DVD Cameras

[Mark]

I was looking at a Sony camcorder and a Panasonic camcorder today at the base. I was wondering if anyone had one or would be able to say something about them, what they like or dislike. I like that these two burn little cd's and you can plop them in your computer. The Sony was ~$950 and the Panasonic ~$850 and no tax on base. I wonder how they are, if you can shoot a still photo with them.
Then I looked at some digital still cameras too. So many choices and features and even after reading about some in Consumer Reports, I am still unsure what I want.
I just don't want a lot of hassle, just something that I can use to photograph or MPG so I can post whatever I am working on and not have to use a million words when a picture would do. Besides, it might help my creativity, sometimes the camera produces a different perspective somehow.
Mark

[Mike Kirney]

I have a Canon ZR45 digital video recorder that I got at Future Shop last year for about $900 CDN. It takes stills and stores them on a little blue flash card. The card it came with stored about 32 but for 80 bucks I got another one that can hold 800. It uses those little one hour tapes for video and is quite easy to use. I've had few problems uploading video to my PC. My one main complaint is that it does not perform well when the ambient temperature goes below freezing. Its a good camera but for video, I prefer old-fashioned Hi-8 tape. If you just want to take stills, you can get decent megapixel cameras at Wal-Mart for less than 200 bucks.

[Mike Kirney]

With a good video card, you can upload ordinary VHS to your hard-drive. I use the ATI Rage 128 Pro and my bargain Samsung VCR to do it at home. The ATI Rage is a little out of date by contemporary standards but still performs well. I make AVI files with the software it came with and then I convert them to WMV with Windows Movie Maker for posting on the web. Any good video card will come with all the software you need to do this.

[Mike Everman]

I like my canon zr25, ditto on the little card for stills.
Also, I'm super happy with the ATI all in wonder pro. You can input anything to your computer with it, and you can watch TV in a window while you do other things and record shows on your hard drive.