theory drop in price as the new models are released.

Not necessarily: there has been little in the way of sustained price reductions for the Canon HF100 and HF10 since the HF11 was released at the end of last year, for example.

Originally Posted by 88pete88

the prices of electronics in the uk seem to be going up

Predictions are a minefield, but the reduction in value of the £ against the ￥ would suggest there aren't likely to be significant drops in the price of imported electronics in the near future.