[paulcroft]

I need a new camcorder, I have been reading reviews and checking forums and realise I could definitely benefit from advice from forum members.

I am a road crash investigator. I attend crash sites and take photos and videos whilst there. Much of my video work involves me mounting the video in my car and undertaking a 'drive-through' to follow the route(s) taken by those concerned to illustrate sightlines, etc.

For the last five years I have used a Sony DCR-TRV60E. It's certainly not the best out there, but it's proved adequate for the task. However, I'm now looking to replace it.

What I need is a camcorder that performs well when used inside a moving car and gives a good quality output without a need for broadcast quality. A good image stabilisation system is of course vital for that. Good low light performance is necessary too because collisions also happen at night (of course) and, for that reason, it's often useful to undertake a night time drive through but the TRV60E is definitely lacking in that regard.

Having got my footage I currently download it to my pc and, using Pinnacle Studio 9, top and tail it as necessary, add titles, fade in, fade out, etc. Nothing fancy but it's necessary to inform the viewer what they're looking at. I then output the finished file to DVD or video as required (my footage is sometimes viewed in criminal/civil courts and many still do not have DVD players!).

With the future in mind I am looking for a camera that records High Definition to a hard drive. I understand I will need Studio 11 or later to edit AVCHD files but would appreciate advice on this too.

On my short list at the moment is the Canon HF11, the Sony HDR-SR12 and the Panasonic HDC-HS300 but I've read somewhere on this forum that the Canons don't perform too well from inside a car. Why is that?

One other thing if you can - how large are HD files? How much hard drive space will I need for, say, each five minutes of HD footage?

That's it. If forum members would care to offer the benefit of their experience and help lift the veil of indecision from my eyes I'd be very grateful.

Thank you.

Paul Croft

[paulcroft]

I can't pretend I'm not disappointed at the lack of response

If no-one is prepared to offer advice on a specific model can anyone at least explain what it is that might make one model more or less suitable for use inside a moving car?

Paul