What is the best Camcorder format to meet our needs ?

Question

We will primarily use the camcorder to capture children growing up and for family events, both indoors and outdoors. We want to be able to save the memories for many years. We also want to be able to share short unedited videos of the kids growing up sending via e-mail or posting to internet sites such as YouTube.

While we do not know anything about video editing, we do have the desire to learn to do some basic editing to capture the best scenes, add titles and music and perhaps some limited special effects. We’ve read a fair amount about the format options, and still aren’t sure whether the hard drive, DVD or MiniDV format would be best for us.

We do value ease of use in terms of transfer of video from the camcorder to computer. We plan to purchase a new computer in the near future and may consider a Mac to ease the challenges of video editing as ease of editing is important to us. We don’t need the absolute highest quality of video, but don't want poor quality. Thanks

Answer 1

Try Sony

Answer 2

It sounds like you really know what your'e looking for :) and well considering miniDV, DVD, hard drive and flash memory cameras, I would totally recommend miniDV for several reasons:

1) miniDV is the undisputed best choice if you ever have any desire to edit. One, most editing systems are available for miniDV. There are hardly any programs available for hard drive cameras, and almost none for DVD. A good place to start with editing systems is with the Pinnacle Studio. Higher level platforms include the Sony Vegas Pro, and if you want to have the absolute best editing tools, go with Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, and Apple Final Cut Pro. Avid is by far the best, and you can get it for the best deal. Once your kids get into school, they are elgible for a student discount of $295 (and the program is usually over $2,000). I know how you said you wanted an easy to use program, and in my opinion, the pro programs are much easier to use, but that's just me.

2) Once you get into HD cameras (which may be your deciosn), miniDV makes much better quality videos because it compresses the footage considerably less.

3) For hard drive or flash drive cameras, you cannot archive your footage. Once you fill up the hard drive, you have to unload all that onto the computer, then delete it if you want to film more. With miniDV, each tape is about $2, so you can store your footage for later, so even if you don't want to edit, you can save your footage.

So, if you decide to go miniDV, I highly recommend the Canon HV20, which is about $800, but is truly worth it. Its a HD camera that is excellent for point-and-shoot style filming. It's horrible when it comes to manual controls, but so are all consumer cameras these days. However, the HV20 makes up for its poor manual controls with one of the best automatic functions I have ever seen, I especially love its extremely fast and accurate autofocus. It also has a microphone input. Another HD camera to look at is the Sony HDR-HC9 or others in the HC series. They are a bit more than the HV20 I belive.

If you want to go standard def, I recommend the Panasonic PV-GS320 for its 3-CCDs. I also like the step-up, the PV-GS500 for its mic input, but at $700, it may not be the best vaule; might as well go HD.

I hope that helps...good luck!!!