OK, then I should be OK since you mentioned the ones I have been looking at. Can you suggest a specific model to go with. I looked at some over the weekend and several caught my eye. My cutoff price would be about $1700. Thanks.

J:
I'm curious what you saw out there that approached $1,700 and what features specific to that price level you find tempting.

I paid something in that neighborhood for a machine back in '88 or '89. At the time, that 8mm cam was one of only a few that offered stereo PCM sound, fast, user-selectable shutter speeds, low lux level, titling (blah), quasi-time-lapse recording, fades (double-blah), and a few other features I thought were must-have at the time.

Although it has long since been surpassed by smaller, more able picture-takers, there are still features on that cam that keep it useful to this day (sound and separate left/right mic inputs being among the more prominent).

I could easily get bitten by the expensive cam bug again, but, in browsing, fail to see what beneficial features the higher priced cams can offer for the money.

Better lenses and CCD's might be the key, I don't know. If you've been shopping, I'd be most interested in learning of your observations.

The flip side, of course, is that we're presently blessed with an abundance of affordable choices, all of which easily out-perform the pricey stuff we drooled over just a few short years ago.

Thanks in advance for sharing.

Caruso

Caruso: From what I can tell, this may be the one I'm going with. The Sony DCR-TRV30 which lists at $ 1699.00...
Features:
- MiniDV Recording
- Megapixel CCD DV Handycam® Camcorder (1.4"-1,550K Pixels)
- 530 Lines of Horizontal Video Resolution
- Digital Still Memory Mode with Memory Stick ® Media
- High Quality Megapixel 1360 X 1020 Still Image Resolution
- Advanced HAD™ CCD Technology
- Professional Quality Carl Zeiss®Vario-Sonnar Lens
- 10X Optical/120X Precision Digital Zoom
- 3.5" Precision SwivelScreen™ LCD Display (246K Pixels)
- Precision Color Viewfinder (180K Pixels)
- Stamina® Power Management System Up to 8 Hours (Using Optional NP-FM91)
- InfoLithium ®Battery with AccuPower™ Meter System
- Super SteadyShot® Picture Stabilization
- Super NightShot ®0 Lux System
- Super LaserLink™ Wireless Transmission System
- i.LINK ®* DV Interface (IEEE 1394)
- Progressive Shutter System
- Analog-to-Digital Conversion with Pass-Through
- Intelligent Shoe Accessory
- 16:9 Wide Mode
- USB Interface
- MPEG Movie Mode
- Memory Mix Effects
- 14 Bit DXP
- Intelligent Pop-Up Flash
- Digital Program Editing
- MGI PhotoSuite®and MGI VideoWave® Software Included
- Picture Effects (8 Mode)
- 6 Digital Effects

Check the link - http://www.sonystyle.com/digitalimaging/P_Feature_TRV30.shtml

Although I may step it up about 300 dollars and go with the TRV900. It has a few added features. Here's the link:

http://www.sonystyle.com/digitalimaging/P_Feature_TRV900.shtml

Hope this helps. I'm just a Sony man so I most likely will go with one of these. They both seem to offer the features I want. Now if I could find a Video card that I like. I am current using the ATI All in wonder 128 but thinking of taking it back to go with something else. What are you using?

I have a TRV900 and love it! I purchased it from B&H photo online a year ago for $1800. It should be cheaper now. If you want the lowdown on different digital camcorders, you should visit this site: www.bealecorner.com. This guy has done his homework for all of us and I used his research when deciding to buy mine. He compares several different brands, the +'s and -'s of each. Hope this helps,

dave

remember that the TRV900 has a 3CCD imaging system which puts it in a class by itself among camcorders. you should be able to easily find one within your budget.

also, if you are looking for progressive scan, (you mentioned it in your feature list) make sure it can do 30fps. as far as i know, the sony cam-corders only do 15fps in progressive mode. i'm not sure that is a very useful feature at 15fps.

this page was helpful to me when comparing the sony's:
http://www.sonystyle.com/digitalimaging/P_Compare_DV.shtml

this page is good too. i ended up going with the Canon GL-1 over the TRV900 even though this guy didn't like it. but it still helped a lot.
http://www.ferrario.com/ruether/camcorder-comparison.htm

I have a question about using a DV-cam as to transfer analogue to digital. Is there any loss of quality using a camera or does a deducted transfer card or equipment give higher quality?

EricK: it should make no difference at all unless one or the other is a real "cheapie".

Cheapie or noty, it should make no qualitative difference. Everything runs on the same standards digitally, so if its working, there should be no qualitative differences in this particular application. (Of course, the quality of the taken images will vary w/camcorder quality)

My Sony TRV 320 works just fine when playing old analogue tapes and transfering via firewire but it wont work as a converter, ie the video/audio input is disabled when the firewire cable is in. Is this normal or am I missing something in the camera settings? I've had the camera for nearly two years and hadn't tried the analogue to digital play until the other day because the salesman had assured me it wouldn't work.!!!

Of course I can record external analogue (VHS say)and then play into firewire.
Incidently I wonder if anyone is going to make a no frills digital camera (None of the fancy digital and pic effects, titling etc. which we can do in the computer)and concentrate on quality lenses and transport? (And cheaper????)

BW:

If your Sony supports the ability to convert directly through the iLink port, you will have a menu item on the VTR menu under "V" (Video) listed as "A/V -> DV OUT" with the variables "ON" or "OFF" Switched to "ON", This will allow for the pass-through of your analogue signal to the DV port of the camera. Just FYI I have the Sony TRV820.

Hope this helps,

Randy

Even if it doesn't have this capability, you can build a little gadget for about $10 that'll plug your camera's lanc connection into your computers serial port, and with a piece of free software called ANIN, be able to convert A/D. I did it on my old TRV310, it worked fine, but wasn't as handy as just changing a menu setting on my current 720.

Thanks, Why is it that people (me) only read the manual as a last resort. lol

Thanks for all of the responses. Plan on doing a little shopping this weekend:)

I have the $10, jboy, how do I go about building this little gadget?

Caruso

Just my two cents, but when I was shopping, I noticed that a lot of the Sony products differed only in size, and still picture resolution. Of course the 900 with 3 CCDs is "in a class by itself," but if you're looking for a single CCD DVC, I'd look for something with a low resolution still picture capability. I got the DCR-PC9. The next model up had ~2 times better still pic resolution, but was about $300 more. I use a lot of stills in my Vegas projects and I'll tell you, even the 1280 resolution won't cut it. For me, it was a much better solution to buy a good video-only DVC and a good 3+ megapixel still digital camera (Olympus - awesome!).
If that's a consideration for you, I'd compare how much premium you pay for higher res still pics.

TB

Thanks Chienworks, thanks for the info on there being no difference in the quality using a camera verses a convert.

Eric

Get the 900. 3 chip camera. Almost as good as VX-2000.

Hi Caruso, go here;

www.sps.volyne.cz/set1394/anin/code20.html

And it will give you tons of info, (unfortunately in sometimes fractured english, but he links to some english sites w/more understandable wordage), about this process of accessing all the variables in your camcorders range of possibilities, and enabling functions you didn't even know it had, (e.g. zebra striping, manual white balance, etc.) The gadget is basically a LANC plug, (which is simply a 3 contact mini plug available almost everywhere), with a lead, a cheap $2-3 transistor available at rado shack, and a serial port connector-about$1-2. You have to solder 3 leads to the serial plug adapter, so soldering skills are required. I just twisted the transistor leads to the serial plug, after burning out the first one. The process involves plugging in you camcorder to the computer, running the sw program called ANIN, available on the above site, opening your camcorder tape drive door, and presto,you'll be transcoding analog video to dv. A bit clunky, like I said, but it worked for me.