Here we go again…advice about handheld hi def camcorders

[Anonymous]

I know “which camera” question has been asked to death by many, including myself in the past. I am asking again because I was not clear about what I want the last time, and even after reading threads here (and information elsewhere), I still need your help. Plus I learnt that “work flow” is a big consideration in HD camcorder purchase.

I just bought a high end PC (quad processors, 3 GB RAM etc.). I need a Hi Def camcorder, consumer/prosume for now, the compact one, not the shoulder mount, for family videos.

Thecamcorder musttake MiniDV (better backup, don’t want to get into debate on that). What can I buy for about $1000 or less? There seems lot of models out there and I am confused.

I DO NOT expect to edit. However, I do want a painless way to transfer video on a DVD to play (instead of using the camcoder as a player). I have a blu ray player (PS3). I do not have a blu ray burner yet (will have probably next year). So I guess for now I will transfer in SD, burn in SD, and in future, will have option to do the blu ray burn.

I am a sucker for a chip size – the bigger, the better. Also need a good low light performance. Image stabilization would be a bonus.

What gives? 🙂

[birdcat]

I love my Sony SR11 (60 GB – The SR12 is the same camera with 120 GB).

Some sample footage:

http://video.birdcat.com/babe.html

http://www.vimeo.com/1134615

It has a 1/3 inch CMOS imager and runs in 5 lux. It records to hard drive and I can edit the MTS files directly in Vegas Pro 8, from which I can burn directly to BluRay (if I had a BD burner that is).

In short, the onl two things the camera is missing is time lapse (but it does have super slow mo) and the ability to record from external sources (D/A passthru).

I output currently to 16:9 widescreen SD on DVD and it looks great!

It’s not MiniDV (it’s AVCHD on Hard Disk) but does have optical image stabilization!

[Author]

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