Marco Durando
October 25th, 2006, 03:29 AM
Since a few months I’m carefully reading all the posts on the web about the latest High Definition camcorders because I’m trying to select one to buy and use during my mountain hikes. I discarded the Sony HDR-SR1 and the announced JVC Everio HDD because of the altitude limitation of hard disc drives (see http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=77961) to about 3000 meters (10.000 ft), a limit which I often exceed in the Alps (I used my miniDV camcorder even at about 4200 m – 13700 ft -, with no problems).
Here are my considerations about the models I’m considering:
CANON HV10
PROs:
• Excellent image quality in bright sunlight (very important to me)
• Very small dimensions (very important to me)
• Excellent optical image stabilizer (very important to me)
• Instant focus feature (supposedly very useful)
CONs:
• possibility of dropouts (tape recording system)
• poor image quality in low light (but some posts do not agree; anyway less important to me)
• poor audio (less important to me)
• lower battery autonomy
SONY HDR-HC3
PROs:
• Generally good image quality
• Good manual control (not very important to me)
CONs:
• electronic image stabilizer
• possibility of dropouts (tape recording system)
• dimensions not as small as HV10
SONY HDR-UX1
PROs:
• Fast transfer to PC
• No dropouts (but potentially there could be other problems with DVDs)
CONs:
• Tricky PC editing of AVCHD format (very critical to me)
• bigger dimensions (very critical to me)
• Noisy image
• electronic image stabilizer
• uncertain availability of miniDVD discs in the next years, when either Blu-ray or HD-DVD becomes popular
• supposed slow time from switch on to ready to record due to DVD disc (rather critical to me)
• frequent need to change disc, due to short duration
Future PANASONIC (only announced)
PROs:
• Very small dimensions (very important to me)
• Flash memory recording medium supposedly robust (no mechanical moving parts)
• supposed quick time from switch on to ready to record
• ……………… (specs yet unknown)
CONs:
• Tricky PC editing of AVCHD format (very critical to me)
• No viewfinder (very critical to me, LCD usually is no good in extremely bright sunlight)
• frequent need to change the memory card, due to short duration
• need to archive somehow the footage downloaded to the PC
• ……………… (specs yet unknown)
The balance seems to lean towards the Canon for my specific needs, but a review found on http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=738270&highlight=hv10 seems to contradict some of my conclusions, partly based on http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=139 reviews:
So, I haven’t yet made a decision, but I posted this to share these considerations of mine and collect further opinions, if anyone has any comments.
Here are my considerations about the models I’m considering:
CANON HV10
PROs:
• Excellent image quality in bright sunlight (very important to me)
• Very small dimensions (very important to me)
• Excellent optical image stabilizer (very important to me)
• Instant focus feature (supposedly very useful)
CONs:
• possibility of dropouts (tape recording system)
• poor image quality in low light (but some posts do not agree; anyway less important to me)
• poor audio (less important to me)
• lower battery autonomy
SONY HDR-HC3
PROs:
• Generally good image quality
• Good manual control (not very important to me)
CONs:
• electronic image stabilizer
• possibility of dropouts (tape recording system)
• dimensions not as small as HV10
SONY HDR-UX1
PROs:
• Fast transfer to PC
• No dropouts (but potentially there could be other problems with DVDs)
CONs:
• Tricky PC editing of AVCHD format (very critical to me)
• bigger dimensions (very critical to me)
• Noisy image
• electronic image stabilizer
• uncertain availability of miniDVD discs in the next years, when either Blu-ray or HD-DVD becomes popular
• supposed slow time from switch on to ready to record due to DVD disc (rather critical to me)
• frequent need to change disc, due to short duration
Future PANASONIC (only announced)
PROs:
• Very small dimensions (very important to me)
• Flash memory recording medium supposedly robust (no mechanical moving parts)
• supposed quick time from switch on to ready to record
• ……………… (specs yet unknown)
CONs:
• Tricky PC editing of AVCHD format (very critical to me)
• No viewfinder (very critical to me, LCD usually is no good in extremely bright sunlight)
• frequent need to change the memory card, due to short duration
• need to archive somehow the footage downloaded to the PC
• ……………… (specs yet unknown)
The balance seems to lean towards the Canon for my specific needs, but a review found on http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=738270&highlight=hv10 seems to contradict some of my conclusions, partly based on http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=139 reviews:
So, I haven’t yet made a decision, but I posted this to share these considerations of mine and collect further opinions, if anyone has any comments.