- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
- Messages
- 10,479
Well, sugar and I are searching for a good camcorder for Christmas. We're having some difficulty in choosing. We searched around online for several and only became more confused.
(1) - What is the best storage medium? We like HD quality, but we're not desperate (considering we don't even have a big TV, and neither do our families). I prefer either using memory cards (like SD, but they seem to go over the top with compression) or a hard drive (seems to make camcorders really expensive).
(2) - What is the best video format? Ideally, I want a camera I can record with, connect with USB, and simply copy the video files (rather than deal with any capture nonsense), hence the desire for pure digital storage (see #1).
(3) - How much should I spend? I'm a poor college student; I really want to aim for $250 maximum, but I will pay more if the quality matches the price. Again, I'm not looking for super HD state-of-the-art modern equipment. I just want something that will work and is easy to operate. I'm not a professional cinematographer; I just want to be able to record and dump those videos onto my computer. (If at all possible, I want the USB connection that is so generic, the computer treats it like an external drive. That way, I could access it from Linux. ^_^)
Suggestions?
(1) - What is the best storage medium? We like HD quality, but we're not desperate (considering we don't even have a big TV, and neither do our families). I prefer either using memory cards (like SD, but they seem to go over the top with compression) or a hard drive (seems to make camcorders really expensive).
(2) - What is the best video format? Ideally, I want a camera I can record with, connect with USB, and simply copy the video files (rather than deal with any capture nonsense), hence the desire for pure digital storage (see #1).
(3) - How much should I spend? I'm a poor college student; I really want to aim for $250 maximum, but I will pay more if the quality matches the price. Again, I'm not looking for super HD state-of-the-art modern equipment. I just want something that will work and is easy to operate. I'm not a professional cinematographer; I just want to be able to record and dump those videos onto my computer. (If at all possible, I want the USB connection that is so generic, the computer treats it like an external drive. That way, I could access it from Linux. ^_^)
Suggestions?