[Cheeseball81]

My sister has Sony Rewards - which when you earn certain points, you have more opportunities to save and win free Sony stuff.
Right now she has a lot and wants to invest in a camcorder.
I know nothing when it comes to camcorders, so I don't know what features are most important to really look for.

She has a choice of 3 different ones at the moment:
1. Sony DCR-DVD108: http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...tSKU=DCRDVD108
2. Sony DCR-HC38: http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...uctSKU=DCRHC38
3. Sony DCR-HC48: http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...uctSKU=DCRHC48

Of these 3, which is really the best one?
Which would you recommend getting?
Thanks!

[Raised Grain]

I have a two year old Sony camcorder (HC20) that uses mini DV tapes. I'm very pleased with it. There is not one thing I can put a negative on. I was talked into getting an extended warranty which I have never ever done before but the saleman made a point in that in this warranty one cleaning which is recommended pays for the warranty. My Battery after two years was not holding a charge as long as when it was new was also replaced.

[yankees26an]

I have a Sony Digicam for over 6 years! Still works great even though the quaility has little to be desired for....

I would go with the first one, I hate Cassettes!

[linskyjack]

I don't have time to look at the three selections but if one takes mini-dv tapes, go for that. The quality is sooooo much better. I do this for a living so trust me.

[Cheeseball81]

Thanks for the input so far.

[wdm2291]

I'd agree with yankees26, I like the DVD burning. In fact, I just bought this very camera yesterday at Fry's (haven't had time to even open the box yet, so my "experience" with it isn't much help, but I'd still go for that one). What sold me was the 40 power optical zoom plus low light recording, and the DVD recording was just icing on the cake.

I paid $397 at Fry's in Burbank, CA (on sale).

good luck.

[linskyjack]

Wait to you see highly compressed "low light" recording. Its horrible. By the way, editing mpeg2 footage is a royal pain in the neck. The only way to make nice home videos is to get yourself a nice MiniDV camera, take your footage into your computer via firewire, edit your footage and THEN convert it to mpeg 2 for DVD distribution.

[wdm2291]

Hopefully it will still be useful in low light situations. I don't need high quality lowlight ability, but would like some such functionality.

Mostly I plan to use it in good light situations.

I'll consider what you said about the best way to do it, though.

Thanks

[linskyjack]

For me, the key is that you can have alot of fun putting together video at your desktop. You can also get fantastic quality, if you leave the compression to the end. Anyway, good luck to you.

[wdm2291]

Thanks.

How can you tell which cameras don't compress and which do (during the recording process)?

Thanks again.

[linskyjack]

Well if a camera records directly to a DVD disk, it is compressing to mpeg2 in the process. The problem is that when you go to edit it, it is difficult because of frame issues and you have to render it again losing generation of quality (I made up that term). The cameras that capture to tape (mini-DV in your case), do a minimal amount of compression when capturing, and are easy to edit (most NLE's are geared towards editing these avi or mov files.). When you are ready to create your DVD, you essentially are compressing for the first time. In my mind, there is no reason to compress to mpeg 2 when capturing your images, unless of course all you want to do is archive them on a DVD.

[JSanguancheu]

Have your sister do some research on www.camcorderinfo.com

Here's a summary of what I've found from researching the past few months. (Just bought a Panasonic PV-GS85)
- MiniDV camcorders will give you better recorded image quality
- All DVD and HDD camcorders use mpeg2 compression - lower image quality

MiniDV Pros: Usually cheaper, better image quality, format is easier to edit on computer
MiniDV Cons: must carry tapes around

DVDR Pro: record directly to DVD
DVDR Cons: mpeg2 compression, more $$, must carry extra DVDs around

HDD Pros: Really convenient to use and xfer to PC, no tapes/DVDs to bring w you
HDD Cons: Expensive $$$, mpeg2 compression makes it hard to edit

[Cheeseball81]

Finally - we decided and purchased the Sony DCR-HC48.