Are there any decent MPEG4 portable video camcorders?

[50]

Hello, I really want a camcorder/digital camera (/MP3 if possible) player/camcorder. My budget is max 300 dollars, are there any good devices out there? I remember a few years ago there was the Panasonic E-wear commercials with the midget. Were those any good? Any other suggestions?

 

[aplefka]

Honestly, if you want a camcorder and a digital camera and an MP3 player, get all three separately. Camcorders do not take good stills. Digital cameras don't take good video. MP3 players are totally unrelated.

Don't be cheap, trust me, you won't regret it.

 

[0roo0roo]

no, they all suck. they all sacrifice quality for size to different degrees. read the reviews and you will see. i think this months laptop magazine has reviews of a few. only way to fit a decent amount of video is to use microdrives, but many of the camcorders don't. esp the sony. stupid decision really. and well any of the large memory cards would destroy your budget alone. video takes a lot of space. and any quoted reasonable time for these cams is probably at their lowest resolution low fps setting. serious bs.

 

[50]

Alright well then how about a decent video camcorder. I also wanted to put a lot of emphasis on portability. I want something I can leave in my pocket not a bulky minidv camcorder. Any suggestions around my budget?

 

[0roo0roo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DV#Technical_Standards
minidv tape holds 13gbP so u see..the mini cams are pushing their luck

 

[50]

Wow what is the resolution for DV? I saw this and wondered how much time I would get recording at 320x240 on a gig SD card?

 

[0roo0roo]

320x240 is low quality webcam..probably at 15fps

dv 720x480, http://www.adamwilt.com/DV-tech.html

so you see, the mini recorders aren't there yet in terms of real usability. just a bundle of sacrifices for the sake of style. a toy. atleast the jvc can do microdrives, but its slightly bigger too