What camcorder takes the best video in the dark?

Q. I am trying to find a camcorder to buy for ghost hunting which requires being in the dark... What camera is the best quality dark shot?

A. Hi C!
I think its cool you're ghost hunting. It's been a passion of mine for the past 2 years. I work in an old school building that some suspect is haunted. I have taken some interesting video footage there and submitted it to some ghost video sites.
To get back to your question, I use the JVC GZ-HD300A Everio 60GB Hard Drive Camcorder. I've used other inferior cameras which are fine in the daylight but this cam has the best twilight and night mode out there.
Believe me, I know how it feels to miss a chance at filming something amazing because I don't have the right camera. You can find this camcorder at http://offto.net/onsalecom/ for a very competitive price.
Just search "camcorders" and click "JVC"
I got it from their site after shopping around. They shipped it quick and reliably and their customer service is excellent.
Good luck, and drop me a line and let me know if you catch anything paranormal on film.

All the best, Jimmy

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What is the best camcorder to record a basic training graduation?

Q. My mom wants to purchase a new camcorder to use at my basic training graduation for the Air Force. I am ashamed to admit, I dont know a thing about camcorders. I did some researched and talked to a few people who recently purchased a camcorder and I'm still very fuzzy. Does anyone have any suggestions? Specific brand and model? Maybe, a general rule of thumb or ruleS of thumb for purchasing a GOOD quality camcorder.

A. Basic training for camcorder purchase: There are two categories of camcorders STANDARD definition and and HIGH Definition. There are 4 recording formats for camcorders. 1) MiniDV tape 2) DVD 3)Hard Disk Drive or HDD and 4) Flash Drive.

Note as of February 2009, High Definition is the rule, standard broadcast TV will no longer exist, you will need to aquire a converter box just to watch regular broadcast television such as Oprah or whatever. So, eventually you will get an HD television. So, do you really want to purchase Standard Definition camcorder? Prices range $200 - $600.

MiniDV tape requires you to dub from camcorder to TV or computer via hookup to watch. 60 minute recording tapes.

DVD records only 30 minutes per side or disk. MUST finalize disk on camcorder BEFORE you can view on DVD player. No cables, but necessary to purchase new media all the time. $400 - $600 Standard...$700+ for HD.

HDD or Hard Disk Drive camcorders have 20 - 120 GB of internal memory, thats 6 hours to 40 hours of video time. But, you must download to computer to burn DVD/CD or purchase a separate DVD burner to archieve your videos off of HDD camcorder. $450 - $550 Standard...$850+ for HD.

Flash Drive camcorders are currently Canon, Sony or Samsung. These have some internal and primarily external removable memory such as Secure Disk memory card or Sony Memory Stick. These units are strickly playback or USB download to computer to burn a cd/DVD disk. $800+.

Note: Sony Blueray for High Definition is the winner of the format war for HD. All burners will be for Blue Ray recording.

ps...better have an updated computer to handle the RAM for video burning or DVR recording to at least archieve your videos.

Recommend Sony SR10 HDD. Sony has it all from lens to living room system.

Congrats on USAF boot camp completion. Fly High!

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What video format does this camcorder record in?

Q. What video format does the Polaroid DVC-00725F HD camcorder record in? I'm thinking of getting one, but first I need to know what format it records in.

A. Looks like it captures directly to AVI format - one of the reviewers at Amazon listed that.

More reviews at CNET:
http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-camcorders/polaroid-dvc-00725f/4505-6500_7-33503413.html

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What type of Camcorder format should I buy?

Q. I want to buy a Camcorder for my own personal use, but I want to also use it for video recording at my church. I want to know Which video format (such as, MiniDV, Digital8, Mini-DVD, Built-in hard drive, or Memory cards) is best for Burning the recording on to a DVD.

A. The previous answer gives great advice, but I have to disagree. Through my experience, miniDV is by far the best. I would consider going with hard drive camcorders, but miniDVD or memory card camcorders aren't even worth your time. MiniDV beats out hard drive for several reasons:
1) Better Picture quality: All consumer cameras compress. So its not a matter of whether they compress, but how much. When shooting in HD, I have found that Hard Drive, DVD, and memory card cameras compress A LOT more than miniDV.
2) Compatibility: MiniDV camcorders are compatible with virtually every editing program out there, including professional programs such as Avid Media Compser, Final Cut Studio, Adobe Premiere Pro, as well as the crappy default programs like iMovie and Windows Movie Maker. Hard Drive camcorders offer several options such as Sony Vegas, Final Cut Express, and a few others, but not nearly as much. DVD camcorders are very limited. Either put up with the software that the camera comes with, or purchase the decent, yet not impressive program, Ulead Video Studio. I don't know about flash drive cameras, but that's because I never bothered to look into them.
3) Storage: MiniDV offers much easier, cheaper, and more reliable storage than Hard Drive cameras. First of all, miniDV camcorders record to cheap, 2$ miniDv cassettes, meaning you could archive your original footage forever. With Hard Drive cameras, once the hard drive is full, you have to capture the footage into the computer, then delete it from the camera before recording more. Of course, you could store the originial footage onto hard drives, but that's still more time consuming and not as reliable: hard drives can crash!

Regarding your second question, if you want to edit your footage, then burn to DVD, don't get a DVD camcorder. They are the hardest to edit. Also they are a totally different file type. In order to convert it to the standard .avi file that can be burned to DVD, you'll need to rip the encoded files from the DVD to the computer then re-export as an .avi file. Either miniDV or Hard Drive camcorders would be fine for DVD burning...I still like miniDV better though.

Well, I hope that helps....and I apologize if I sounded a bit biased (but it's true, miniDV owns!). So have fun and best of luck!
....oh and btw: most professional cameras use miniDV, apart from the expensive solid state cameras such as the Panasonic HVX200 and PMW-EX1, which utilize even more professional formats, but that's an entirely different story.

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