Seeking Advice on Camcorders

My son just bought the mini JVC camcorder at Best Buy which comes in different colors and it works great. It has great sound and having it without cassettes is much better.

Just a thought................R.

I like the mini DVD's best. I just got rid of my Sony because it continually erased my videos, with no warning. The view screen cracked immediately also and since it was all controlled by touch screen, it made it almost impossible to use. I just bought the Panasonic and so far (only used it once) I love it. I even understand how to work it :) My only advice is to play around a lot with the ones you are interested while in the store. Look at the buttons etc while you are there. If any cameras get lots of wear and tear it's the demos in the store, and you can see what might wear out or break easily.

I can only recommend NOT going with the mini DV tapes - yes, they are cheaper, sometimes MUCH cheaper (I think I paid $200 over 2 yrs ago). But I have over 2 yrs worth of tapes & nothing on DVD yet because it takes way too much time to transfer everything & burn it on DVD. And that doesn't include any editing, which I was hoping to do when we first bought it.

I would suggest the mini DVD's at the very least, but it sounds like you still have to upload it to your computer if you want to do any editing, which is just time. It all depends on how much you really want to do with it - if it's just capture & duplicate onto DVD's for people, then you're probably fine sticking with mini DVD's.

Good luck!

I use the video camera function on my digital camera, just a thought.

Hi M.,
We bought the Sony with the built in hard drive when I was pregnant with our daughter, who is now 2yrs old. It has been great. I have no complaints at all. I think our concerns about recording on disc or tape was the ability to edit before saving to disc and memory space. Anyway, figured I would just put in a plug for the hard drive camcorder. Good luck! L.

We bought a Flip Video camera. It records one hour and has the connector for the computer build in; it flips out, hence the name. It's okay. If you do not have a steady hand, it doesn't take great picks. It's inexpensive, $140. The newer version, Flip Mino is HD and suppose to be better than the original.

Stephanie

We love our hard-drive camcorder, because we don't have to mess with DVs/DVDs that run out of space, storage, etc. We can plug the camcorder directly (and easily!) into the TV as soon as we finish recording (or during!) to view our captured moments, and downloading them onto the computer is quick and easy too, and nice for sharing with family. However, there's so much storage space on the camera's hard drive, I'm not sure when we would ever have actually needed to download the clips. I highly recommend hard drive--for me, the less clutter, the better!

I have a Canon that I got for my baby shower. I did a little research on the best cameras before I registered for that one. I WISH I'd researched more. It takes mini dvds which DO NOT work in regular dvd players and are only 30 min. There is NO option to upload to a computer... which I just thought was standard these days. So I would definitely advise you to get one that can upload to your computer (if you have one and can use lots of memory) otherwise it's a great camera. Good luck.

I have one that records to memory and we love it. We upload photos to youtube so all the family can see our son grow up. We almost got the one that records to dvd but once its on the dvd its there forever, you can't edit it. I love that we can show our family the video.

I have a JVC camera that uses a hard drive. If you have a computer with a lot of memory, it works perfectly. You can download everything right to the computer and then copy them to DVD, if you have a DVD burner installed on the computer. You can always just plug the camera into the TV to play videos directly from the camera. I love that we never have to worry about buying anything extra. One of the features that I also appreciate is that when you use this camera, you don't have to worry about recording over anything. I just turn the camera on and it's ready to go. I can easily go from viewing footage to recording and not worry about finding where the tape ends... One thing to definitely look at is the length of the mini dvd's. I used to have a VHS-C, which were mini vhs tapes. They were only made to be 30 minute tapes, so some events are 2 and 3 tapes long. It's so difficult to keep track of all of them. With our new camera, every time we turn the camera on, it's a new file so it's easy to find what we're looking for.
You can always buy an extra hard drive and install it to your computer (easy) to allow room for the videos. It really makes a difference. ** just a thought: if the mini dvd's don't work in a regular DVD player, you would have to be at home to use them or have to take an adapter with you (like my VHS-C). Friends of family might not be able to watch them unless you make copies to a regular DVD**

We love using our digital camera's video function, like Catherine, because we always have it with us since it's so small. If I record anything longer than a few minutes we probably won't watch it either. Then I just upload our clips to youtube.

Hi M.,

I'm not very technically savvy, but I love the Sony camcorder we got that uses mini DVD's. It fits in the palm of your hand, so it's portable. It can be plugged into the TV so you can watch your videos either on the camera screen or the big screen of the TV. You can download your videos from the DVD onto the computer and burn extra copies of the DVD to send to family and friends. You can buy a video card separately (ours takes a Sony Pro-Duo memory card) and, depending on how much space it has, you can snap and keep hundreds of photos with the camcorder as well. You can take that card to any photo kiosk and print out the photos.

My only disappointment in the camcorder we have is that you can't make still shots from your video. I had a friend who had a video camera that could actually capture still shots, like photographs, from the video footage. She could watch the video footage right on her camera and press a button to still the shot and save it as a photo.

A great benefit is that your son will love to watch himself! My son is 2 years old and when I review the video we've taken (always of him ;-) he clambers up on my lap to watch himself :-)

Good luck in choosing a video camera!

Just in terms of time - you might look into one that goes directly on to the DVD. We have the mini DV and I have about 15 tapes that need to be uploaded to the computer (takes about 1 hour) and then burned back onto a DVD (which takes at least an hour if not two.)

My son loved to watch himself as a kid - those were the videos he watched. To not have to put them onto a DVD would be quite nice - my hubby and I are thinking of getting one.

Good luck.

My husband and I bought a hard drive camcorder for our daughter's moments prior to her birth. We love it. We have a website with links to YouTube and all our family that live far from us (that is all of them) love to keep up with her growth with photos and videos. It is really easy to use and there is no need to buy any extra tapes or DVDs. You can transfer your video right to your computer and make DVDs as you see the need, or just hook up your camcorder to any TV and show your lil' one on the big screen. Hard drive camcorders are more expensive because you don't have to buy the extra tapes/DVDs and also they are the newest technology. So, if you plan on having the camcorder for the long haul be wary of technology taking a turn and being stuck with something you can't find tapes/DVDs for. We simply didn't have the money to buy another camcorder if that happened in the next 5 years, so we put out a little extra money at the beginning. If you can hold off there will probably be excellent door buster sales after Thanksgiving and great sales after the first of the year. Enjoy!

Hello M.,
I own a JVC camcorder with a memory chip plus the DVD size cassette. My camcorder plugs into the tv, & I can record the small video into a VHS. Some camcorders have a DV (digital video) can be connected to the computer. The memory chip I have can be uploaded on Compaq Presario XP computers or taken into Walmart or Longs if you want photos. There is a setting of tape speed.
Some other parents I know own the kind with a hard drive. There is Sony, Panosonic, & JVC. It depends on what brand you prefer. Digital cameras can record short clips. Good luck on your search for one. G.

Check out www.retrevo.com. You can put in the criteria you are looking for. Brand preference, price, ease of use etc., read user reviews. It also gives you information on pricing comparison between different retailers and where the product is available. We have purchased a digital camera using this site. Good luck.

We have a Sony that uses the mini DVDS and we love it, it is so easy to use and nice to be able to easily watch the DVD right away!!