Help me pick out a Camcorder please

C

Chelica

2[H]4U
Joined
Aug 8, 2003
Messages
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Hello,

I am looking for a Camcorder. A basic one, nothing too fancy, but nothing to outdated. Basically need it for the family. Nothing professional. I would be interested in being able to edit it and such on my PC.

With that being said, which camcorder should I do some research on? I am a total noob in this area.

As for editing goes, what would I need to edit recorded video on my PC? Softwares? Hardwares? What is the specs for editing?

Thanks.
Alex
 
i got a JVC DVL120U for 175, it was only used twice prior. i love it, its not the best but it takes good shots, has lots of different shooting modes/effects and is pretty simple. you probably want to get a miniDV which will connect through firewire ports (IEEE 1394). mine doesnt take stills, but i wouldnt want a video camera taking still pictures for me anyway...


http://shopping.yahoo.com/p_jvc-dvl120u_dv-camcorders_1990849725
 
$175, that is a very nice deal considering the retail price is twice as much.

So with a mini DV, I can just plug it using the Firewire, and then upload the video and then edit? I do not need any analog to video crap adapter?
 
nope, with the firewire will plug into your camera and then into your firewire card(assuming you have one or are getting one).

if you have windows xp you can use windows movie maker2 to capture and edit your video. i use ulead videostudio, here is a little techtv article about the different 'affordable' software pieces:

http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/products/story/0,24330,3568969,00.html

i got the camera for a good deal through www.craigslist.com you can check to see if craigslist covers your area.
 
i saw this on FatWallet, pretty good deal, miniDV, has firewire....

Sharp VLZ3U $279 after rebate

posts on fatwallet about it here
 
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That is a nice price for it, thanks.

Also, I heard that Ulead makes really good video editing software. I will prolly use that one also. Thanks for the help guys.

O one more thing. When looking for a Camcorder, what am I looking for? The mini DV is the best way to go right?
 
yes, go with minidv...the things to look at, in terms of quality, are resolution of the sensore, the physical size of the sensor (on cheap cameras its 1/4 or 1/6th of an inch) The bigger the size, the better the picture quality will be. Also look at battery life etc...www.dvinfo.net has some good forums, and www.dv.com is good aswell. Hope this helps.

Chris

edit: The ccd on this camera is .25 or 1/4 inch, which is pretty good for the price. Do note that the eyepeice viewfinder is black and white.
 
Ahrite, now that I know what to look for. How about the editing part of it?

I would need a DVD burner, a Firewire port on the motherboard, a pretty decent Hard Drive space, will 80GB be enough? And how fast of a CPU? O yeah, this is for very light editing. Just take crap out and then burn it onto DVD so I can view it on a regular DVD player.
 
well, you dont necessarily need a dvd burner, you can make svcd and play them on your dvd player. you can buy a firewire card, its ok if you motherboard doesnt have onboard firewire, and i think the best thing to upgrade in the realm of video editing would be your ram, its always good to have plenty of that. 80gigs should be enough if you arent going to be doing big projects and a lot of them.
 
As for the CPU speed, what is generally the bare minimum and the medium speed for doing minor editing. Basically, editing crap out and then burn it onto a DVD type of work.
 
depends on how fast you want everything to work...i only have a 1700+ and it does the job fine.
 
O okay, then anything other than a Celeron should be just fine right? Like a P4 1.6 and above?

O one more thing, are there any good Mini DV that are being sold at a retail electronic store (Good Guys, Circuit City, and etc.) that is about $300 to $400 bucks?

And when it comes down to it, is there a particular brand that performs well compared to others?

Thank you for all of your help Bromide.
 
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