Camcorders School me please....

[Shamb]

So I posted a week or so ago about having troubles with camcorders. Ended up buying this complete POS Sony DV for $300 that supposivly took still pictures (jpgs) and video... well it didn't come with an SD card so it took still VIDEO pictures. That wasn't what I wanted so it went back where I bought it from.

Same day I go pickup this Hitachi which was a bit more expensive but came with all kinds of cool stuff. Carrying case, tripod with case, 5DVD-RW's, SD card and a couple batterys. So i'm thinking to myself...... excellent this things got an SD card so I can take jpg's AND I can record stuff! So as soon as I get it home I try both features and they work great! FINALLY i've got a camcorder that can do both........................................wrong. .........

Works kept my busy all week so I havn't had a chance to get into the PC functionality of this thing so tonight I'm kicked back in my comp chair reading the 450 page manual that came with this thing just trying to get some of the basics down like uploading the jpg's off the SD card to my hard drive and also uploading recordings to my hard drive in a playable format like avi, mpg.. whatever.

Well its extremely simple for upload on the pictures, strait PnP through the USB (Windows automatically recognizes the device and we're good to go) Well then I get into reading about uploading the Video.... oddly enough it states at the top in bold bring "Model xd2348903249blah blah Does not come with DVD editing software"
I'm kinda annoyed because it should have and I was told it did... no big deal I'm sure I can find a compatible Dvd editing software online somewere! So as I read further I find out how to delete the recordings on the player itself (through the camcorder)
This model YET AGAIN doesn't have the same functions, its COMPLETELY basic and wont even let me delete the off the CD... as i'm reading further on it just gets worse with the functionality of this thing and what it will and will not do.

To add insult to injury I was told this was a brand new camcorder only to find recordings from some old couple taking pictures of their dogs on it, found dust/scratchs all over the lense so it takes garbage pictures......So i'm taking this piece of back first thing tomorrow morning.

Sorry for the long rant/tangents but I just can't believe how something so mind numbingly SIMPLE can become so difficult.

My only question is, Who out there has a Camcorder that takes decent pictures, video footage AND is capable of uploading the content onto your PC so you can post it on the web?

I didn't think this was asking much but on my latest endevours i've found out that there's alot of garbage out there without this functionality or no functionality at all   

Please just help me get a decent camcorder!

TIA for any useful info

[MiniSimp]

I've got the sony trv series and it sucks for pictures, but does studio quality video.
My little Kodak camera takes both good pictures and video.

[Shamb]

how long of a video does it take minisimp?

My original plan was to just get a camera that can take video but... i've been told they only take a few minutes of video and I need something a bit longer then that.

[MiniSimp]

Mine will take video until the memory card is full.

It is the Kodak V603

[Shamb]

Did a quick search on your camera, looks like it can hold a gig SD card... not bad

whats the longest video you've taken on it?

I typically only take maybe 100 pictures when we're out camping/wheeling but I like taking alot of video footage.. thats my main concern.



The reviews on this camera are all stating that the camera is very easly damaged. Have you ran into this?   the camera's gonna see alot of 4x action and will probably get dropped.   

[MiniSimp]

With my 1GB card I get about 650 HQ pictures.
The longest vid I've taken is 15 minutes, but I've taken like 40 5 minute videos on one card before on HQ

[Shamb]

Excellent

as quoted from steves digicams.com

"640x480 MPEG-4 movie mode, 30fps with audio, up to 80 minutes "

80 minutes is definently enough!

How's the PC functionality on this camera?  do you need to upload a bunch of KODAK software to pull the images and video on to your hard drive?

[MiniSimp]

No, you don't have to load the software.
Just open the drive, cut, paste.

Do yourself a favor, get a highspeed card reader, I downloaded direct from the camera once, and only once.

[Shamb]

Minisimp I'm the proud new owner of a Kodak V603 and i'm really liking it so far. Took a few pictures and a video. Looks like it will take around 540 6mp jpg pictures and around 30 minutes of high res. video. I was impressed with the quality on the video too!

Oh and I purchased a 1 gig SD card for it, do you know if it'll hold any size... or does it have size limitations?   I see they've got 4 gig SD cards 

[MiniSimp]

Not sure, I'm too cheap to buy anything over 1 gig.
You can get 4 1 gigs for 1/2 the price of 1 4 gig.

[kneedownnate]

How bout 2 2 gigs

[Shamb]

I can get a 4 gig at the same price it costed me to get two 1 gigs.

I also didn't specify the color either so.........


YEP!  red it is.. lol..... I guess it'll be easy to spot wedged between my seats in the Yota.

I can't wait to take some wheelin pictures/video with it.

Thanks for the info, i've already taken video and pictures with it and transfered them to the computer with ease. I'll be taking some pictures of the progress on the house later.

[alwayzbroken]

How is the video? On my digi the video is small and can only be used on a computer. The videos were far from the quality of a camcorder.

[Shamb]

I've only watched it on the camera itself so i'm not sure how big it is but it is atleast 30fps... so the speed isn't laggy at all and the quality of the recording is excellent!

I'll try and take a short video today and post it up. It does come with a USB to RCA cable so you can hook it into your DVD/VCR or TV so you can watch it. I'm going to experiment with that later today as well.

[alwayzbroken]

Cool. I hope the newer ones are better than mine. I have a Casio that I got for my birthday in 2005. The video that it takes is like youtube size or smaller. You can take a ton of it but it wouldn't make a good DVD to watch.

[Shamb]

Just uploaded a video, messing around with my mom's cat "Binx" 

lol... gives you an idea of what the quality looks like atleast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKCUo3rCUHc

[alwayzbroken]

Looks good. You always loose quality through the host.