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A friend of mine is looking into buying a new Digital camcorder but doesn't really know what too look for. I'm kinda dumb on this subject myself and was gonna ask u good people for some help. So any idea what would be a good buy?

Her max amount she's willing to spend is $400 and has found one she kinda liked...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1165610073230

So good people of the forums...any suggestions?

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MikeSty

One obligatory remark - Make sure you take notice of the power of the OPTICAL zoom, which is the amount of zoom the lens arrangement can provide. Digital Zoom is basically digital enhancement of the image, which makes it look like total crap most of the time.

Most cameras will have a decent amount of both, so it's not as though you should look for one that's explicitly high in optical and low in digital, but rather one that is high in both and does not sell itself off of the total zoom comprising mostly of digital zoom. If it says 20x optical and 400x digital, that's not bad.

bendsley

You might take a look on JR.com and newegg.com and see what they have as well. I would tell you that you should buy the camcorder online and not at Best Buy/Circuit City. You don't want to pay their markup.

For instance, the camcorder you picked out is $329.99 at BB, and $289 at JR.com with $6 ground shipping. You come out ahead.

OK, anyway. More about DV. MiniDV is the venerable old man of the camcorder industry, and is quickly being ushered out, despite many adherents. Though the term MiniDV has become almost synonymous among consumers with the DV compression format, more specifically it refers to a specific size of tape cassette. DV-compressed video is recorded onto MiniDV cassettes. MiniDV also became the recording media for the first consumer high definition format, HDV. MiniDV tapes can fit 60 minutes of video in both DV and HDV, or 90 minutes of DV in the lower quality LP setting.

While there is no doubt that MiniDV is being eclipsed by newer formats like DVD, hard disk drive (HDD), and flash memory cards, it does offer a number of advantages. MiniDV is cheap and widely accessible. It's relatively durable, though many users have experienced the frustration of a faulty tape mechanism that spills out the lengths of tape. Cassettes make for easy archiving and the capture process for editing DV is more widely available than any other media.

Most crucial, perhaps, is that DV compression generally offers better quality video than the other formats. Standard definition DVD, HDD, and flash memory camcorders all employ MPEG-2 compression, which has a much lower data rate than DV - almost 1/3 the speed (8.5Mbps versus 25Mbps). Data speed is only one component of video quality, but it is important.

MiniDV's flaw, however, is its linear nature. In the same way that DVDs surpassed VHS, people want the ability to skip around a random access set of files rather than fast forwarding and rewinding to get to a specific section on a tape. The camcorder manufacturers banked on the publics willingness to sacrifice quality for that convenience, and it paid off.

A MiniDV camcorder remains a viable investment, however, for a number of reasons. While little innovation can be expected in the medium, hardware and software manufacturers will continue support it for some time to come. Prices have dropped dramatically in the last few years, making it extremely affordable. And while the DV format may fade, HDV camcorders are just picking up steam and will continue to use MiniDV tape, ensuring a continued legacy of support well into the future.

If you are buying a camcorder now though, and might possibly want HD, I would tell you to buy something that records to solid state or a hard drive. Tapes are just a stopgap for this format.


For some camcorder ratings and more info., look here: http://www.camcorderinfo.com/ratings.php
http://www.sonyhdvinfo.com/

Again, sites to look at using to buy:
www.bhphotovideo.com (I use this one)
www.jr.com ( I use this one too)
www.newegg.com (Who doesn't use newegg)

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MexicanOnABike

sony(i think) made a camera recently that is HD and saves to sd cards. it was ~600-700$. and the picture quality was really high too. if i find the link, i'll let you know..

as far as miniDV goes, make sure you buy the firewire ports, cables. and check your optical zoom. my panasonic has a 24x which was the top of the line 2years ago.

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Thanks yall for the help ^^

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