I don't know much about camcorders......What's a good digital video camera that's not too expensive. My son has a video camera right now, but it's like one of the first one's that came out. For some reason they have to take it to Costco to get it converted to a DVD and it does get expensive. I guess right now their looking at a Sony for about $300.00.
For $300., I'd actually recommend considering a hybrid pocket digital camera such as the Samsung Dual View TL220. You'll have both a 12.2 MP digital still camera, and a high quality 720P HD video camera in one. It has a sharp 27MM wide angle Schneider-KREUZNACH lens, digital image stabilization, full optical video zoom capability, and a large LCD touch screen. Plus another LCD screen mounted in the front for self portraits. IMO, its video quality is as good if not better than most HD camcorders in its' price range. Also, better than most CMOS HD camcorders in low light, many of which tend to exhibit noticeable noise or artifacts under those conditions. It uses micro SDHC memory cards for video and photos. You can either use the built in USB port to transfer video or photos to a PC, or otherwise purchase a micro SDHC capable reader, which can be found as low as $5.
If you want to make a quick DVD of the unedited video clips, then you can use a simple freeware program such as Free Video to DVD Converter. You basically just drag the raw video files into the main program window, in the order you want the videos to play. Note that you may want to change the name of the video files to something more recognizable, as the program will use these file names to generate a simple DVD menu. Then, select the quality settings(High Quality recommended). The program will then transcode the files to DVD format with menu, then burn the DVD disc. Couldn't be easier, and the finished DVD quality is actually fairly good!
d1h wrote: Get a DVD camcorder. Records directly to DVD. Just pop it into your DVD player.
I don't know too much about camcorders. Do you pop in a new DVD every time you record something new.
Digital camcorders are made to record to digital tape (at least three different sizes and still the professional choice), recordable mini-DVD, internal hard disk, on solid-state memory. The different technologies are sold at different price points for different markets.
Any of the recording media except hard disk, you pop in a new one when you fill the old one, or whenever you want to, your choice. Tape and solid-state memory are re-usable, if you offload the video to someplace else; or you can keep it on the media.
Hard disk, you MUST off load the video to someplace else when you fill the disk, if you want to keep the old video.
DVD, video usually stays on the (mini) DVD. You may or may not be able to play it on someone's DVD player because of size and format issues, but you can also offload to a computer or transfer the video to something else if you want to edit the video, make regular DVDs, go to YouTube et al, like all the other methods.
Happytraveler wrote: For some reason they have to take it to Costco to get it converted to a DVD and it does get expensive. .
Since they are obviously not tech friendly I'd recommend they get a camcorder that records direct to DVD so it's immediately av to watch on a home unit. I'm guessing they do not do any kind of editing but just pop the raw video into the player and watch it, correct?
If you have an analog video recorder, and want to go to DVD, there are low cost video-grabber hardware-software packages that do this, and some PCs have the necessary video-grabber capability built in. You need a DVD-writer (now about $30 and up) and DVD-authoring software (freeware available, or may come with the DVD-writer). That's all Costco is doing for you, for a fee.
The advantage of digital video over analog is that digital video allows non-linear editing, if you are into movie making. But a video-grabber converts analog video to digital, for editing and making DVDs, maybe not at the same quality. High-end, there is High Definition video, which is digital exclusively, as there is no analog HD video format generally used in the U.S.
Another thought. Almost any consumer grade stand-along DVD recorder (now around $100) will have analog video inputs. Connect the camcorder to the video-in, start it playing, press record, press stop when you are done. Let the recorder "finalize" the DVD, it is ready to go.
I've made DVDs that way, from camcorders and VHS playback (and off-the-air). I've made DVDs grabbed analog to digital, edited and DVD authored. I've made DVDs taped digital, uploaded for editing and authoring. It's just a matter of how much you want to learn, how much you want to do. Taking it to Costco is just the easiest way, without buying anything new.
Offline
