What´s a better camcorder to get? One with a built-in DVD function or one with a hard disk drive?

Question

I´m searching for a camcorder, mainly for family events. I think camcorders with a built-in DVD function are more practical since you can watch what you taped in a DVD player right away. I´m not sure what to get. Why would a camcorder with a hard disk drive be better? It just sounds more complicated.. what do y'all think?

Answer 1

Although DVD may appear most convenient, no one (other than you) wants to see unedited footage. Do your friends and family a favor by importing raw footage into computer, edit using video editor (e.g., iMovie on Mac, Windows Movie Maker on Windows), and burn a DVD.

DVD camcorders have pretty crummy storage capacity at highest setting (the only setting you will want to use as lower settings result in visible artifact). About 20 minutes of recording per DVD on the average.

All things being equal, hard disk-based (and flash memory card) camcorders boost better video quality (higher bitrate than DVD), much higher recording capacity, and allows you to delete footage easier than any other formats.

Also, all camcorders (DVD, hard disk/flash memory, or tape) allow you to use video cable for TV hookup.

Answer 2

I would go with a hard disk drive camera. I did a ton of research on it and found the hard disk to be more practical. DVD cameras work just like tape cameras because once you record it on that DVD it's on there for good. On HDD cameras you can delete it and free up space for the next clip. This way you don't have a ton of video clips that you don't want, and you won't have DVDs lying around everywhere. Most camcorders have larger HDs so they can hold several hours of video. I went to the East Coast for a week and practically had the camera on the whole time and didn't run out of room.