Want a camcorder that records to DVD as well as transfers video easily to computer - what do you suggest?

Question

I'm going travelling and want to send video diaries home using DVD, but I also do a lot of video blogging, and want a camcorder which is easy to transfer video to the computer for editing. I've looked around and can't find one, so what do you suggest?

Answer 1

The new Sony and Hitachi are both good.

Answer 2

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER.

The video they capture (into VOB files) is highly compressed. The discs are a pain and the video quality for editing is terrible.

Best video quality continnues to be from miniDV tape based camcorders. Canon ZR800, ZR950, Panasonic PV-GS320, Sony DCR-HC29, HC96. You will need a Firewire400 port on your computer and a firewire cable - Firewire, i.Link and IEEE1394a are all the same thing.

If you have to, a hard drive based camcorder will do, but they are more expensive - and their video is not as good as miniDV tape - but the video transfer uses USB.

Check what the pros use - NONE use DVD camcorders. Nearly all use MiniDV Tape. You don't have to be a pro to use similar tools.

Answer 3

I would get a hard drive camera that docks to a dvd burner, like JVC cameras (i wouldn't necessarily just look at JVC though) but DON"T get one that uses AVCHD to encode the video as it is a gassy and bloated codec that uses a lot of space.

I haven't heard very good things about cameras that record to DVD