I want the best value (low and middle price ranges) digital video
camera and do not know enough to compare. I want to know which have
the best combination of length of high quality recording time, highest
picture quality, ease of use, storage software, ease of burning onto
DVD (and any other attribute I have missed).

Hello,

You may want to start your search for a digital video recorder at
CNET, a Web site that specializes in reviews of electronic prices.
Their reviews of digital camcorders
(http://electronics.cnet.com/electronics/search/0,10126,0-6342639-1302-0,00.html?tag=dir)
gives the highest rating to the Sony DCR-PC9, which costs around
$1,300-$1,400. The site says lauds the camera's small size, ease of
use and picture quality. Of CNET users who rated the camera, 92% gave
it a "thumbs up."

The top-rated camera in the $1,000 and below price range is the Sony
DCR-TRV17, which scored just below the PC9 from the editors and has a
95% thumbs up score from users. It is listed at $829 to $1,009.

Some words of caution: CNET does not rate every digital camera, and,
unlike Consumer Reports, it accepts advertising. Consumer Reports
(www.consumerreports.org) does have ratings of digital video recorders
(released last December), but accessing them requires a paid
subscription.

A third site, Consumer Search, is sort of a review of product reviews
from magazines. Its list of top digital camcorders
(http://www.consumersearch.com/www/photo_and_video/digital_camcorders/index.html)
includes the Sony DCR-PC110 and DCR-VX2000, the Panasonic PV-DV
series, the Canon ZR25MC and the Hitachi DZ-MV100A.

The *bestselling* digital camcorder at Amazon.com is the Panasonic
PVDV52, which has a price below $550 and an average user rating of 4.5
out of 5.

I could tell you more from the reviews, but that would risk
infringement on copyrights, so you'll have to visit the sites
yourself!

Good luck, and thanks for using Google Answers.

Search strategy:

related:www.consumerreports.org
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&num=10&q=related:www.consumerreports.org

related:www.consumersearch.com
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&num=10&q=related:www.consumersearch.com

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Request for Answer Clarification by carefulaxe-ga on 04 Sep 2002 19:30 PDT

Thanks for the info. What I wanted to know as part of the comparison
is the length of recording time, highest quality picture (ie how does
that compare to video 8 quality), can you easily burn onto DVD via
computer. Hope this makes the question clearer. Thanks

---

Clarification of Answer by mwalcoff-ga on 04 Sep 2002 20:50 PDT

Regarding picture quality, Leonard Fischer of USA Today
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/ccarch/2002/03/06/fischer-dv.htm)
says all digital camcorders record at the same picture quality:

"When searching for a camcorder, choose the best camera you can
afford, but realize that you're going to be able to create
good-looking footage on any digital camcorder because they all record
footage at the same resolution, regardless of what other special
features they include."

As for burning video onto a DVD, that is a function of your computer
and its software, not the camcorder itself. See this Fischer article:
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/ccarch/2002/06/19/fischer-dv.htm).
An exception is the Hitachi DZ-MV100A, which records directly onto a
DVD.

Finally, recording time depends not on the camera but on the tapes and
batteries you get for it. Again, the Hitachi DZ-MV100A is an
exception, because it does not use tapes. According to
MPSuperstore.com (http://www.mpsuperstore.com/video/indexMy.htm?discr17964.htm),
the Hitachi can record from 30 to 120 minutes, depending on the
settings.