Camera handycam

yogi7272

Adept
Aug 2, 2006
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hi guys .. i am looking for a handycam .. sony is preferred brand here i think .. also which one to go for dvd or dv ? in terms of quality which one is good ..

my bro has sony dvd based one .. its quite good .. but is dvd based one are better than dv models ..? max budget 18k ..
 

techie_007

Skilled
Jun 2, 2007
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Personally, i prefer the DV ones over the DVD ones. :) look around on the net for comparisons....

somehow i dont trust the idea of a burner in a handycam..... ;) + the DV tapes are not that exp.

dunno if u can reuse the DVDs like the DV tapes....
 

ibm_jennifer

Disciple
May 10, 2007
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Personally, i prefer the DV ones over the DVD ones

Yes, its the truth. DVD cams uses MPEG/MP4 capture which is around 9Mbps while DV cams are in 25Mbps.

If money doesn't matter, buy a 3CCD DV or HD camera.
 

ashr

Skilled
Dec 11, 2005
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handycam eh? get the Panasonic NV-GS150 if it's still available. a friend bought one 2 years back for 40 grand. i heard you can find one for about 20k now but i'm not sure about availability. it could have been replaced by a newer model.

GREAT camera for the price. I shot 75% of a short film on it when I didn't have any money :p . The other 25% was shot with a borrowed Sony PD-170 which cost about 1.5 lakhs about that time (a 'prosumer' camera while the handycam is consumer level). We took a lot of care while shooting with the NV-GS150 (with lighting and stuff) and when the footage was finally intercut with the PD170 footage, there was little to no difference in visual quality.

Mind you, it is obviously not as good as the PD170 but I'd say we really pushed it to the limits and it held up really well.
 

ibm_jennifer

Disciple
May 10, 2007
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I don't recommend GS150 no more to anybody in 2007. No widescreen, No Optical Stabilization, No manual Focus Ring. GS-250 is better for the money.

If you can find GS-150 then wait, look around for GS-400, if not try GS-250. But if you cant spend that much money, Yes GS-150 is not a BAD choice at all!

Panasonic NV-GS400 Review - Camcorders
 

sunbiz_3000

Adept
Apr 25, 2005
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Yes... Panasonic GS320 is the best buy at the moment.. Its for some 20k.. I got it this summer for 26k from JJ Mehta and its worth every penny!! Amazing video quality and color capturing at this budget... And I still prefer DV over DVD.. Mayb the AVC on HDD handycams were better, but then I didnt have the budget, so didnt buy it...

Anyways, I now know the one I own is quite a good one for all my needs!!
 

ashr

Skilled
Dec 11, 2005
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Either way, you probably cant go wrong with a Panny. my HVX202 is infinitely better than the Sony counterpart at the prosumer HD level. my experiences with the Panasonic handycam i mentioned was also very good.

however, i must say that i don't think the brand would really matter at your budget. if you can't find a Panasonic at that price but can get a Sony, by all means go for it. i'm assuming it's only for casual use.

just make sure it's miniDV and not DVD.

on a slightly related note, does anyone have a recommendation for a good HD handycam?
 

ibm_jennifer

Disciple
May 10, 2007
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anyone have a recommendation for a good HD handycam?

If it's HD - Canon. If its' DV - Panasonic. If its' DSLR - Canon, if its DC again Canon. I don't TRUST with 'SONY' at all other than Televisions. (Again its my personal op). But Sony HDR series are not Bad at all!
 

ashr

Skilled
Dec 11, 2005
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ibmmainframes said:
If it's HD - Canon. If its' DV - Panasonic. If its' DSLR - Canon, if its DC again Canon. I don't TRUST with 'SONY' at all other than Televisions. (Again its my personal op). But Sony HDR series are not Bad at all!

nah i don't want Sony. i don't want to deal with HDV. i'll probably look at something that records AVCHD.
 

ibm_jennifer

Disciple
May 10, 2007
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I heard about UX1 & SR1, 5 & 7...But in Dvd based you can't go beyond 15 to 30 mins in one shot. or you can try Panasonic HDC-SD1 based on SD cards.

So as of now, Canon HG10 is the best. but you may need to carry your laptop for picnic (???). Yes you can't go beyond 5 hours in HDD with H.264

So its all based on storage format, Sony is best for DVD based, panasonic is best for SD/P4 and Canon is the leader is HDD.

But personally I recommend you to wait for the launch of BLUE RAY based AVC camcorders.

And to edit H.264 you may need a good decoder like CoreAVC or Nvidia PureVideo. Will your Vegas support AVC?
 

ashr

Skilled
Dec 11, 2005
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I already use CoreAVC and if I do need to edit it, I can use Final Cut. I think that supports AVCHD already. Anyway, it's just to shoot random stuff which may not even be edited. Mostly stuff which I could use as stock footage if I ever needed it.