Camcorder

[speckytecky]

I'm looking for a recommendation on a camcorder purchase please. Budget circa £300.

[SpuffMonkey]

We've just bought a Sony DCR SR32

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-DCR-SR32-Drive-Camcorder-Screen/dp/B000N20YRE/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/202-8842151-0135868?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1191917896&sr=8-1

 

Its pretty good - 40x zoom, hard disk inside etc. Cool for the price.

[dhicks]

Is anyone else using record-to-DVD camcorders? I've found MiniDV camcorders to be somewhat fiddly to use in a lesson, especially if there's half a dozen groups of children - you have to find a Firewire cable, wait for the video to transfer to the computer, worry about free disk space, etc. I was thinking that being able to simply shove a DVD into the PC and read a video file straight off it would be a lot less messing around. Does anyone know what video codec these camcorders use - is the file on the DVD readable by Windows Movie Maker / Mac iWossname / Adobe Premier, or is there a conversion step involved, or do we have to make sure a particular codec is installed?

 

--

David Hicks

[laserblazer]

The disk has to be finalised before it can be read on another player. I'd look at HDD cameras because they just look like an external USB drive.

[alan-d]

Try the Sony DCRSR52E - 30GB HDD and our technophobic teachers are using it with ease.

 

Cost is around the £300 mark

[speckytecky]

Thanks folks - as usual some extremely useful answers.