Camcorder

I bought a new camcorder last year - it's a good time, because prices are good and they have lots of features. Here's a caution, though: you can't trust the item descriptions or the salespeople at Best Buy or Circuit City to be correct, and they both charge a hefty restocking fee (I think it's 20%) to return most camcorders if they've been opened. Make sure you take the time to read the online reviews and check out the product spec sheets on the manufacturer's website. And maybe order from an online source like Amazon - I got zero service from the stores anyway. (The online reviews on the circuit city website were very helpful, though.)

We ended up with a mini-DV style recorder, because it was the only one that would allow us to convert our old analog tapes. If I hadn't had that restriction I would have chosen straight-to-DVD, although it was more expensive. (maybe should have anyway, since I will never have the time to sit down and convert the old tapes.) We ended up with a Canon, which I love - packed with features, and it's light and small. It also takes photos, but the photo quality is not the greatest - more like a camera phone than a camera.

Hi D.,

We just bought a Sony HD RUX5 . We bought it a few weeks ago at Best Buy. It's expensive ($999), but it has a digital camera in it along with HD DVD's. My husband did tons of research and if you have a HD TV, this may be the way to go. The pictures and video come out great.

HI, the best place is www.deals2buy.com , pricescan.com you can see the prices compare them:) hope it helps.

If you can afford it, I would look for one that records to a hard drive or has a DV (digital video) out. This way they are much easier to hook up to a computer and you don't have to mess with little tapes and converting footage over, and can just burn DVDs with your computer and edit footage too if you want. I would probably also look for one that has a still camera in it too so he can use it for double duty.

If those are out of your price range, be very careful about getting the ones that record to DVD because although it is easy to pop them in your DVD player, if you want to do any editing on the computer, it is very difficult and you need special software.

Also, a great online place to order is Newegg.com. They sell computer parts but they have the best prices around, great customer service and superfast shipping.

Whatever you do don't buy a JVC. I wasted my money on this piece of garbage that only works if the weather conditions are right. I constantly get a message that says, "condensation operation paused". Reading online it seems that many people who have this camera and other models by JVC have the same problem. It's a $500 paper weight that occasionally films events.

We have a Panasonic PV-GS35 and I think we paid about $300 for it a year and a half ago. It's a great camera, and I love the anti-shake feature. There are definitely more expensive cameras out there, but let's face it - we're taking pictures of our kids, not African wildlife or making independent films. And, technology becomes obsolete so fast these days that it hardly seems worth it to spend $1000 on it.

Our camera uses digital tapes and we upload them onto our MacBook and use iDVD and iMovie to make dvds. You can usually get your best deals for cameras online. We got ours through a store called B & H Audio-Video and were very happy with them.

Have fun!

D.,

we just bought a camcorder and went through the same thing. I thought the "tape" option was a little old school, but I went to ABT and they told me it was still the best quality- even the mega $1000+ cameras are tape. With the right cable you can still burn the tape to a DVD on your computer. I went for tape with the best image quality within my budget. I ended up with a nice sony that we love.

good luck!

We used consumer reports to research ours. You can go to your library and use their copies for free

Their are so many features that you have to consider. Do you want a MiniDVD, MiniTapes, Regular Tapes (they are the size of a cassette), or the newest Hard Drive Camcorders. Another thing to consider is do you want to use your to be able to take pictures too? I personally have a Mini DVD with a 4 mega pixel camera in it as well. I bought a Sony and I paid almost $1000.00 for it but I bought the top of the line for mini DVD. It is nice because you can put the mini DVD in your DVD player and play right off of that. No converstion into DVD needed (that costs usually $20.00 to do at Walmart or Walgreens). Those were some the key factors for me. I am a loyal Sony customer, they tend to run a little higher but the quality is wonderful! If you go to Bestbuy.com or Circuitcity.com one of them has were you can compare the features and hear feedback from other customers. Do research first and shop around for the best price once you find the right one for you. Hope it helps!

I got one for my husband for Christmas. I went out and did research for months trying to find the best quality for the best price. I went to alot of Camcorder/video recorder websites and read the reviews. Picture qualty is important, clarity of the picture, sound, battery life,warrentees, ease of use, quick reaction time for those quick to catch moments, memory devices (tape, cd, dvd). I found panasonic or sony to have the best quality for the price. Good luck it took me a couple of months before I found the one I wanted. I also bought it online to avoid the stores. Make sure you check the rerturn policy in case something goes wrong.