Review sites

[nbs2]

I admit I'm no expert on the digicam side of things, but I'm familiar enough with sites like dpreview and dcresource to look at if I'm in the market or if someone asks me to help them out. On the video side of things, I'm baffled. I have a camcorder, but it's cheap, more than a couple years old, and doesn't get used nearly enough. I don't have the time or money to pour in to everything that interests me, and video got the short end of the stick so I haven't kept up on the goings on here and have little experience to fall back on. Point being - I'm a novice and embrace that title.

Enter my mother. She's going on a trip overseas and is leaving 9/6. My job over the next three weeks is to help her locate a good camcorder for her needs.

I'd love to ask you guys for an opinion (basic user, would be using iMovie/iDVD at most, has a 1080p HDTV and would like it to look nice on it, pass through for digitizing they extensive Beta/VHS home movies would be nice) on what camcorders she should look at, but I want to do my own research as well - it's always irritating to have someone new ask for advice when they can't look things up for themselves. So, what sites (and to a lesser extent, forums) do you consider to be solid review sites across the gamut of camcorders?

And I will ask the mods to ban the first person who says CNET

 

[66217]

CNet, definitely.

I am also in the search of a new camcorder. Since I started helping my dad make some videos he needed, I have been wanting to buy a good video camera, right now I only have my brothers, which isn't very good.

So my recommendation for buying a camcorder would be this: read this HUGE thread, it has a lot of info.

And also, even tho I haven't used them, the Canon Elura 100 and the Canon HV20 are very good cameras.

Elura:
-It's cheap, $400.
-Good quality when in bright situations. Not soo good in low light situations.
-Small

HV20:
-High Definition
-Shoots in 24p
-Much better in low-light
-A little bigger,

Read this review site. It is in my opinion the most complete site for camcorders.

One more recommendation. Since you are going to edit them later, buying MiniDV is the way to go.

I hope this info helps you,

 

[zioxide]

HV20:
-High Definition
-Shoots in 24p
-Much better in low-light

quoted because i don't feel like typing the same thing over again

 

[66217]

quoted because i don't feel like typing the same thing over again

Do you have the HV20?

 

[nbs2]

From what Roco mentions, the Elura seems closer to what they would want. The big thing is that the camera should be fairly cheap. I should clarify that they are travelling to India, if the something happened to the HV20, I don't think they'd be too happy.

Camcorderinfo looks really helpful. Outside of Canon, is there anything you might suggest?

 

[lfielder06]

I just picked up the HV20 and I don't understand why you guys say it is big. It is a fantastic camcorder. Very small, but large enough for people (like myself) with larger hands don't feel like they are going to crush it. I just took a few shots tonight in my apartment of my 5 month old daughter and threw them up on my HDTV through component and my wife and I were both amazed at the awesome quality. I strongly recommend the HV20, but don't forget your 4-6 pin firewire cable. I found my self running out to walmart to grab mine. One thing is that you cannot transfer videos over USB (my PC only has USB) so you have to buy a firewire cable. Good luck on your purchase, but if you are looking for a sub $1000 HD camcorder the HV20 is the best buy.