Which DV Camcorder to buy ??? £1K to spend

[scooterboy]

Chris

Depending on the type of footage you plan to edit via DV be careful with choice of Cam, that lack of Analog input I mentioned for the TRV8/10 seems to apply to a lot of the mid range DV cams (MV200 too)

DV-in enabling is one thing, but if you want to incorporate analog sourced footage without the *substantial* time it takes to capture MJPEG and rerender to the software DV codec then most of these cams would appear next to useless, leaving you stuck solely with what you can shoot using the cam itself.

Only the low cost Sony D8 type DV cams seem to offer analog input accross the range with analog on other MiniDV cams being on an ad-hoc cam per cam basis (at least until you hit the high price models such as the TRv900, MV20i, PC100 etc where its more or less a standard feature)

Working on a budget the D8 format, bulky or not, looks like a clear winner

Steven C

[This_Idiot]

Hi Steve,

I really appreciate your input here. I'll be trying (at some stage as yet undefined over the next month or so) to get all this stuff into an article for all and sundry to read after this thread is dead and gone.

For my own purposes, analog input to the cam is a non-event. If I need to do entire DV->DV->DV then the input (ie denEUtered) capability is an issue. For me personally this isn't an issue, as I can't currently imagine a scenario (apart from review purposes) where I would need to do this. My footage either ends up archived to CD in an editable format or pushed back out to VHS as a finished product. Since DVDs aren't all that big/affordable in the UK, it's not high on the priortiy list.

And since I don't have any 8mm footage, my OWN requirements can safely ignore that format. Luckily (for me), my old S-VHS camcorder survived sufficiently to drag in my limited footage, although it was so cheap (2nd hand) and so tired that it won't survive that sole task.

So basically, my requirement is for a digital format allowing decent capture quality for manipulation on the PC (via VS4 currently, although I might move to MS6 later). Batch capture may become impirtant at this point, although it hasn't been an issue yet.

In terms of output, I only have a need for PC file formats and for composite/s-video, both of which can be achieved from the RR/Marvel. For the sake of the site, I also want a cam that can be used for digital input, so I hope that the DV200 fits the bill here.

Damn, I'm yawning. I'd like to continue this conversation, as It is an intertesting discourse that has huge implications to the readership as a whole, and the europeans specifically

[Brian Ellis]

Hi!

Last week I was in S. Florida (on business, I hasten to add, as I couldn't afford the cash for the fare from Cyprus, otherwise. I had a day to look around some of the shops. The best display of cams that I found was in Sears (much better in range and quality than other, more specialised stores like Circuit City, CompUSA etc.). They had about 25 cams, each connected directly to an identical Sony TV (15" or thereabouts) so tape did not come into it. As one can point the cameras at the same in-shop scene, one could get a direct comparison. All 6 DVs they had were visually superior to the 2 D8s which were roughly similar to the Hi-8s, even on the wee screen. There was little visible difference between the Hi-8s and the S-VHS-Cs or even most of the ordnary VHS-C, but there was a distinct loss with the two cheapest VHS models. Of course, I would expect the taped results from the Hi-8s and all the VHS models to be inferior to the D8s, but they did not have tapes in. This subjective appreciation was made over both looking at the store (more difficult to see) and looking at their shelf of tapes of all sorts from a distance of about 30 cm (this sorted the sheep from the goats, especially on colour rendering and the legibility of printing). I mentally congratulated Sears at offering such a comparison, worthy of a more specialised store.

Circuit City had about a dozen cams, none of them working and CompUSA had three, again none working.

I recommend anyone buying a camera to go to Sears or a similar store which offers such a comparison but to go further and ask to see the taped results, also (I didn't dare, as I was not going to buy an NTSC machine!!!!).

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Brian (the terrible)

[Pooh]

Well guys I made up my mind today and took the TRV110 back to Argos today. It was a close call as it turns out their returns policy does not extend to Camcorders ( guess I should have read the small print ) but thanks to some skillful negotiation I managed to egt them to take it back. The TRV110 would have cost me £599.

Why did I return it? Well because I got a TRV310 from my local Currys store for £565 along with a handfull of Hi8 HMP tapes ( I love haggling ). The 310 has a 3.5inch LCD screen rather than the 2.5 inch screen of the TRV110. Apart from that from what I can gather it's the same camera.

I had a look at the new Sony D8 cameras, the TRV120, 320, 520 etc. The 120 is £699. Funny thing though is that I must have tried about 6 different sources and they all quoted £699. Who says there is price fixing. The only major differences I could see was the 25X rather than 20X optical zoom, and the ability to record 90 minutes on a Hi8 120 tape. When you start going up the scale you get the ability ro use memory cards etc but that is a feature I don't need. As the TRV310 is now the older model the prices are falling sharply. Be warned though the stock levels of the 110 and 310 are falling rapidly and they cannot be replaced.

Hope this helps anyone following this thread.

By the way, does anyone want to buy a Sony TRV46E Hi8 Camcorder, 14 months old, mint condition, etc, etc. If interested give me a shout.

Best Wishes

Pooh