Sony Handycam DCR-SR100 Camcorder

[markvee]

I'm thinking about buying a camcorder.

I like the Sony Handycam DCR-SR100 Camcorder for the hard drive and ability to get 3MP stills.

This model has NTSC but unfortunately no PAL format.

http://www99.epinions.com/Sony_Handycam_DCR_SR100_Camcorder

Also, the price tag is hefty at $1,200 from the Sony store.

http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/servlet/ProductDetailDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&productId=1002548&navigationPath=n32080n100249

Suggestions on alternatives or where to get a better price at an instore location (Toronto or Ottawa) are appreciated.

 

[lamwi]

I'm thinking about buying a camcorder.

I like the Sony Handycam DCR-SR100 Camcorder for the hard drive and ability to get 3MP stills.

This model has NTSC but unfortunately no PAL format.

http://www99.epinions.com/Sony_Handycam_DCR_SR100_Camcorder

Also, the price tag is hefty at $1,200 from the Sony store.

http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/servlet/ProductDetailDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&productId=1002548&navigationPath=n32080n100249

Suggestions on alternatives or where to get a better price at an instore location (Toronto or Ottawa) are appreciated.

Henrys is selling this camera at $1100. I used the camera for two days. I return the camera becasue if you looking for the best play back quality after editing you will see the screen quality is poor.

 

[monkeychan]

Regency Audio Video (Woodbine, north of Steeles) sells it for about $1,100 including taxes. IMHO $1,100 for a camcorder is normal.

PS: there is no NTSC/PAL dual format for camcorders

lamwi, just curious, why do you want to watch your recording on the camera's screen?

 

[lamwi]

When I refer to screen quality I mean your TV screen not the camera LCD. One more thing is the LCD screen on camera is very good because it is a live view but once it recorded to the HD the quality will not be the same.

 

[monkeychan]

that I agree.

Don't bother with hard-disk and DVD based camcorder (especially HD), they(at the moment) are crap. Stick with miniDV, especially if your budget is sub $1,500. HDV if your budget is around $3,000. HDCam if your budget is around $10,000.

 

[Cobster]

Forget Sony, because of their proprietary memory stick b.s.
If you have an SD card already, you're set for your stills.
Why give Sony more coin?
(oh and harddrive based video cameras, aren't the way to go yet).

Go with Panasonic's video cameras, rated very high with their 3-chip processors.
AMAZING for low light shots, GS500 GS300 amazing cameras.
http://www.pana3ccduser.com/index.php
Do your homework there.
Love my camera.

 

[Juldet]

Just wondering about the hard drive issue quality, and I agree buying a camera that records on a dvd is not a good buy because the quality is not there yet. JVC has a prosumer 3 chip hard drive camera, once someone comes out with a small 3 chip (3ccd), hard drive, hi-def camera at a reasonable price I am in.

http://www.cnet.com.au/camcorders/camcorders/0,239035915,240056581,00.htm

Right now is a hard drive camera as lousy as a dvd recording video camera?

 

[monkeychan]

Forget Sony, because of their proprietary memory stick b.s.
If you have an SD card already, you're set for your stills.
Why give Sony more coin?
(oh and harddrive based video cameras, aren't the way to go yet).

Go with Panasonic's video cameras, rated very high with their 3-chip processors.
AMAZING for low light shots, GS500 GS300 amazing cameras.
http://www.pana3ccduser.com/index.php
Do your homework there.
Love my camera.

But Panasonic widescreeen (16:9) mode actually uses LESS pixel count AND cropped the top and bottom of the 4:3 capture. There should be more information and resolution on 16:9, not less. Sony use 16:9 native sensor, not Panasonic consumer models.

 

[monkeychan]

Right now is a hard drive camera as lousy as a dvd recording video camera?

Not only right now, but forever and ever because they both are using the same lousy MPEG-2 codec.

 

[Cobster]

But Panasonic widescreeen (16:9) mode actually uses LESS pixel count AND cropped the top and bottom of the 4:3 capture. There should be more information and resolution on 16:9, not less. Sony use 16:9 native sensor, not Panasonic consumer models.

All I got from that was BLA BLA BLA...lol
Fuck Sony the proprietary company.
As for the cropping, if you're ABSOLUTELY ANAL about stuff like that, well, that's a different story. I mean, I'm pretty picky, but what it boiled down to for me was, price, quality and what I was getting with the camera.
Got mine (GS500) from bhphotovideo with a 5 year warranty and the GS300 alone in Canada with taxes just barely met that price here.

I've used it a couple of times and looks effin GREAT.
Love my Panny cam.

 

[markvee]

PS: there is no NTSC/PAL dual format for camcorders

According to epinions.com, there is NTSC/PAL on the Panasonic VDR-D300 DVD Camcorder:

http://www.epinions.com/compare.htm...us_page=/Camcorders--reviews--brand_panasonic

The link shows the VDR-300 compared to the PV-GS500. From the review, I see that the VDR-300 uses MPEG4 compresseion. What does the PV-GS500 use? The review implies that Mini DV`s use less compression (and produce a much better picture?) than DVD camcorders. Both camcorders use 3 CCD`s.

Also, I noticed that PV-GS500 shoots QVGA 320 x 240 mpeg videos. The VDR-300 also shoots mpeg videos (presumably also QVGA).

I am on the verge of buying the Canon Powershot S3 IS digital camera,

https://terb.cc/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=139828

which shoots VGA 640 x 480 mpeg videos, and I`m thinking that these will be easiest to edit, email, etc. The quality of the Canon D3 video looks pretty good on dpreview.com, but I don`t know where to find video from Panasonic camcorders for comparison.

 

[Cobster]

...but I don't know where to find video from Panasonic camcorders for comparison.

Check my first post in this thread, there's a link to a site.
You'll find sample videos in the reviews section.

 

[markvee]

Check my first post in this thread, there's a link to a site.
You'll find sample videos in the reviews section.

Thanks Cobster.

I couldn't find a review of the Panasonic VDR-D300 DVD Camcorder, but here is a review of the Panasonic PV-GS500 and Panasonic PV-GS300 with sample videos (It says there is no sound in 2 of the 3 videos, but I can not hear sound on any of the videos):
http://www.pana3ccduser.com/article.php?filename=Review:-GS300-and-GS500-3CCD-Camcorders

Here are movie samples from the Canon PowerShot S3 IS:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons3is/page7.asp

It's hard to compare because there were different shooting conditions (no low light samples for the Canon), but the Canon movies look better on my computer. I know that the Panasonic videos have been re-formatted to MPEG-2, but I prefer the Canon digital camera at this point over the Panasonic camcorder.

 

[monkeychan]

The Panasonic video is not reformatted to MPEG-2. It is MPEG-2, hence the crapiness as opposed to .AVI (S3 IS) or DV25 (miniDV, DVCam) formats.

 

[CooCoo]

I got the GS400 which was a steal from last year and it's great.
They all have their good points and bad points.

 

[monkeychan]

According to epinions.com, there is NTSC/PAL on the Panasonic VDR-D300 DVD Camcorder:

http://www.epinions.com/compare.htm...us_page=/Camcorders--reviews--brand_panasonic

The link shows the VDR-300 compared to the PV-GS500. From the review, I see that the VDR-300 uses MPEG4 compresseion. What does the PV-GS500 use? The review implies that Mini DV`s use less compression (and produce a much better picture?) than DVD camcorders. Both camcorders use 3 CCD`s.

Also, I noticed that PV-GS500 shoots QVGA 320 x 240 mpeg videos. The VDR-300 also shoots mpeg videos (presumably also QVGA).

I am on the verge of buying the Canon Powershot S3 IS digital camera,

https://terb.cc/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=139828

which shoots VGA 640 x 480 mpeg videos, and I`m thinking that these will be easiest to edit, email, etc. The quality of the Canon D3 video looks pretty good on dpreview.com, but I don`t know where to find video from Panasonic camcorders for comparison.

AFAIK MPEG4 compression is for memory-card storage only. For HDD or DVD storage, they use "full resolution" (640x480) MPEG2 compression. The least amount of compression is done utilizing either AVI or DV25 format.