Is this Samsung any good?

nathanb

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Hello Camcorder experts,

I'm new to camcorders but am looking to buy one very soon for my hols. I dont want anything OTT just a good every day camcorder. Is this one from Curry's worth buying for £229? It seems like it has good optical zoom and is a nice looking peice of kit. I also like the fact it records straight to disc.

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/sto...ijgcflgceggdhhmdgml.0&page=Product&sku=917719




Any help is highly appreciated.

Cheers in advance!
 
To be fair I've not seen any footage from that camcorder, but every bit of Samsung camcorder footage and reviews I've seen to date have been poor.

Combine that with it being DVD format - which yes does give some convienence, but the issue is that if anything goes wrong (e.g. the disc fails to finalise, which I've seen many reports of people experiencing) you are stuffed. DVD usually works but is not reliable enough to be used for your master recording (in my view).
 
Harsh? Was it? I don't know. We see so many tales of woe on here of DVD's not finalising that we become biased against it as a primary recording/mastering medium.

Tape is the safest. The DCR-HC96 I linked to is the very top of the range in Sony's MiniDV camcorder line. It is just discontinued now by Sony and is being discounted by the likes of eBuyer. It represents truly staggering value for money.
 
Sorry for being a complete noob but what does 'not finalising' mean?
 
It has 2 or 3 things (not) going for it

DVD as recording format
Samsung; They make lovely Displays and monitors.... I think the camcorder division is needing to catch up by a long stretch
Price

A slightly costlier, non-DVD Panasonic, JVC, Sony or Canon model would be rather more encouraging to feel you would get more out of it
This is not in any way "gadget snobbery" :nono:( just a combination of day to day experience, threads on here and other respected reviews) It isnt Samsung bashing too
Your needs, budget and expectations may mean that youll find it a handy camcorder despite our expressed misgivings
Sorry for being a complete noob but what does 'not finalising' mean?
CDs and DVDs as Data or video carriers have a standard structure which make them universally readable. The table of contents and directory structure are written in a standardised way that they can be read in any compatible device.
When you are burning on a DVD say in Nero on a PC and it writes a "lead in".. and in particular "lead out".. It is "finalising". In the same way a DVD camcorder will need to finalise its disc before any other reader ( settop or PC) can play the video on it. If for any reason this fails, it can render the video footage impossible to access.
It can happen on a PC as well but the opportunity to burn a new disc is there. With the DVD camcorder you dont get that chance especially if the recording is of a live "never to be repeated" event.
Indeed it can happen with a settop DVD recorder but if it is one that Has an HDD and the recording was made from there.. its a simple matter of repeating the recording
 
DVD camcorders keep the disc "open", so you can add more to it as you start/stop, they also allow you to delete stuff etc. But when you are done shooting and want to play the disc on a DVD player etc you need to have the camcorder finialise the disc. There will be a menu option or button on the camcorder to do this. This closes the disc and it should then be playable by other players.

It is this type of problem that would worry me with a DVD camcorder
http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=617297
 
Oh no, I have nothing at all against Samsung. I am reading this on a Samsung TFT monitor as I type. My next 1080p LCDTV will like as not be a Samsung.

It's just that in the world of camcorders they aren't quite up with the big boys, yet.
 
Have a read of Mark's post #6. The GZ-MG130 he refers to as having a worse CCI review than this Samsung is EXACTLY the same as the GZ-MG132 except the 132 seems to have had a video light added.

So, no. ;)
 
Its HDD though. Is that not a lot more reliable than disc? I bet you're fed up with daft questions!!

The reason I'm disregarding the ones you have reccomended is I go on hols in 2 days so I dont want to order of the web incase it doesnt show up in time...
 
HDD cams are reliable and I prefer them as a format to DVD. It's just that entry level ones like that JVC aren't that good in terms of video quality. You need to pay more to get a decent one... or if on a budget you'll get better quality with a comparably priced DV tape model.
 
OK guys, thanks everyone for your help. You have put me off the Samsung one but may go for a HDD one of some manufacturer.

Thanks again!!
 

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