The Panasonic DVX100b 3ccd non hi-def pro sumer or a consumer hi-def camcorder whats better?

Question

The Panasonic DVX100b 3ccd non hi-def prosumer or a consumer hi-def like the cannon hv30 vixio hd camcorder whats better? What is a better investment? Im sure hd may have a brighter colors but the dvx100b might weight it out on clearity of the pic, and I believe the dvx100b can still be formatted to blue rey not sure though. Please throw any and all answers at me, all are welcomed. Thank you.

Answer 1

That's an excellent question...and it's a hard decision to make, so I will explain the pros and cons of each. Of course, one of the biggest factors in any decision is price, and consumer HD camcorders would be much much cheaper. At the same time, consumer HD camcorders will have more pixels, meaning a higher resolution than a prosumer SD camcorder. The HV30, in particular will give you an extremely clear picture in a higher resolution than the DVX100B.

However, HD or not, prosumer camcorders offer many features that a consumer camcorder will not. First of all, as you have mentioned, prosumer cameras have 3 image sensors (the DVX100B has 3 CCDs) as opposed to single chip consumer camcorders. 3 chip camcorders offer you increased sensitivity, meaning better color reproduction. Another feature in a prosumer camcorder is manual controls. Many people overlook the importance of good manual controls, but they distinguish filmmakers from simple family vacation videomakers. Manual controls allow you to fully manipulate your image, and personally, I hate the manual controls on the HV20 (similar to the HV30). I tend to leave it in automatic, as it's such a pain to manually adjust it. Normally, this would be a key deciding factor, but it's hard to say, as the HV20 and HV30 are excellent in automatic mode. It has the fastest and most accurate autofocus I have ever seen. Still, for artistic reasons, I'd prefer manual controls.

Also, the DVX100B offers dual XLR audio inputs, while the HV30 only has a simple minijack. The XLR inputs allow for much better microphones to be connected for crisp audio. It may not seem that important, but audio quality is almost more important than picture quality. However, you can upgrade your minijack to XLR with an XLR adapter, like those made by Beachtek. Some minijack microphones are decent though. I really like my RODE VideoMic.

In a short recap, here are the pros and cons of each:

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Consumer HD:

   PROS: cheaper, more pixels= higher resolution, easy to use, small and compact

  CONS: poor manual controls, lower quality audio connections (if any), HD=takes up more space on computer, and harder to edit, 1 image sensor

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Prosumer SD

   PROS: 3 image sensors= better color reproduction, manual controls, pro audio connections,

   CONS: lower resolution, big and bulky, more expensive, more complicated

I know it's a hard decision to make, but whatever your decision, I'm sure you'll be satisfied....they're both excellent cameras.

well, I hope that helped a bit, and best of luck