camcorder

[pedroh 21]

and which brand is better? canon, panasonic, samsung, jvc, sony?

i have an everio with 30gb hd nessa.. it's jvc.. I like it, but I lost the charger and I haven't been able to use it

[DeadPoolX 9]

and which brand is better? canon, panasonic, samsung, jvc, sony?

I went with Sony, but the "better brand" really depends on: what's available, the specs you want, the price, what you'll be doing with it and the type of media you wish to use.

For instance... Sony uses a proprietary type of media card (called a Memory Stick Pro Duo) and their products won't accept SD cards, xD cards (if anyone uses those anymore) and other varieties. I believe JVC, Samsung, Panasonic and Canon all use SD cards nowadays (in addition to whatever mini-DVD or hard drive components are used).

Edited April 3, 2009 by Sentinel

[Niels Bohr 72]

Better brand? Based on your general point and record camera, a Canon with the option of adding on additional components.

Digital Video Camcorders that used 3CCD or better are good. You want to look for specs instead of brand. I'd recommend for high def video recording to buy a camcorder that has a Solid-State Hard Drive (SSD). The transfer of recording from the optical sensor controller to storage unit will provide higher throughput compared to a regular hard drive (this means it will eliminate any timing problems and help further reduce any shaking by eliminating background noise within the signal). Not only that, uses less battery power as well.

Zoom depends on you. Obviously, the higher the zoom the more expensive. You need to know how much zoom you want. Only look at optical zoom.

See if it has firewire as well. Firewire connection offers higher throughput compared to USB 2.0 eventhough it has a tranmission rate of about 400-480 mb/s. Higher throughput means faster upload to your computer if you recorded a long ####### video.

Another thing you want to consider if it offers point-and-shoot still images.

[DeadPoolX 9]

Nessa, if you're still undecided, try this website: http://www.camcorderinfo.com/

[MARM 7]

We have a SONY HDR SR12 and LOVE IT!!!

But Nessa, as you explain you only need it to send pics overseas and baby videos...I am not sure whether you want to buy this one as it is more advanced...but anyway, it is a great investment for people who have a lot of family gatherings, parties, reasons to record video and take HD pictures...

We bought ours for $1500.00 (Not because we are filthy rich, but because it is a once in a lifetime purchase)

Here is a link with the details: SONY HDR SR12

We love it because:

1. It's size, easy to carry, easy to use

2. It's technology, records on Memory stick media (up to 120GB) in HDD

3. 1920x1080 Recording, awesome sound (Dolby Digital, built-in microphones)

4. Hybrid Recording to Hard Disk Drive or Memory Stick® Media

5. Easy to use Touch Panel functions and displays

6. Easily transfers pics and media in seconds onto computer/tv/etc without compromising quality

7. Has a remote

8. 12 Hour rechargeable battery

9. And there are a lot more reasons, but these are the ones I could think of off the top of my head...

And personally, we prefer SONY media/camcorders/cameras....simply no comparison to the rest!

(We also own a SONY CYBERSHOT DSC-W170)

Goodluck!

[Niels Bohr 72]

We have a SONY HDR SR12 and LOVE IT!!!

But Nessa, as you explain you only need it to send pics overseas and baby videos...I am not sure whether you want to buy this one as it is more advanced...but anyway, it is a great investment for people who have a lot of family gatherings, parties, reasons to record video and take HD pictures...

We bought ours for $1500.00 (Not because we are filthy rich, but because it is a once in a lifetime purchase. Because of this, now we're filthy poor.

Here is a link with the details: SONY HDR SR12

We love it because:

1. It's size, easy to carry, easy to use

2. It's technology, records on Memory stick media (up to 120GB) in HDD

3. 1920x1080 Recording, awesome sound (Dolby Digital, built-in microphones)

4. Hybrid Recording to Hard Disk Drive or Memory Stick® Media

5. Easy to use Touch Panel functions and displays

6. Easily transfers pics and media in seconds onto computer/tv/etc without compromising quality

7. Has a remote

8. 12 Hour rechargeable battery

9. And there are a lot more reasons, but these are the ones I could think of off the top of my head...

And personally, we prefer SONY media/camcorders/cameras....simply no comparison to the rest!

(We also own a SONY CYBERSHOT DSC-W170)

Goodluck!

FIXXOR!

[NickD 202]

and which brand is better? canon, panasonic, samsung, jvc, sony?

As the "electronic genius" in the family they are all junk in the sense if you get a few drops of water on any of them, they are history. Little prejudice toward Sony with their special batteries and memory requirements with price tags that match, plus they have taken over a good portion of our film industry. And I did buy a Sony 8mm camcorder for 1,100 bucks, properly stored it, only used it twice and it doesn't work anymore. Ordered a service manual, and it's useless, doesn't even tell how to adjust the tape guides.

A lot depends on what you are going to do with the media, my Fuji FinePix F31fd works fine for our purposes, can record 30 minutes on a 2 GB xD chip that are fairly cheap in 640 by 480 resolution or twice that in 320 by 240 resolution. With the lower resolution with can send an 18 second video via e-mail with most having a 10 MB limit to family and friends. And the 640 by 480 gives a fairly decent picture on a 17" screen notebook. What I really like about it, it has an ISP rating of 3600, so when other people are getting black, I am getting viewable movies or photos, the size of a pack of cigarettes so easy to carry. Have carried my large RCA with extra battery packs and stereo microphone to record concerts, that is tiring.

You can read internet specifications until you are blue in the face, but won't know until you get that camera in your hand. Prefer to buy locally with the option of bringing it back if I don't like it, done that more than once. Also price the accessories. My Fuji came with a 178 page manual, if I don't use it for a couple months, seem to forget even how to turn it on. But whatever you buy or pay, will be worthless in a couple of weeks, ebay has zillions of cameras for sale.

[Niels Bohr 72]

.......has an ISP ISO rating of 3600....

FIXXOR!

I agree, Sony in terms of style it a nice thing to have. Many of their stuff are overpriced. Don't get me wrong, I love Sony. Just somethings are priced more expensive than other brands in terms of performance/price. I do have many Sony products.

However, I love their 52'inch LCD TV 1080p. I played HALO 2 on it at a BEST BUY LAN PARTY event. Everyone or teams were using a different brand TV. I noticed that this SONY gives the BEST output compared to other all other TVs on the shelf. It was priced at $3000.

[Shad and Dani 3]

If you have the extra cash I say go for it! Never had any problems out of my Panasonic

[Nessa 23]

i am interested on JVC Everio GZ-HD40. I might go with that. Not sure about JVC brand, though

[Ban Hammer 13,333]

i am interested on JVC Everio GZ-HD40. I might go with that. Not sure about JVC brand, though

jvc is a good brand.

[NickD 202]

i am interested on JVC Everio GZ-HD40. I might go with that. Not sure about JVC brand, though

jvc is a good brand.

Ha, with me, three strikes and you are out, purchased a JVC VCR, after all, JVC invented VHS, worse player I ever had, the take up clutch was a piece of junk, supply reel worked fine, but would feed several feet of tape into the machine until it jammed. Also purchased a JVC receiver from Best Buy when Best Buy was best buy, didn't get around to testing it for a couple of months, but learned the speaker switches was adding the two speaker system in SERIES? That is a hi-fi mortal sin, Best Buy would not take it back, but believe me, had quite an audience in trying to return it. Lost that battle, but did get a service manual, did some engineering, reduced the power output from 120 watts to 90 watts, but both speakers are now in parallel like they should be. But that was strike two.

Strike three is when my son brought over a two year old JVC receiver with a blown microcontroller chip, JVC wanted 180 bucks for that chip, but they all are that way, that is why you don't see anymore repair shop. A corporation dropped off 30 some odd Sony monitors, the tri-color kind, all 30 had blown out high voltage supplies, parts cost less labor far exceeded the price of a new monitor, was a very poor design lacking overvoltage protection.

Son just called me, his Canon A75 just bit the dust, like me, takes very good care of his stuff with the zip lock bag and all that. This consumer stuff is all #######, would only cost a couple of cents more to add protection to the CMOS circuitry, even moisture can overload a gate output and fry it without protection, use the cheapest three layer CMOS that is possible.

I do have a Sony DV-STR1070 receiver, it's in their profession class, has a computer program to match your speakers with your room size, I like it, but it's only six channel Doby, seven channel is out now, so it's obsolete. But way to complicated for my wife, she was using it and hit one of the zillion buttons my mistake and lost everything, had to call me to get it back on line, she said she could never do that. Told her only to touch the power button and the volume, LOL. Buying electronics is never a one time life investment.

I use to work for Zenith, made in Chicago, that's history. Working on my Tek 475 scope now, after twenty some odd years, a plastic cam broke for one of the time base switches, copied that part in brass, maybe that will last. Made in the USA with all USA parts, fully repairable, and lots of real gold on the inside, those are the days I like to remember. Do have a real fancy digital scope, but if I don't use that everyday, have to grab the manual. Chicago use to be the electronic headquarters of the world, today, can only find a Radio Shack store.

[NickD 202]

Son just purchased a Sony DCR-SX41 camcorder, but could only talk about the telephoto lens, 60X optical and up to 2000X digital with very low light sensitivity. Can see his point, I didn't see his camcorder yet, but he likes the very small size, comes with 8G of internal memory, my granddaughter will be crawling soon, so nice to have videos of that.

He paid 300 bucks for it, seems cheap compared to the outdated cameras I have, my oldest is an RCA I paid over 1,800 bucks for and that thing requires two 250 watt photo lamps just to get a dim picture, but could have done better on the net. But I like buying that stuff locally myself because over 50% of the time, end up bringing it back, like a printer yesterday. Best Buy wanted 90 bucks for a spare battery, but found a good battery on the net for 35 bucks and a genuine Sony for 60 bucks. Just told him to buy a huge hard drive for his computer.

I am questioning the reliability of recording DVD's on a home computer, not having too much success with that. Did ask him if he is planning on working for the CIA with that telephoto, but forgot to ask him about wide angle, that you really need inside the house.

[Nessa 23]

I bought a JVC Full HD EVerio GZ-HD40 Hybrid Camcorder.

It has 120GB HD, 10x opt. zoom, it has the additional memory card option, you can record in AVCHD or MPEG-2, etc. I didn't worry about the zoom. What i wanted was a big HD built in to store hours of video, so I don't have to buy additional memory cards, or dvds, tapes, anything like that.

Canon's video editing progam sucked. this one comes with other programs, i hope it's better.

[DeadPoolX 9]

I bought a JVC Full HD EVerio GZ-HD40 Hybrid Camcorder.

It has 120GB HD, 10x opt. zoom, it has the additional memory card option, you can record in AVCHD or MPEG-2, etc. I didn't worry about the zoom. What i wanted was a big HD built in to store hours of video, so I don't have to buy additional memory cards, or dvds, tapes, anything like that.

Canon's video editing progam sucked. this one comes with other programs, i hope it's better.

If you're in the market for a good video editing program, I'd strongly suggest Magix Movie Edit Pro 14 Plus. They might be up to version 15 by now, but the point is that they make video editing software that easily rivals Adobe Premiere (I should know since I've used that extensively) for a much, much lower price.