What is the best value HD video camera on the market?

Question

I'm considering buying an HD video camera for home movies. I need to know which one will give the biggest bang for the least amount of money possible. I just don't know enough about them to make a good decision.

Answer 1

You can learn more about the HD format here:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/d/Reviews&l...

The best value currently is probably the Canon HV20:

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

it has excellent video quality - you can probably get it for less than $700 if you shop around.

Canon also recently announced the HV30:

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

so you can expect the price of the HV20 to be even lower when the HV30 is available for sale.

Answer 2

Rather than tell you the best camcorder, which is subjective anyway, let me inform you of other hidden costs.  First, there's the new HD DVD burner you'll no doubt desire.  If you don't purchase one of those you'll be stuck always viewing your footage directly from the camera to your TV.

Next, since you bought that nifty HD device, you'll probably want to edit your video to make it look more professional (I use Adobe Premiere).

Hopefully your computer can handle the horsepower required for HD.

Just a few thoughts...