which miniDV camcorder to choose?

[sob2000]

I am looking at buying a camcorder, having asked about PC specs for video capture, can someone tell of any experiences with various camcorders.
Models I am considering are Sony DCR-TRV33 £480, Sony DCR-PC105 £585, and the Canon MV6iMC £540.
They all seemed reasonable around that price, but on a recent walk along Tottenham Court road there were so many others to look at, JVC, panasonic etc.
Everyone has their recommendations, but is so tough to choose, so I guess the best way is to ask if people have had bad experiences with any of them, and then remove those models from my list.
Any ideas? I have never had a camcorder before, so cannot choose on experience. I don't need one for stills capture, as I have a digital stills camera already, just want a good quality, reliable camcorder to connect to the PC.
thanks
sob2000@freeuk.com

[purejammy]

Oh gosh, how loong is a piece of string?

I have a TRV33 (Incidentally this does have stil limage capability), and have to say that I have been well impressed by it. The reason I bought it was to replace my rather bulky Digital 8 camcorder. Image resolution on the TRV33 is excellent and handling is first class. Also DV In and DV OUT was important to me as was AV IN. If I had any complaint it would be that the supplied battery does not last very long at all. However at the price you mentioned the TRV33 must be an option. Having said that all of the cameras you mention get a fairly good write up.

I guess the real answer to your question is,

1. Be clear about what you want your camcorder to do
2. Draw up your shorlist
3. Read independent reviews
4. Buy camera of your choice
5. Enjoy yourself

Try the following link for camera reviews,


http://www.whatcamcorder.net/

and follow the review link.

Good luck

[sob2000]

Thanks purejammy, I guess I should have titled it what camcorder not to buy. I have never owned a camcorder before, so didn't know what to choose, whittled my selection down to 3, and then saw more, like the new JVC line. I posted the question to ask if anyone had and bad comments on any of the ones I listed, but nobody has yet, so (and on your good experience) I guess they all would be good choices.
I asked sony about the battery life and they said it was only 40 minutes average, so I was budgeting for an extra battery as well, I guess this is true of all camcorders, a bit more revenue for the manufacturers eh?
Each time I check a certain retailers site, they drop the price of their camcorders, they are looking good bargains, so I will have to make a choice soon.
Thank you for your advice, and one more question, is the software supplied with the sony adequate for PC editing, or do I have to budget for extra software as well. I just want something to tidy up the footage, maybe arrange it ready for recording, and then burn it to vcd or maybe dvd if I can get a recorder sometime.
The initial price of the camcorders looked good, but then I realised I had to buy cables, extra batteries, case, tapes etc. So I guess I should prepare myself in case there are any more extras to buy!
thanks
OB

[purejammy]

I guess you are right about most manufacturers seeking to get extra revenue from batteries.

I have to say that I do not rate the bundled software with Sony Cameras. (But then Again I have always used fairly high specced Video Editing Tools). The main reason for this is that the software (Pixela Image Mixer) will only produce Mpeg1 files. This is fine if you only ever want to produce VCDs. If your final output media is your camcorder or DVD then you will need someting a bit more substantive. So in short the bundled software is OK for a bit of fun (VCDs and Video emails) but useless for anything else.

It would be worth checking Cover disks on PC magazines and the like. That way you can try a number of packages (usually time stamped) without forking out any dosh. That way you can try before you buy.

Alternatively visit the WEB Sites of the major suppliers where most will let you download trial versions. Or visit www.tucows.com wher trial versions of most of the leading packages can be downloaded.

Good luck