Hi this would be my first thread after my registration minutes ago.

I had a SONY miniDV years ago. Nowadays everything is new, and there are more choices. Generally I don't like tape cam, because it is a really painful experience to transfer the video from cam to PC. Also, I don't like a pack of tapes around, since i always couldn't find the right one...

I will skip DVD based cam directly to choose a new HDD or flash based camcorder.

Flash memory camcorder is quite compact, and safe. The only downside is the capacity... well, i think I can overcome that because i am not a professional film maker anyway, no need to shoot for such a long time...

But the problem is that, there are not many flash memory camcorder available now, only:

Panasonic HDC-SD1
Panasonic HDC-SD3 (coming soon...)
Sony HDR-CX7(CX6 in Europe) (coming soon... too)

and that's all?

I am wondering if I should wait or get a HDD cam... Well HDD cam is not so bad anyway... What do you think? wait or get a HDD?

If flash memory cam is the final choice, Sony or Panasonic? What do you think?


Any comment is welcome!


Thanks


Leon

If you're not in a mad rush, why not wait abit longer and see what Canon comes out with by way of a flash based camera. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a flash based AVCHD product in the next few months.

You should also consider the fact that current AVCHD offerings don't compete well with the tape based HDV cams in terms of picture quality. For precisely that reason, I stuck with HDV and bought the Canon HV20. I know HDD based cameras will give you a boat load of footage before needing to transfer, but I'm not crazy about an HDD based camera- too risky. I think the flash based cameras are definitely the wave of the future. If you must go tapeless, then IMHO get a flash based camera. That's my $.02

Thanks for the reply. It is an interesting point that HDD camera is a 'temporary' stage from tape to tapeless.

AVCHD is a problem, but I think it can be solved on the software side in the future. Anyway I don't want to do too much video editting, which I did a lot before - it is timeconsuming , and expensive since you have to get a quite high-end PC anyway, and bunch of software...

i am glad I have a PS3 to play the AVCHD video, and I have 4GB memory stick DUO currently which is in my PSP.

I really hope canon will do something about flash memory camcorder, but as far as i know AVCHD is developed by sony and panasonic? Will canon use this format, or they may create ANOTHER format?! Oh no...

Let's wait and see... at least in July something new will com.

Canon is already using the AVCHD format in it's new HR10 camera (August release), but it's a DVD camera.

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canons-First-AVCHD---HR10-DVD-Camcorder.htm

It's not clear how temporary the longevity of HDD is in camcorder devices. Solid state memory has advantages of lower power, smaller size, and more resistant to shock. HDD has advantages of far greater capacity and lower price (per capacity). Many bet that HDD's capacity advantage will disappear as solid state grows in capacity. However, at the same time you see HDD quickly growing in capacity, shrinking in size, getting cheaper, and becoming more parsimonious with power, etc. Finally, storage demands will continue to increase as resolutions and bit rates continue to rise. I suspect there will be a market for both for quite some time as different market segments fall on each side of their respective trade-offs.

What is clear to me is that direct access memory - HDD and solid-state memory - will increasingly displace tape. Direct access is just way more convenient and faster than serial tape. Most importantly it can/will be put online where it will not only be accessible for use, but also automatically maintained in multiple locations and periodically updated to the then-current format so it is not lost due to media failure, fire, theft, transport and format obsolescence, etc. When you want to show your baby's first step's to his grandchildren in 35 years, what will be the value of that shoebox filled with miniDV tapes (if it still exists and can be found)? Not much I suspect.

Tom

I see you didn't mention the Canon TX1. If you are primarily interested in SD this might work for you. The Jury is still out on it's 720P performance.