recommend camcorder to record church services

[mkcheznous]

This is my first post - any advice appreciated.

Project
I have been asked to source a camcorder to occasionally record church services. The intention is to put them on the web to be streamed for the ill or infirm members of the congretation.

I can handle the video editing / streaming side but need help with choosing an appropriate camera.

It needs to have reasonable battery life - 2hrs would be good - 1:40 minimum - I do not have the option of wiring power in.
It needs to handle low light reasonably well.
Sound also needs to be reasonable.

What is reasonable ?
Well I did a test with a flip camera and the results were deemed acceptable but I want to avoid that route as the new ones have a reputation for failure and I do not want to be associated with buying a unreliable product - when it is not my money being spent. I also think that the picture could have been better. The sound does not need to be professional quality - just listenable and it was with the flip.

Current thinking
I was looking at the Samsung HMX-H300which dixons are doing for £229 based on some good reviews on battery life and low noise. However, I am hesitating as I have just read some more reviews are they are not as favourable.
Somebody on here said that the Panny s60 was popular and around £200 but I have searched online and cannot fine it for that sort of price. Ideally I do not want to spend over £250.

Anybody have experience of the Samsung or recommend something else?

thanks in advance.

[Marc Peters]

in my experience, cameras at that price point are all pretty much the same. Having used a kodak z i8 for over year, i can recommend that. And as you are streaming, it would be sensible to get a camera with an option for low res.

[mkcheznous]

in my experience, cameras at that price point are all pretty much the same. Having used a kodak z i8 for over year, i can recommend that. And as you are streaming, it would be sensible to get a camera with an option for low res.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I can see a plus of the zi8 is the external mic option - but I am dubious about the low light performance - looking at reviews comparing it to the flip, it appears to come off worse than that - certainly not better anyway.

I could not go with that or the flip because neither have a reversable viewing screen. As the camera is to mounted close to a wall and left to record automatically, it would be a lot easier to set up with one. When I used the flip - I had to put a hand mirror behind it to line it up! Should have mentioned this above - sorry.

[Z Cheema]

If they are for the web, then why not a web cam (or a mobile phone), wireless of course, you could run it from batteries instead of the psu.
Fix the router with DYNdns to keep a constant IP address.
You can record onto PC/Laptop and it is live at the same time. You can upload the file latter if required, bear in mind that usual YouTube and Vemeo have limit son the duration of clips.

I have this camera
Xenta Wireless Night and Day Wireless IP Network Camera | Ebuyer.com

[mkcheznous]

Initially saw this as the route to go but there are some issues with this approach.

1/ The router is probably located too far away from the church to be reliable
2/ the resolution and focus of these are generally not as good as a Flip - so a backward step.
3/ no idea what the sound is like but would guess inferior

Also not need for live streaming - in fact does not want it

The clips will be hosted on the church web site not youtube - they will be 60 mins +

Is the samsung type of camcorder the wrong approach ? Nobody seems to either support the samsung or be offering an alternate traditional camcorder as an option. There is the Panny SD40 for £30 less with similar battery life but it is SD and they might want to use the camera for other stuff - so thought they should go SD. Will probably set is to the lower resolution (720) as it will have to be compressed for posting on the web anyway