Digital Camcorder

[Pumaedition]

Hey guys,

 

fingers crossed you can help me out! Our learning and teaching people are going to start recording lessons for examples of good practice and the sharing of said good practice, with a view to having a library of DVD's that staff can take home and look to see how they can improve their own lessons etc.

 

For this, obviously we need a decent Video Camcorder. Budget wise, I have no idea how much I can spend on one (as the ones we have dont exactly give great video) but obviously I wont have a great deal of money available!

 

What I am after is some suggestions of decent camcorders which will record video in high quality and with decent sound. Oh, and also record it in a format I don't have to convert so I can put it on DVD!!

 

Help is muchos appreciated!!

[dhicks]

Oh, and also record it in a format I don't have to convert so I can put it on DVD!

 

If no editing is required, simply get a camcorder that records straight to DVD. Argos sell them from around £160 onwards.

 

--

David Hicks

[laserblazer]

Pretty well any digital camera will do the trick, it really depends on how much you want to spend. Budget for a half decent tripod and a shotgun mic or a lapel mic. the results from the camera mic. will be pretty poor. Make sure you camera has an external mic. socket. You will want to edit your video and the video editing software will handle the dvd side of things. My recommendation there would be Adobe Premiere Elements but others will disagree. Depends on what you are used to.

[Pumaedition]

If no editing is required, simply get a camcorder that records straight to DVD. Argos sell them from around £160 onwards.

 

--

David Hicks

 

There could well be some editing required. We have Serif MoviePlus, which should do the trick.

 

The camera's we have at the minute only record in 720x576 which looks a little stretched on a computer screen, so on a TV screen at home, god knows how it will look!!

 

Currently using JVC Everioa GZ-MG155 which were just cheap ones to buy last year for basic videoing, but they arent quite up to scratch for recording lessons

[vikpaw]

I just bought a Panasonic SDR H80, it's got 70x optical zoom, 1 or more MP camera, 60GB HDD, pretty decent sound, and nice look. Will also take SD cards. Got a free bag and 2GB SD card to boot. i think it records .avi Don't know all the details yet as it's a gift.

Was fairly pricey due to specs, cost equivalent to £250 GBP.

[lionsl2005]

we have sony DCR-SR38 70GB HDD 60x optical zoom, pretty good and picture quality, argos do them 300 Ono.

its easy to handle and operate.

[laserblazer]

There could well be some editing required. We have Serif MoviePlus, which should do the trick.

 

The camera's we have at the minute only record in 720x576 which looks a little stretched on a computer screen, so on a TV screen at home, god knows how it will look!!

 

In Premiere, I make sure I don't get in too tight when filming, then set the project to 16:9 and adjust the scale to 143% with the aspect ratio locked. This reduces the quality but gives you something that looks right on a wide screen.