Camcorder Advice...

Well, I finally decided I need a camcorder. Yep. Hate home movies, hate the thought.... BUT two things have motivated me to change my mind.

#1: My stepdaughter is going to be in several plays this year, and I missed recording the first one, and would not like to miss the next ones.

#2: I'm in grad school, and just learned that one of the requirements of my degree is that I video-tape myself teaching my classes. BLEAH.

SO, I'm in the unenviable position of needing a camcorder. So I went shopping online and immediately my head started to spin... EGADS so many choices and terms I know nothing whatsoever about.

SO, I figured that with the wide walks of life represented here at faunaclassifieds, there has to be at least a few who are complete gurus at this stuff and know all the terms and stuff. I figured I would explain what I really want out of a camcorder, and you (the guru) can tell me what I need and how much I'm going to have to fork out for it.

Video taping the play is a sort of bonus, I need the camcorder for my classes. So the biggest requirements come there.

I am sort of envisioning somehow taking what I video-tape (20-minute segments at most) and somehow getting that information onto my computer and eventually burned onto a DVD. My computer comes equipped with a DVD writer (thought I haven't the foggiest how to use it), and so all I need is teh camera to take the videos, and the knowledge how to take who knows how many videos and convert them into a DVD that will enable the eventual audience of my teaching videos to navigate the information on the DVD and see what I want them to see.

SO.... What would I need to be able to do this? When I bought my computer this last summer I was told it was "super spiffy" (my words, not the salesmans) and it had the next generation of processor and all kinds of bells & whistles about which I know nothing, including the DVD writer. SO all I have to do is figure out if I can get a camcorder that will do what I want it to do. (and hopefully cost very little money... $200 would be nice).

Any suggestions about what sort of camera would be able to do this, make videos that I could then burn to DVD through the wonderful abilities of my lovely computer?

Thanks in advance for any pointers. Also any comments on necessary accoutrements would be great. Like do I need a zillion dollar cable, or does my computer need this or that specific zillion dollar software.

I know this post is more than a month old, but I'll see if my comments help anyway (as a past salesman of consumer electronics).

If you're looking to go for a lower-cost, easy method of copying video to computer, go with a camcorder that uses MiniDV tapes (there are hard drive camcorders now but they are still pretty pricey). Most of these will come with software and USB cords to hook up directly to the PC. The only other thing to look at is build quality and OPTICAL zoom. I say optical zoom because digital zoom past about 10X is pointless and looks like garbage. When I worked as a salesman (1 yr ago), Panasonic and Sony made some nice MiniDV cams for just under $300, on sale you could get them for about $250. Hope that helps a little bit.

Actually I am looking into this very same thing lately. From what I have been able to glean from various sources is that the mini-DV takes will eventually give way to direct DVD recording. The DVD recording has the benefit of being able to simply take the DVD from the camera, and play it in your home DVD player.

Not to say that the tapes are going to go away soon, but it appears that eventually this will be the case.

Personally, I have never really been a fan of "tape" in any format. After seeing tapes eaten by drives, bad spots on tapes ruin backups, and just generally a problem from a mechanical standpoint, I would be inclined to avoid tapes at all costs.

I agree that it will eventually go that route. It's very much like computers, there's always a top end that is what's new and coming, and a cheaper middle that will be obsolete faster but a fraction of the cost. My main issues with DVD is the power consumption from spinning the drive and firing the laser, but they certainly are convenient. I've never had a problem with tapes, but then again I've never kept them around for a long time. I have had problems with DVDs getting scratched and such. The thing tapes have going for them are the built in protection of the case.

Well the more I look into this, the more I realize I don't know enough yet to make an informed decision. I went to the local Best Buys store and the salesman there told me that the biggest drawback with the miniDVD camcorders is that the editing capabilities from DVD is difficult to do. Something to do with the format used for the DVD, the translation software, and the separation of the video and audio channels, I believe. It may take two or three software packages to accomplish the job, which sounds like a royal pain in the butt to me.

It appears the mini DVD camcorders are more of the point and shoot variety where you just want to take the DVD and plug it into your home theater system to watch the results. It appears that miniDV tape is still the only viable medium. There are units with internal hard drives, but the drawback with them is no replaceable medium. If the hard drive fills up, you have to download what you have on it before you can continue with your shooting.

Maybe the perfect unit exists, but darn if I have been able to find it.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Maybe the perfect unit exists, but darn if I have been able to find it.

And I have come to the realization that the perfect electronics device will NEVER exist, no matter how long we wait or how much money we have. There's always a trade-off or soemthing new around the corner. Such is life, I suppose.

Thanks guys for all of your responses. I'm still looking. It's such a limited use I want to make of things that it seems ridiculous to spend a lot of money on the thing. My parents are always into the "latest" video device, maybe by the time I really need the camcorder, I'll be able to borrow one of their "lesser" devices.

I have owned alot of camcorders and am extremely impressed with my lastest unit, Canon ZR200. Light, small, inexpensive, does digital still photos as well as tape recrodings in very high quality. it also has excellent zoom and is fully adjustable in every area. Comes with video sfotware for the computer and all kinds of features to make movies and special video effects.

The only downside to this unit that I have found is I cannot do slideshows to edited in music without the assistance of outside software. I have even used it to do audio only recordings.

Canon is also great about warranty issues and free tech help on the phone.

Get the Ambico camera bag, some extra tapes and memory cards and even a tripod, and you are in the movie making business !!

They don't seem to sell the ZR200 anymore (well it's available on Ebay, from 99 cents up to $500)

Also I noticed on some of the products I looked up some computers require a "firewire" port. Now when I bought my computer last year it was a pretty spiffy high-falutin computer... but I have no idea how to tell if it has a firewire port .... any idea how I can tell without getting on my hands and knees with a flashlight?

I still search for the perfect camcorder for my purposes. At this time those purposes have become refined...

What I really want to do is record my class every day for a week, possibly 2 classes each day (55 minutes per class)... then take the video home and that evening I will go through and slice and dice until I have a 10 to 20 minute segment from one or both classes that will suit my purposes. By the end of the 5 days of classes I hope to have 2 hours or so of video ... approximately six twenty-minute segments that illustrate some important concept of my teaching skills. It will be very nice if I can slice and dice the video (edit?) so that when I send it in to my university, they can pop it in, and each chapter will have the appropriate title so they will know exactly what the point of the segment is. this is in my dreams. I don't plan to do any sort of FANCY editing, just saying "ooh, this twenty minutes of my class is just right for objective number five, I'd love to make it a chapter on my teaching video labeled 'objective number five'."

As a general rule I'm not overly fond of home movies, and I doubt I'd be one who would use the camcorder much beyond this specific purpose.

Check if the ZR300 is still available. it is basically the same but with alot of enhancements.

I don't know what a firewire is, but my ZR200 is firewire capable. The wire is about $20. I know it allows faster downloads, but beyond that......I ain't know.

I believe there is a port on the computers built in the past two years. Anyone wish to confirm that? Or how to tell?