Help deciding which?

[lespaul678]

Hey all,

I just got back from returning a Panasonic Mini-DV MODEL #PV-GS80 to best buy. I was disgusted at the quality of the output. So now, I know that I am in a search for a TRUE HD camera with solid state memory

So, I found this camera here:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3281570&CatId=3359

Now, I know the price is cheap, but it claims to be true HD according to the resolution and specs.
My only problem now, is I notice that the format is only in .mov. I am used to MPEG and AVI, so I dont know if .mov is more difficult to work with because of compatibility with video editing software, etc.

Anyone have any feedback on the above camera or the .mov format? I am in the market for a decent HD camera between $400-500 and I think this may be a good start. In addition, is there a good site that compared lower-end HD cameras?

Also, would anyone know of some great HD video editing software, that is not to expensive?

I appreciate your time,

Eric

[Anonymous]

Eric,
That camcorder seems to be only for simple "snapshot" style movies. (Vacations and parties, where you’re not trying to do anything grand. Just something you play back once or twice for a few laughs.) Fine if that’s what you want, but it seems to be missing things that ambitious videomakers would want, like a mic input, and manual over-rides for mic volume, exposure, focus, and white balance.

MOV files are common for Mac computers, but many Windows-based editors can use them. (But you might check if it can take a MOV at HD resolution).

Frankly, I suspect that if you’re not happy with standard resolution, you would not be happy with the limited control of this camcorder. The Canon HV20 is a high-end consumer HD camcorder. You might like that, although it costs about $1000. You should be able to find other HD camcorders for less than that, that offer some manual control.

BTW — Editing HD will take a slightly more powerful computer. Do a search through this forum for posts on what you would need.

Hope this helped, 🙂
Ken Hull

[Anonymous]

I agree with Ken above! Most solid state camcorders will either record in MOV like the one you mentioned above, or possibly even AVCHD.

Unfortunately not all editors will be able to edit that footage, so do some research and see what software will handle that footage okay.

Also, as Ken suggested, the Canon HV20 and the newest HV30 are great “consumer” camcorders for less than $1000. They use DV/HDV tape to capture the footage, but is easily capture to a computer with a firewire cable. Most, if not ALL, softwre editors will handle this with no problem.

If you want even better quality, you can use an HDMI cable and capture in realtime, but you would have to bypass recording to the tape. A drawback of this would be you MUST have a very fast computer to do it.

Don’t worry, the tape is very good and very easy to work with. The HV20/HV30 produce excellent results.

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