HD or SD Pistol Grip or Traditional Camcorders?

ginettag33

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Hello I’ve joined up again as its a long time since I was on this website and I'm new to camcorders so have a few questions. As per most beginners am struggling to decide on what to buy based on my outdated PC and TV?
Firstly SD or HD with a sub £500 budget?
Not bothered about storage formats but want the best quality CC I can afford to be future proof for up to 10 years! I plan to do quite a lot of indoor filming of my kids and Outdoors I want to film motor racing mainly. In car films and track day use may be an option with a good camera mount.
Problem 1. At the moment I don’t have a HD TV or a very high spec PC but in addition I do have a separate AV DVD recorder with DV and component input sockets. I have recorded video footage onto DVD this way recently with a borrowed old spec C Corder.
I know this would reduce picture quality if using a HD camera but at least then I could send films to others who also don’t have HD gear yet like the oldies and parents.
Modern CC’s don’t seem to have DV leads so will any camcorder send the right signals to the DVDR -/+ to record DVD’s from any format CC if using either of two sockets?
If I got a HD CC then I would still try and archive the original unedited files on my PC HDD at full resolution but realise I wont be able to edit them easily until the PC upgrade. I seldom get the time to sit down and edit films anyway but as the kids grow up and my gear is upgraded in the next few years I could then have a go at editing the HD quality footage.

I also have a mate with a blue ray recorder as an other option if that would work for sharing films at a better quality.

As I have an SLR camera which I carry a lot I quite like the idea of the small pistol grip CC’s such as the TG3 TG7 Sanyo G9 & 10 and my favourite is the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 but I’ve read its not very good in doors?
The TG7 has a smaller lens than the sanyo plus overpriced memory sticks but is it a lot better (£150-£200)than the Sanyo?
I’ve been using an older traditional grip CC for a year or so but often leave it behind due to its bulk in its case but if you still all think these machines are way better such as the Sony HDR CX105E or Pan SD9 SD10 or 20 then fair enough.
Also read reviews on the Canon HG10 and think the HF 11 and 200 may be a bit expensive.
Short listed Samsung VP HMX20 too but no image stabiliser?
Most clips will probably get stored away on my hard drive for years before they are viewed again anyway
So what are other users favourite CC’s at the moment and for my camera to last a long time am I better to by a HD machine even though I’ll struggle with the format until I upgrade my gear.
Would the pistol grip machines give much worse pictures than the traditional style CC’s?
Cheers in advance Harvey
 
There is no difference in the video quality between a pistol grip and a traditional style CC, the difference is only in the handling and it depends on what you are confortable with. If you are a fan of the pistol grip, there is no better CC than the Sanyo HD2000 at the sub 500 quid level.

Contrary to what you mentioned, it has one of the best indoor performance (at its price) and with 60p at the highest resolution, it would be great for motor sports. Video file handling and storage is painless and since you plan to do your editing only later, the editing software would have caught up by then, hopefully. Menawhile, burning standard DVD with the included software (or with most others) is a breeze for normal TV viewing. Viewing on standard TV is also a non issue until you get your HDTV.

It has its quirks (mainly the relatively poor Image Stabilisation and slow low-light focus) so it is best to test one out to see if you can live with it. There are plenty of threads on its pros and cons in the forum for you to consider.
 
Thanks for the advice. i spent all day yesterday visiting shops and not one had the sanyo!! I played with the sony CX105 and panny SD10 and thought the SD10 felt better made with a smooth zoom. But I still want to play with the Sanyo at some point as its a bit smaller to carry.
H
 
I almost bought a Panny SD or TM 10 but then realised I'd be better with a HD CC with a external Mic input as I want to film from a open top car so wind noise will spoil the audio without a foam mic?
So far the next best options seem to be canon models but I wanted a small sized camera originally like the SD10.
Anyone seen any other options with Mic input which are good machines?
H
 
i found that with our pistol grip sanyo hd2 my lack of stillness when recording made the shakes even worse. just gone back to the "norm" style of camcorder and my footage seems to be more still again.
 

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