Digital Video Recorder?

[Homz]

I am going to miss my son's violin recital on Sunday. He has been offered one of the two spots by his teacher to represent her little violin program to a large group of church folk. Thus my wife offered to get a digital video recorder, so I could watch the program later. I am not one of the video-files who live their lives with one eye looking at a 2"X2" LCD screen so I could use some advice.

 

The things I know to think about are:

Battery life, and type

Size of LCD display

Stabilization features

 

Should I look at any other features?

 

Do you all recommend a particular recorder?

 

Do any of these recorders have a audio input RCA spot, so I could also use it to record the band and have decent sound quality?

 

Thanks for the advice.

[Thundergod]

Very interesting thread, I'm looking forward to the experts replies, I know sh-t about video recorders...

 

I think you missed one thing tho... data storage... mini DV, internal hard drive, sd cards or what?

[Murph]

I feel your pain. I bought my wife a Sony last Christmas, and she hates this sh!t as much as me. The sound always sucks. The +RW don't need to be messed with. Much.

 

Beam me freakin' up.

 

I got nuthin' else Homz.

 

How come they can't make it like ......

 

1; Record.

 

2; Play back.

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

Just sayin'.

 

Murph.

[Homz]

assist bump.

 

I'm going in 2 hours to get one.

[saturn]

I know that most-expensive is not always better, but sometimes you get what you pay for.

 

One thing I would suggest NOT getting is one of those cheapos that come pre packaged in the plastic wrap. I got one of those (DGX brand?) because it was only about $110 at Khols around Christmas time. The video quality is terrible. If anyone remembers that video of me and my LP/Vox I posted a while ago, it was shot with that POS. The video is grainy, it lags and the sound doesn't sync.

[Thundergod]

Make sure it can record in places with really low light. As Saturn said, those cheap POS cams are horrible... a friend got one and recorded one of our shows, when wee weent to his house to watch it we couldn't believe it, the whole 2 hour thing was so dark you couldnt even see any of us, and the sound was awful (you could hear the girl next to him on the table, but not the band)

[RichCI]

First off, I'm no camera or video buff.

 

Unless you plan to make more use of a digital camcorder, you might consider a digital camera that shoots movies as well as pictures instead. I ended up getting a Sony Cybershot a couple of years ago that shoots pictures with 7.2 megapixels and movies with a resolution of 640x480 (smaller than DVD, but still looks good) and the sound quality is pretty good.

 

The movie part was a nice extra that I wasn't looking for but what I wanted in a camera was that it was small, shot very good quality photos and was easy to use (read: I just point and shoot and sometimes zoom).

 

Here's the only video I've shot with it so far which I've posted here before - me with a buzz demoing my amp.

 

http://www.richci.com/lpchampkot.wmv

 

Be kind.

 

I reduced the video dimenasions to 320x240, kept the sound bps up fairly high (audio was the main goal) as well as converted the file to WMV format. There is some mic distortion but it's actually not too terrible considering it was pointed right at an amp that was fairly cranked up (well, cranked up for a 5w amp).

[MikeRom]

You're probabpy already gone but 2 features I would also consider are zoom and storage - how many minutes can you record - and media type (SD card?)

[Howlin4Hubert]

It may be too late to help but here is some info anyway:

 

Here is a pretty good Digital Camcorder buying guide from cnet.com

 

Here are a few thoughts that may help:

Battery life' date=' and type[/quote']

Most if not all have their own propitiatory batteries so it just a matter of how long will it last and can you purchase replacement/longer life batteries down the road. The camcorder I purchased is a Panasonic that came with a 2 hour battery and then I purchased a 6 hour battery later.

 

Size of LCD display

Most have nice flip out LCD's but no longer have a viewfinder to look through. The biggest thing to me is to find one you like and that will work well for you. Mine doesn't have the viewfinder but has a nice flip out LCD. Most of the time I don't miss the viewfinder but sometimes I wish I had it' date=' especially outside in the bright sun that makes the LCD hard to see.

 

Stabilization features

You want this feature. Go for optical stabilization and not digital if you can. Makes a big difference in the quality.

 

Should I look at any other features?

Most camcorders now days are digital and record to a built-in hard drive or an add in flash media card. To save money some only support flash media like SD cards and don't have a built-in hard drive. Mine records to both and I recommend that so you don't have worry about purchasing and carrying a bunch of SD cards. Either way though I love recording to hard drive or flash card because I don't have to mess with tapes or DVD's of any kind. I also don't have to convert the video to get it on my computer. I just plug in the camera and copy the video over.

 

However this may not be what works best for you. You may want to go with one that records directly onto DVD. The upside of that is then you can throw the DVD in your player and watch it right away without having to mess with a computer. For me that was just too limiting of an option but I'm a computer guy so I can see where a lot of people wouldn't want to mess with a computer.

 

Something else I recommend to look for is a good zoom length that is optical and not just digital. Makes a difference in the quality and most people will use zoom a lot. Mine has a 32x optical & 1000x digital zoom. New ones have something like 70x optical zoom.

 

Another thing people sometime want is a camcorder that takes pictures. Mine does' date=' although not all that great of quality and I don't use it very often. For me if I want to take pictures I use my digital camera. However it my be something you want to look at.

 

Do you all recommend a particular recorder?

I haven't shopped for one in a year and a half so I can't really recommend one now. What I got was the Panasonic SDR-H18 which is now an older model. If I were looking for one now I would do a bit of research and reading on sites like cnet.com and CamcorderInfo. I would look at user reviews on Amazon.com and Buy.com. And, because of the great experience I've had with my Panasonic I would definitely look at getting a new Panasonic.

 

Do any of these recorders have a audio input RCA spot' date=' so I could also use it to record the band and have decent sound quality?[/quote']

When I was shopping for one I found that most in my price range didn't have sound input, $300-$450. My camcorder has lots of great features but that isn't one of them. If I were to do it again I would make sure and get a camcorder with that feature. My camcorder has a front mounted stereo mic and it does a decent job but for good sound recording, especially for music, I wish I had the ability to plug in a good mic that I could put closer to the source.

 

Last recommendation I would have is do some research and reading on the web. Figure out what features you want and which ones are most important to you. Know approximately how much you want to spend. Then go to one of the BIGSTORES where they have a number of different brands and models and then spend some time playing with and using different ones to get a feel for what you like and what you don't. Even if you don't purchase there going to one of those stores lets you try different stuff and get an idea of what you will be happy with.

 

Hope this is of some help.

 

Sorry it is late in coming. Different timezone and I slept in this AM :) so I didn't even jump online until just a bit little ago.

 

Looking forward to hearing what you went with.

[elantric]

For Youtube stuff - I use a Canon SX-10 - Powershot Camera - it records standard definition 640 x 480 H.264 video with stereo audio. to 32gb SD cards It has a manual audio control setting Stabilzation, Macro - great camera., great stereo sound.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_sx10-review/

 

For other projects i use a pair of Canon HV-20 HD Camcorders

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sq=desc&Q=&sb=ps&pn=1&ci=0&A=search&shs=Canon%20Hv%2020

Most camcorders are designed for child's birthday parties

Its crucial you get a device that allows you to Manually adjust the Audio record Input Level - or else you get garbage "pumping" compressor AGC artifacts, or overloaded distortion.

To get board feeds into my cams I use a Sign Video Pro Adapter

 

http://www.signvideo.com/xlr-pro_xlr_adapter-audio-mixer.htm

 

It allows me to feed Pro XLR Balanced audio into the typical camcorder 3.5mm stereo external mic input.

 

 

 

It mounts under the camcorder on the Tripod mount.

like this

 

I will typically record audio with multiple devices - ( i use a Zoom H4) and sync it all in Sony Vegas or Final Cut Pro.

( I co-produce a local live music show on charter cable)

[Homz]

I appreciate the advice, but I had already gone when most of it was posted.

 

I ended up with the Sony Handycam DCR-SX40

 

It's on charge at the moment. Hopefully I'll make a few good vids to post. Perhaps one of me on the acoustic doing the new "Iris" song by the Goo Goo Dolls I just started working on this morning.

[saturn]

I appreciate the advice' date=' but I had already gone when most of it was posted.

 

I ended up with the Sony Handycam DCR-SX40

 

It's on charge at the moment. Hopefully I'll make a few good vids to post. Perhaps one of me on the acoustic doing the new "Iris" song by the Goo Goo Dolls I just started working on this morning.

 

 

[/quote']

 

I bet you can get some really wicked footage with that thing :)

[wicked1]

Rich, we actually ended up with the opposite of what you described. hehe We got a video camera that will also do still shots. Our old camera would do short snips of video, but the audio with it was always atrocious.

[Thundergod]

 

I bet you can get some really wicked footage with that thing :)

 

[wicked1]

 

I bet you can get some really wicked footage with that thing :)

 

Yeah, but it won't be on YouTube. We'll be selling it for 1.99 per minute on our "special" website!!

[Homz]

 

Yeah' date=' but it won't be on YouTube. We'll be selling it for 1.99 per minute on our "special" website!! [/quote']

 

I don't think so.:)

[saturn]

Forum members get a sneek preview :)

[Homz]

This will give you some laughs.

Note: I haven't played this song in years. The camera man is my son.

[Howlin4Hubert]

Now that is funny! :) You should post a motion sickness warning though. By the way Homz, nice socks.

 

EDIT: D'oh, you pulled the video :(

[wicked1]

video down temporarily cause Homz didn't mean to give access to his entire Photobucket. Will put back up later when we get home.

 

Have a good Saturday night, folks!!

[Rocky4]

I have a Cannon ZR850 that works well. I bought one of the hard drive recorders only to find the format was not Mac compatible. GRRRRRRRR!!