Digital Camcorder Advice

[VIKINGMAN]

Hi Idiot!

They already excist, the cam's with interchangeable lenses. Some Canon Hi-8 cam's have lenses with 35mm.optics!

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ASUS P2B-S, PII-350 (o/c to 412MHz), 128MB RAM, Cheetah 9.1 GB, Matrox Mill. G200SG, SB 64AWE, Plextor 32x CD-Rom, Sony CDU-924S CD-R, Canon BJC-7000 InkJet and Canon CanoScan 300 Scanner.

[dragmore]

Well I was wondering about the same question some time ago. What DV cam to buy.

I finnally decided that it had to be either a Sony PC100 or a JVC 9600. And i landed on the 9600 since the pc100 is awfull in the hand (bisquet box!).
I also bought a Pyro 1394 card and it all werks fine in win98. Still have some probs in win2k, but i cant get all to werk right away..!?!?

After using the 9600 for 2 weeks now i have to say that i'm pretty pleased with it. It's small and easy in the hand. Excellent picture quality. The standard battery could have been a little larger. About 30-50 min with viewfinder. But all in all since i'm a novice user of Video cams i'm pretty satisfied.

--Dragmore

[Joe DeFuria]

I haven't tried the PC-100 yet in my hand (no one around here seems to have one in stock), and that's what's going to make or break the PC-100 for me.

What's the JVC 9600? I've only seen the DVM-50, DVM-70, and DVL9500. (I'm in the states). Is the 9600 a Euorpean model?

[dragmore]

The PC-100 is awfull in the hand. The JVC DVL-9600 is the ieee1394 IN/OUT ready ver of 9500.
I like it alot. It has most of the features as the pc-100 and is very good in the hand.
It's very much as the tvr-900 from sony in the hand.

drag

[Joe DeFuria]

Well, I'm not sure what you mean considering the 9500 is already ieee1394 ready. Could you point to an on-line source / review for the 9600? JVC America's site does nothave the 9600 (and I can't get into the European site....).

Where did you buy yours?

You can't convince me how good or bad the sony is in the hand, because that's highly subjective (though I do appreciate your opinion.) I (and my wife) find the PC1 to be the "best" in hand so far. I know the PC-100 is a little larger and ergonomically different though. But if you find the PC-1 to be bad in the hand, then we have completely different tastes.

[This message has been edited by Joe DeFuria (edited 18 January 2000).]

[mr.BeBoT]

Hey VIKINGMAN & This_Idiot,

Well I was planning on not posting anything 'bout this subject since the budget was not to be over $1500 but since you were wondering 'bout interchangeable dv-cams I have the canon XL-1 if ya want more info. just go to canondv.com

[dragmore]

Well the european ver of the 9500 doesnt have firewire IN support. The 9600 ver does but cost more. It's also in another colour.

My opinion of how the cameras feel in the hand is of cource highly subjective.
I really prefer cameras like trv900 and 9600 to pc100 and those kinds of "high rised" cams.

Dragmore.

[Joe DeFuria]

Thanks for your response Dragmore.

Yeah,the 9500 passes the RT-2000 tests for printing to tape, so I assume it supports firewire in. (At least the North American model, anyway.)

I still haven't seen a spec sheet or anyone even carry the 9600 for sale, even on the 'net.

As for in hand ergonomics....yeah...looks like we're pretty much opposite. I happen to prefer the "high rise" style, but only if the zoom rocker is operated by the index finger. (Which the sony models happen to support). I didn't care for the thumb wheel rocker of the Elura, for example.

I also have relatively small hands, which tends to fit high-rise models better than larger hands. (Now waiting for someone to chime in with a crack about hand size in relation to other things... )

I found a shop near me that has a PC-100 in stock, so I'll get to try one out today. I'll let y'all know how it "feels."

[Joe DeFuria]

Ahhh....found it!

Had to go to JVC's "corporate" site and look at all their offerings, and here's what I found:

GR-DVL9500 (NTSC Version)
www.jvc-victor.co.jp/english/cyber/contents/ntsc/grdvl9500.html

GR-DVL9500/9600 (PAL Versions)
http://www.jvc-victor.co.jp/english/...grdvl9600.html

The NTSC 9500 version does indeed support Firewire In, and appers identical to the PAL 9600 version. The 9500 PAL version (as Dragmore noted) does NOT support Firewire in, and this camera does NOT have an NTSC equivalent...despite sharing the same name as the NTSC 9500.

Someone in the JVC naming / marketing department needs to be shot!

[Joe DeFuria]

Just to wrap this up....

I bought a PC-100.

The only "negative" of the PC-100 compared to the PC-3 besides the higher price is its size. It's not as transportable as the PC-3. It still feels good in my hand and I felt the extra features were worth the extra $300 in price. (Specifically, the megapixel still image capability, as well as the longer battery length.)

The other thing that drove me away from the PC-3 is that I could never get a straight answer about the warranty. It's not meant for sale in the U.S., and if anything ever went wrong with it, I have a feeling I could be in trouble.

I've played around with it a bit, and so far I'm very satisfied with it. (Considering my last camcorder is an older JVC VHS-C unit, how could I not be?) I'll probably start a new thread with a mini-review a bit later. In the mean time, if anyone has any specific questions about this camcorder, let me know!

-- Joe

[DavetheKing]

Ok, my first time on this... my ideas...which i am sure are out-of-date and from what i can see the lens of this camera is not sufficient for what you want..but here goes... i have had the Canon ZR since 6/98... absolutely love it.. I have hiked to Macchu Picchu in Peru with it...and around Azungate Mt. in Peru with 5 hours of video.. down into the grand canyon in Arizona... with great video etc...it is light, compact, easy to use... works great on my computer with videostudio 4.0 etc.. and the price is right... probably can be purchased for $650 these days...

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