PC Peripherals Sony handycam

[EnigmatriX]

hi guys my friend is looking to buy a sony camcorder so could someone give some suggestions as to what is the best option.

max budget : 30k

and storage should be digital not the tape, cd or dvd.

 

[superczar]

storage should be digital not the tape, cd or dvd.

neraly every handycam sold these days stores video dat in digital format....be it mini DV tape (raw avi format) or DVD h-cam (compressed mpeg2)

what is the best option.

TOo generic a question....what is it that he plans to use it for ?

 

[EnigmatriX]

he doesnt have any specific plans for it mostly for shooting while going for site seeing and that sort of thing.

 

[superczar]

Get a Sony HC32 or HC42... Arnd 20K and 25K in the gray mkt or arnd 5% higher at jjmehta.com

They are fairly idiot-proof (like any sony)..

The HC42 has the added advantage of 1MP camera shots though I'd still suggest the HC32 over the 42 if ur friend already has a digicam (handycam still shots are rather poor in quality)...and the video quality of both is the same (despite the fact that the HC42 has a 1MP CCD, since a regular TV supports only 640-480, you don't get any incremental benefi there..)

Persoanlly, I'd choose one of Panasonic's 3 ccd models (GS-150 e.g.) for the plethora of manual controls that they offer (and of course, the 3 ccd's)

 

[EnigmatriX]

i read the reviews of hc32 and hc 42 in cnet they seem to be good and they too suggest hc32 and thnks for the suggestion as for the panasonic models thats upto my friend to decide , but i think he wants only a sony.

thanks m8

 

[Smith]

i have the hc32...not bad at all for videos. Just make sure that u have a firewire port in ur comp to transfer the videos...transferring via USB is a pain:bleh:

 

[EnigmatriX]

how long does it take to transfer via usb anyway

 

[superczar]

transfers will always be real-time.i.e. a 60 min tape = 60 mins to trfr...Just that the USB port transfers will often result in dropped frames.....

Anyway, 60 mins of tfr + arnd 60-120 mins (depending on config) to convert to ur favorite format (DivX/WMV/MPEG2 whatever)

 

[smsrohit]

i have a SONY DVD HANDYCAM DVD703E, the price is on the higher side, but it is worth it.
what do u r friend plan to use your hanycam for i.e Professional use or Home use [home movies]. Becoz the recording format in tape media is AVI [if i am not wrong], which is much more easier to edit as compared to DVD format which is mpeg2 , in which there will be a slight drop in the quality of the film after u edit it, though all the major software do that, personally i didnt see a quality drop in the film, and the tape media cannot be used more then 5 times[some site say that as 10] becoz there will be quality drop in film media and u will get drop frames. whereas dvd-rw can be used repeatedly if u handle the disk properly, movies and still can be stored in the same disk, whereas in hc32 u have buy a memory stick for that.