Digital MiniDVD Camcorder...Help

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We are going to be purchasing one in the next couple of weeks and I want to know if any of you have one. If you do what kind is it? Do you love it? What should I be looking for? I have been looking online and it is way to much info about something I know nothing about.

I'm sure going into the store will help, but I thought I would try here first.

We are looking to spend about $600, can I get a really good one for that price?

TIA

By Karen~moderator on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 08:12 am:

How funny Andi! We are looking at those too!!!!

By Yjja123 on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 09:32 am:

Just bought the Sony Handycam. It does really great videos and can take still pictures too. It was also a best buy in Consumer Reports. We got it for just under $600 at Sears.
It is the Sony Handycam DVD model DCR-DVD92

By Rayanne on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 10:40 am:

I have a Panasonic Mini DV Recorder and I LOVE it. It has 20X Optical Zoom and 800X Digital Zoom. We were going to buy the Sony one, but someone talked em out of it. I don't remember who, but if you scratch the DVD, you lose all your info on that disc. I wouldn't recomend that one.

By Andi on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 12:30 pm:

Wow Rayanne, I never thought about that. That is really good to know.

By Debbie on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 01:34 pm:

I have the same one as Yvonne. I love it. My parents bought it for us last summer, so we could video tape my ds's baseball games. I love the fact that it records directly to disc. I can just record and send it to my parents. It is a lot less hassle then having a cassette and then having to hook up everything to the TV. It has the 20x optical zoom and the 800x digital zoom. The quality of the video is great. We have a friend that is really into video and photography. He said that Sony has the best lense for video cameras. I would definitely recommend it. I know that if the disc gets scratched you loose the video, but if your cassette gets messed up, you also loose the video.

By Debbie on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 01:35 pm:

I forgot to add, it does take still pictures too. When we went to Disneyland, it was great to just have to carry one thing and be able to video and take pictures. It is also very light and easy to use.

By Andi on Monday, November 28, 2005 - 10:32 am:

Bump...

By John on Monday, November 28, 2005 - 02:34 pm:

Feona and I purchased one of the Sony DVD camcorders DCR-DVD300 when they first came out about 2 years ago at about $1000

Overall impression:

I would purchase it again (though I wish I'd waited for the price to drop and for the smaller version)

The Sony can take both photos and movies though the photo feature is virtually useless because it's only 1 MP. Use a cheap 3-5MP camera instead.

It can record in 2 modes, one you can play directly in your DVD player, the other you use if you want to edit the video.

While I thought I would be doing editing, most of the discs I've shot I use the simple "play in the DVD player mode".

The SONY can take either DVD+RW (erasable) or DVD-R discs. I bought a bunch of the erasable type, though I don't erase them.

The unit can record at 3 different quality levels.
The highest quality gives only 20 minutes of recording time per disc and up to 60 minutes at the lowest quality.

This is my major complaint about this type of recorder.

However in practice I find that most events I shoot take less than this amount of time anyway!
With DV tape type video cameras you might feel obligated to use up the rest of that 2 hour tape!
Not so when it's only 20 minutes on the disc.

At the highest quality, the picture quality is comparable to a conventional DV tape based recorder.

After you finish recording you tell the unit to "finalize" the disc so it can be played in the DVD player. When you put it in your DVD player you will see pictures representing each "scene" (a new scene is created each time you start and stop recording).

I took the DVD camera on a 2 week vacation and in general I was pleased with the results.

Regarding scratched discs:
Once inconvenience is that you MUST put the recorded disc back into their plastic case when you take it out of the camera! This is unlike DV tapes which have a built in "shutter" that closes to protect the tape. If you feel you won't be disciplined enough to do this then forget about getting this kind of camera.

One disc was scratched when I was on vacation.
It turns I saw it was scratched BEFORE I put it in the video camera. Big mistake. Throw out a damaged disc! I lost everything I recorded on that disc.

I believe that this camera will end up being far more reliable than a tape based unit because it has far fewer moving parts.

One other advantage:
Our previous Hi-8 video camera died after 6 years and left us without the means to play back dozens of tapes.

It's comforting to know that all the discs I've shot in my new camera will always be playable in ANY DVD player.

A few years ago, people needed to purchase large clunky VHS camcorders to get the same convenience.

By Karen~moderator on Monday, November 28, 2005 - 03:54 pm:

Interesting....thanks for all the input, John. I was just having this exact debate with DH last night - tape vs dvd recording. My personal opinion is that the DVD recording would be SOOOO convenient. But since I've never owned a DV recorder, I, like Andi, really don't know where to start.

By Vicki on Monday, November 28, 2005 - 04:04 pm:

We got a new camcorder a couple of years ago and the main reason that we didn't get the dvd one was the short recording times. I don't recall the price of the discs (and they may have dropped in price since then) but they were more expensive and you got way less time. We ended up going with the small tape one. Your right that each "event" might not be longer than 20 minutes, but we like to tape things like Christmas, Halloween and birthdays and all of that on the same tape anyway. It is fun to watch from year to year on the same tape and see how she has grown. Also, I didn't think 20 minutes was enough for things like vacations etc.

By John on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 07:12 am:

Actually, you can record up to 60 minutes on a disc albeit at slightly less quality.

By Vicki on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 08:27 am:

True John, but we always record on the highest quality. Keep in mind this was a couple of years ago too. At that time, the ones we were looking at, there was more than a slight loss of quality.

By Debbie on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 08:42 am:

I don't record at the highest quality and the video is still great. I get about 35 minutes on each tape. I was worried about it not being long enough, but I have never ran into that problem. Even on vacation, we usually just record about that long on any given day. I can usually find the tapes on sale somewhere and I stock up.

By Debbie on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 08:45 am:

Also, like John mentioned. Our old video camera stopped working and now we don't have any way to watch our old tapes. I am not sure if there is a way to transfer them to disc? I will have to check into it. I like that once you record to the disc, you don't need the camera to watch the video. Anyone can watch it that has a dvd player. Also, we taped my ds's baseball games and his coach took all the tapes and he is editing them to make a disc for all the players on his team. It is just so much more convienant to record directly to disc.

By Andi on Saturday, December 10, 2005 - 10:24 pm:

Well we went out and bought one today! Thatnk you everyone for all your great info and to John for taking the time to share so much with me.

we ended up with the Sony DCRDVD92, we haven't had a chance to use it yet but after looking at a few of them and talking to a few sales people this is the one they suggested.

I love how small it is, should be easy to use.

Thanks again for all you help.

By Karen~moderator on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 12:19 pm:

Andi, I for one am *really* interested in your opinion of this one! As a rule, I like Sony products, I've owned several Sony digital cams and still own the 717 and love it. We are going to buy a DVrecorder but I want to hear/read personal reviews first.

Thanks, John for all your great info as well!

By Debbie on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 02:56 pm:

That is the same one we have, Andi. I am sure you will love it.