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Camcorder broke (on Christmas morning) Need new recommendations

Homerboy

Homerboy

Lifer
Well as cruel fate would mock me, my camcorder (Sony DCR-TRV20) seems to have bough the farm, bright and early on Christmas morning, so I was unable to capture the kiddies faces.

Ailments: Tape stuck in chassis. Error Code C:31:30. Googling reveals that it likely needs service work and even talk to Sony's online chat at about 9am when they pretty much ended up disconnecting the session and dropping me to a "Request Service" page. After plugging through that the minimum repair cost is $269.. and on up from there. Well hell, I can get a new (albeit cheaper) DV camcorder for $300.

So anyways, I'm shopping now for a replacement. And I can't decide on anohter DV, DVD based or the new HDD based from JVC. HDD seems like the ideal solution, but review are like 6-7 out of 10 on it sighting horrible battery life, marginal picture quality.

What are people using now? Whats the "best bang for the buck".

Money IS definately a consideration, but I'm willing to pay more for a better perfomring device.

Thanks!
 
Camcorder Info is your first stop, but you've got to decide how to handle all your old tapes now.

I've got a Sony Hi8 with about 30 - 40 two hour tapes that will have to be transfered to digital. That means I want a camcorder with the ability to take that analog output and spit out digital for all those tapes. Of course my old camcorder is going to have to keep functioning to be able to output all those tapes. That's why I want to replace it before it dies.

Take the battery off yours, and pull out the coin shaped backup battery. Leave them out for a good while. It may be able to reset the computer and dump that fault code. Put a different tape in there and see if it can at least play tapes in VCR mode. I'm looking at Panasonics myself.
 
Panasonic PV-GS250 VS DCR-HC90
  • For less than a hundred more than the DCR-HC90 users can procure the penultimate in manual control of Panasonic?s consumer 3 CCD camcorders, the PV-GS250. While the DCR-HC90 and PV-GS250 are close in video performance, the DCR-HC90 really wins in low light. However, when it comes to options, audio features, and manual control, the PV-GS250 clearly wins.
Mixed bag of Features
  • 3 CCDs do not compensate for the GS250's limitations. After a week, I returned it an bought a Sony HC90. IMHO it surpasses the Panasonic in every category except bright sunlight conditions.
 
dude, go with the DVD. that way you shoot and can pop it in anywhere to watch it.

to the point where it is harder to edit, how often did you edit your other videos? if never is your answer, then you have found what you are looking for.
 
dv
dvd camcorders are a joke, dvd doesn't have the capacity to record quality video. camcorders have to do real time encoding after all, and that tends to use a higher constant bitrate like in dv. store bought dvd uses variable bitrate to squeeze a movie in but they dont have to worry about real time encoding and such, not to mention they got double the space because of the dual layer.
 
Originally posted by: Ornery
Panasonic PV-GS250 VS DCR-HC90
  • For less than a hundred more than the DCR-HC90 users can procure the penultimate in manual control of Panasonic?s consumer 3 CCD camcorders, the PV-GS250. While the DCR-HC90 and PV-GS250 are close in video performance, the DCR-HC90 really wins in low light. However, when it comes to options, audio features, and manual control, the PV-GS250 clearly wins.
Mixed bag of Features
  • 3 CCDs do not compensate for the GS250's limitations. After a week, I returned it an bought a Sony HC90. IMHO it surpasses the Panasonic in every category except bright sunlight conditions.
Click to expand...

How many MPs for stills on the Sony?
 
Panny PV-GS250 by far. After weeks of researching this is the camcorder I purchased for my wife. She's been very happy with it the past few days and It's done an excellent job.

If you read the reviews of both -

SONY
"A fully charged battery can record for 89 minutes and 20 seconds (1 hr. 29 min. 20 sec.) with the LCD open and without zooming"

Panasonic
"Recording video to tape with the LCD screen open, and without zooming, the included and fully-charged CGR-DU12 battery pack yielded one hour, 58 minutes, and 27 seconds of recording time on to MiniDV tape before shutting down due to low battery. "

Sounds like you got a bum battery. Our battery has lasted well over an hour.

Further more, you should NOT be using a camcord for a still camera. That's a joke. You don't take your Ford Focus to the race track. It's not a race car.

"The DCR-HC90 is armed with a 1/3-inch CCD, with 3.31 MP (3.05 for stills, 2.05 for video)."

Low Level Light - We've only used it once in this situation (Christmas Eve - very low light room). It wasn't that bad, but did add a bit of grain. The flip side, you'll see this in just about every 3CCD consumer camera on the market today. It's not a deal breaker though. I don't plan on shooting video in poor light all the time.
 
How many MPs for stills on the Sony?

Don't know & don't care. The stupidest thing in the world today, is using still cameras for video and camcorders for stills. Might as well use your cell phone!

I'm leaning more and more toward the PV-GS400 because of low light performance, which is a HUGE issue, unlike still shots. :roll:
 
Originally posted by: Ornery
How many MPs for stills on the Sony?

Don't know & don't care. The stupidest thing in the world today, is using still cameras for video and camcorders for stills. Might as well use your cell phone!

I'm leaning more and more toward the PV-GS400 because of low light performance, which is a HUGE issue, unlike still shots. :roll:
Click to expand...

Yikes, that's jumping up from the original $350-$400 the OP was comparing his repair cost against though. 🙂

Sweet camera though.
 
The point is buying that "upgrade" BEFORE the old camera dies. Otherwise, you have no means to transfer those old tapes without buying (or borrowing) yet another device. Talk about insult to injury, not only do you have a broken piece of expensive equipment, which needs to be replaced, but you have to purchase a means to play its recordings as well! I'd rather apply that extra cash expenditure to a better quality replacement.

Holy crap, I just noticed the DCR-TRV20 is already a MiniDV camcorder! Duh... 😱
 
Where do we get these fvcktards? :roll:

There is no substitute for video. Your television news is proof enough. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so you can multiply that 100 fold with video!
 
Originally posted by: Ornery
Where do we get these fvcktards? :roll:

There is no substitute for video. Your television news is proof enough. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so you can multiply that 100 fold with video!
Click to expand...

*cough* Video is 30FPS (24 if its film) *cough*
 
The point is, they don't show still images for news reports, sports or game shows. It's all VIDEO. Yeah, I can just see a show called, America's Funniest Still Images. Gee, that would really be a hoot. :roll:
 
Originally posted by: Ornery
The point is, they don't show still images for news reports, sports or game shows. It's all VIDEO. Yeah, I can just see a show called, America's Funniest Still Images. Gee, that would really be a hoot. :roll:
Click to expand...

:laugh:
 
well ok you have me sold on MiniDV... Thats the way I was leaning anyways, just the HDD option seemed so ideal to me. I guess I dont see the drawback to HDD except that its still in its infancy at this point.

Here's a new curv ball though, it seems its $269 flat-rate-fee for the repair. I can ship it out to them, if its within the flat-rate-fee window then they fix it for $269. If its outside that scope, then they call me with price.... is it worth the $269? This miniDV is ~5yrs old, not TONS of milage, but certainly enouhg with a few vacations, holidays and 2 kids worth of footage. The TRV20 was damned nice for its day ($1800 if I recall) but hows it stack up against todays models?

Fill me in... I'm getting lost in info.
 
Oh and I couldnt care less about still photos. While it was cool when I bought my TRV20 5yrs ago, there is no reason to take stills with a camcorder today UNLESS you need a quick still while film or something? Which, in my lifetime, this has yet to happen to me. I always carry both the miniDV and the still camera.

Im concerned with picture quality (CCD image res etc), quality of make/model/manufacturer and price... I'd like to go no higher than $500 (I'll go more if its worthy of the price increase) if I was to replace my TRV20, but I'm still just contemplating repairing it...
 
More info here than can be supplied in one topic. A broken camera is all the excuse I need to upgrade. I intend to do that before my current one bites the dust, though.
 
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