Thanks in advance for any feedback, thoughts, suggestions -

Unfortunately I'm another noob, never owned a camcorder before. But I now have a need for recording 10 hours of continuous, unattended video. Yes, a surveilance of sorts. No I'm not spying on the neighbors, girlfriend, boss or government, or catch a poltergeist while I sleep, or anything of the sort. :)

HDD is apparently the only solution that can accomplish this and since my household is already peppered with lots of HD equipment, I figured if I'm going to take the camcorder plunge, I might as well go HD. I'm about ready to purchase a Sony HDR-SR1 but just wanted to see if anyone here had any other ideas before I do.

The only other HDD/HD camcorder I found was the JVC GZ-HD7. My thoughts are steering me away from that one because of early feedback here on some PQ issues and other quibbles. At first the JVC appealed to me because it uses HDV but if I understand some postings correctly, it's still a JVC-proprietary version of HDV? Is that correct?

I read the camcorderinfo.com review of the Sony and realize I'll have some PQ and edit-ability issues with AVCHD, but at least it's a standard, not proprietary. I couldn't find a SR1 to HD7 direct PQ comparison anywhere, but if anybody can point me to one or has experience with both and can offer feedback, that would be superb!

I know the Sony hasn't exactly been well thought of here...mostly due to AVCHD I think, but going by the camcorderinfo.com review, it does have a lot of pretty decent features for a guy who'll mostly be a point-n-shooter. Aside from AVCHD, can I really go wrong with this one?

I don't plan to do a lot of serious editing (and apparently minimal editing can now be done with MF6). I already have a blu-ray burner and Memory Stick slot in my Sony computer. No PS3 yet but I probably will eventually.

Anyway, any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.

Mark

Honestly, you would probably be fine with either of your suggestions. You seem to know what you are getting into.

I've been very happy with my HDR-SR1. I love going straight to whatever clip I want and not having to wait for a tape to run when I transfer to my PC.

I was stunned the first time I connected it to my TV with the HDMI cable - awesome picture!

The AVCHD format is a concern of mine too, but I'm counting on Sony coming through on their promise to add AVCHD support to Vegas 7 "this Spring."

In the meantime, I can convert the video to mpeg 2 and edit it, while still retaining the AVCHD to playback from the camera or burn to an HD DVD as is or trimmed and compiled.

The only way you'll get 10 hours of hi-def video from the SR1 is in LP mode, which is the lowest level in terms of quality. I think you'll be giving up quite a bit of quality.

Just a question, though. How much editing do you need to do for surveillance video?

Yes, understood that I'll have to use LP mode for the 10-hr project. PQ isn't an issue for that project and I won't be doing any editing on that. My PQ and editing comments were more related to other things I might do with the camcorder. Basically I'm trying to go for something that can accomplish this one need but also be good at other more general uses. Guess I didn't make that entirely clear in my first post!

But I now have a need for recording 10 hours of continuous, unattended video.

if the camera is in a fixed position, you may be able to record straight to your pc from the firewire port of the camera in real-time with the right software. this way you'd be able to record as much video as you want, and not be limited on the quality

Well, consumer camcorders in the market really aren't designed for surveillance. This is just my personal opinion but this is what I'd do if I were in your position. I would get two cameras. For the surveillance camera, I'd go to Radio Shack or somewhere and get a small CMOS camera. I would then feed that video to your PC, just like brente said. This shouldn't be that expensive as surveillance cameras are pretty cheap. Then, I would spend money on a good camcorder for your important recordings. :)