Computers & Electronics Discussions

A friend, after a solid amount of researching, ended up with the canon HG20. I really think the whole HG line from canon is very nice and priced well, but they are a little on the expensive side.

The HG20 is around $800, but you get a camera capable of taking 1920x1080p video at 24 frames per second, to a hard drive with 60gb of storage. A lot of cameras out there are high def, but a lot of them suffer from at least one of two problems: being only 720p, and recording to media other than a hard drive. hard drives can hold so much more data than discs, and are leaps and bounds easier to use than mini-dv. The HG20 also offers lots of professional accessories, like external mic, tripod, zoom lens, and hand stabilizer.

With everything video going high def, to me it seems silly to go with a camera that does less than 1080p, and just as silly to get one that records to a media other then hard drives, as they are really the only option for storing a good amount of high def content. The price of the HG line may be a little off-putting, but considering i've known people who spent considerably more for similar ones in the 90s that recorded to VHS and weighed about a hundred pounds, i think its a solid deal.

Oh, and did i mention that the HG line is also very small? It easily fit into my friends pocket. We recorded several concerts in HD, and not only did it do a great job on the video, but the audio turned out pretty good too. Lots of settings, and the light weight meant it wasnt super hard to hold up for extended periods of time.

Wow, i sound like i work for canon. Seriously, we both really liked the camera, i think the only thing that would keep anyone from buying it is the fact that lots of companies put out cheap $200 models, which makes the nicer HG line seem a bit pricey by comparison. I think its totally worth the cost.

Thanks for the detailed info! While $800 is a bit out of my price range, I will definitely look features including 1080p and hard drive recording. I've also heard good things about the Canon line.

My Hitachi BX35A mini dvd camcorder has been great. No hard drive but the mini dvd is pretty common. The controls require some manual reading for formatting and finalizing the discs but overall a nice unit for a couple hundred bucks. 1200X zoom is awesome. This is my third camcorder in 20 years and there just doesn't seem to be any dominant format yet, but hard drives will probably be the end of it... yeah, right.

How many minutes of video can you get on the mini-dvd? And can you use RW discs over and over?

Mini dvd's record 30 minutes. There are two types of discs, write once and write many which are reusable. The discs have to be "finalized" when full which requires 2 or 3 minutes on the ac adapter, and "formatted" when new which can be done by the battery in less than a minute. For making copies of old family movies (16, 8 and Super 8), I still prefer Video cassettes because its easy to dub music. Not so easy on dvd.

I will break it down very easy for you. Dont get any camcorder that takes mini dvds, or mini dv. That technology is dead and they dont have enough recording time to warrant a vacation purchase, plus you end up spending more on extra media than you do on the actual camcorder.

I will give 4 suggestions, 2 lower priced, and 2 higher priced.

Sony SX40 ($269.99) 4gb of internal memory and expanded by the memory stick pro duo. The 4gb of internal memory makes up for the fact the Sony memory sticks are a lil more expensive than SDHC. $40 to double your space with a 4gb card.

JVC 330u ($299.99) has no internal memory expanded through SDHC memory cards which are very inexpensive, you can get 4gb cards for less than $20. Has a front light for night recording

Sony SR47 ($399.99) I love this camcorder it has a 60gb hdd, the problem is it doesnt have a night vision mode.

JVC 630u ($399.99) uses SDHC like the other and also has the light on the front for night recording.