Best handycams within $400???

Question

CAN SOMEONE SUGGEST A GOOD HANDYCAM WITHIN $400? IS SONY THE BEST? SHOULD I GO FOR MINI DV OR THE DVD TYPE ONE?

Answer 1

Since you did not tell us what you will be recording, it is a bit of a challenge.

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

Highest compression of the available storage formats results in lost data = poor video quality... especially if you have any intention of ever editing. The DVD based camcorders will compress into a VOB file typically not useful directly by most video editors. That typically means ripping the DVD or using the analog AV cables that come with the camcorder and transferring low-quality analog video through a analog/digital bridge.

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

The BEST quality video comes from camcorders that use miniDV tape (which record into DV format for standard definition video). There is very little compression applied and if your computer has a firewire port, DV can be editied by pretty much any video editing application. You will use the DV port of the camcorder connected to the firewire port of your computer - using a firewire cable (firewire, i.Link, IEEE1394 are all the same thing).

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

Higher video quality than DVD based and not quite miniDV tape based camcorder video quality are the hard drive and certain higher-end flash based camcorder - they typically compress a lot into a MPEG file format. Most (not all) video editors can deal with this with not additional codecs - but the translation apps are available for all editing apps to deal with them.

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

When you use MiniDV tape, it is your "archive". Fill a 60 minute tape, pop out the tape, put in a new one and start rolling. I can use around 5 seconds from the time I press stop, replace a tape and am recording again.

When you use a hard drive based or flash memory based camcorder, what happens when you run out of memory? You need to transfer video to a computer, delete the files from the camcorder and start shooting again. Yes, they hold menay hours of video - you have to be sure to clean it out each time - just like you need to remember to carry blank tapes.

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

If you are planning to shoot loud music, you do not have much choice. Most low-end and mid-range camcorders do not have any manual audio control and have to rely on an auto audio leveling circuit. For the most part, this auto-audio gain mechanism cannot deal with loud music - this can be loud from a marching band or loud from amplified instruments. The resulting audio will be muddy and not usable. You can either find a Sony camcorder (DCR-HC28, DCR-HC96) that has a menu selection for normal or low gain for the audio or you can use an external device to control the gain (like a BeachTek XLR adapter - but you would be using a camcorder with a mic-in jack and XLR mics) or you can find a camcorder with manual audio control - there are none in your stated price range. The least expensive ones I know of are the Canon HV20 or Sony HDR-HC7.

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

Both the Sony DCR-HC28 and DCR-HC96 do not have a proper mic-in jack - they do have a Sony proprietary "active interface" shoe. Normally, that would mean you are locked into using ONLY Sony proprietary mics that work with the proprietary shoe... but, if you get http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/47... ... then you can use any mic or XLR adapter with a 1/8" jack. B&H is the only place these seem to exist - you can't even get them directly from Sony!

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

Answer 2

Here's a good camcorder buying guide - so that you'll know what important features to look for, and the difference with the types of recording media (miniDV, DVD, hard disk drive, etc...):

http://www.easycamcorders.com/content/Be...

and here's a list of the top camcorders by price range:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Cam...