Help looking to buy a camcorder and need advice

[iklemonster]

Help, I have only been a Mac user for about 18months and I am totally converted. But I am a complete Mac virgin when it comes to choosing compatible products. I teach and would like to use video to enhance my demo's during my lectures. I have a budget $750 and would like a High Def Camcorder with a Hard Disk (I am flexible if there is better alternative) if a flash card is an option I would pay separately for the card so do not include in original budget price. I have searched on Mac iMovie website but some of the cameras they have described are older models.
My needs are must look decent on a projection screen as well as on an iphone/ipod. Some lectures are longer than others so short video record times are not really an option.

My wish list would be stabilizer and night vision but I know thats probably a long shot for my budget.

Thanks JB

 

[waistdeep]

Sony CX100 great all around camera. Fully compatible

 

[avaloncourt]

If you could stretch your budget just a bit farther you could get a Canon HG21 for $799. That has a 120GB HDD and is a high-def camcorder. I just got this one recently.

If you want to drop back one model the HG20 is available from B&H Photo for $650. The difference between 20 and 21 is the 20 has the LCD panel on the side and no actual viewfinder. It also has a reduced size 60GB hard drive. The LCD panel is also supposed to be a little bit lesser quality from what I've read. That would get you well within your budget though.

One word of warning though... I found this out the hard way. Many of the hard disk camcorders record in AVCHD. I didn't realize what a struggle it can be to work with the files. I thought it was just me until I began doing searches and I found literally hundreds of discussion threads online about exactly this. I'm using a recent model MacBook Pro and Adobe Premiere CS4. Premiere CS4 handles AVCHD natively and it still struggles with it.

This is unfortunately the current state of current technology. The alternative is to use a DV tape-based camcorder but then you have to wait for the tape to play out the full length of your recordings to transfer the data to your computer. The files are easier to handle (MPEG-2) but the wait periods make it a real burden.

So, for now, I'm converting the AVCHD to Apple Intermediate Format. Premiere and my computer get along with those files much better and the image quality remains good. File management is a little more cumbersome with the conversion. Premiere allows you to pull segments out of an AVCHD recording without having to transfer in the entire recording. You can't do the same with other kinds of recordings.

The HG20/21 have image stabilizers but not night vision. They are sensitive down to 2 lux.

As for iMovie compatibility, both the HG20 and 21 are specifically named as compatible. The Apple website also says...

Tapeless Camcorder Support

iMovie '08 works with many tapeless camcorders that record to flash memory, a hard disk drive (HDD), or DVD media. These devices use a USB 2.0 cable and include camcorders using MPEG-2 (standard definition) and AVCHD (high definition) formats. If you use the AVCHD format you will need a Mac with an Intel-based Core Duo processor or better.

 

[kilrb]

Sony CX100 great all around camera. Fully compatible

I just bought this camcorder for $500. It's working well. After tons of hours trying to figure out how to work with AVCHD, I finally found some software from Shedworx.com that allows you to copy the camera's disk and keep the files in their native format on your mac. Then, when you want to splice clips together in i-movie, you just open up the copy of the camera's disk and i-movie thinks it's a connected camera, and you can import. It's not quite as simple as my old SD camcorder, but it's not that bad, and the video looks great. So far, the CX100 has been a great camera (for a week).

 

[avaloncourt]

After tons of hours trying to figure out how to work with AVCHD, I finally found some software from Shedworx.com that allows you to copy the camera's disk and keep the files in their native format on your mac.

You're talking about the VoltaicHD software. I saw some comments online about it and gave it a try. It keeps crashing on me at the end of every conversion. It's a little frustrating.

 

[TheStrudel]

MPEG streamclip is stable, free and allows you to pretty much convert everything. Well worth looking into.

 

[kilrb]

You're talking about the VoltaicHD software. I saw some comments online about it and gave it a try. It keeps crashing on me at the end of every conversion. It's a little frustrating.

Revolver is mde by the same company, but it's separate from VoltaicHD. It doesn't do anything other than copy your camera's content, and it also will burn a disk. It doesn't do any file conversions or anything.

 

[avaloncourt]

ah ok. I didn't realize that. At this time I'm moving the full AVCHD camera directory to my working hard drive and then working on it from there.

I realized from finding another thread elsewhere since I posted that I wasn't up to the most recent version of Premiere. I've taken it to 4.1 and that helped a bit. I'm not plagued by a bunch of the bugs I previously encountered. The video is still a bit much for the MBP but it's usable.

 

[bearcatrp]

I just bought this camcorder for $500. It's working well. After tons of hours trying to figure out how to work with AVCHD, I finally found some software from Shedworx.com that allows you to copy the camera's disk and keep the files in their native format on your mac. Then, when you want to splice clips together in i-movie, you just open up the copy of the camera's disk and i-movie thinks it's a connected camera, and you can import. It's not quite as simple as my old SD camcorder, but it's not that bad, and the video looks great. So far, the CX100 has been a great camera (for a week).

You didn't need to buy software to do this. You can use disk utility to make a disc image of your camcorder hard drive. When you mount it, iMovie thinks its your camcorders hard drive.