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Tapeless camcorder

dbltree

dbltree

Super Moderator
Have any of you tried one of these?

DXG 3 MP DXG305VBC Digital Camcorder, MP3 Player and Voice Recorder

Or something similer?

Just looks small and easy to pack or carry in a pocket.

I don't really need super high quality...heck my $100 digital camera takes decent short video when I'm in the field.

I also don't like the thought of dropping a $600 camcorder out of my tree stand or into the bottom of a creek!
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There are all types and sizes of camcorders out there now: Camcorders

I'm looking for something small, light, easy to operate and easy to transfer media.

Thoughts?
 
I haven't tried one of these, but we have a mini DVD recorder. Works great, easy to transfer to the computer and plays in most DVD players. The only draw back is that the mini DVDs only record around 30 min of video. Hopefully times will increase.

In looking at this one, I don't know how much video a 1 GB card would hold. Maybe about an hour??? Also looks like it only has a 4x zoom, not very much.
 
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I don't know how much video a 1 GB card would hold. Maybe about an hour??? Also looks like it only has a 4x zoom, not very much.


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It would be easy to pop in another card but no question the zoom would be very limited.

Just looking for something small...I have an older Sony now and I hang it from a limb or in my pack but if I call in a buck I'm always fumbling around with it. (the camcorder...
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Thought maybe this one would fit in my pocket and work for close up video?
 
I tell yah what I actually fell in love with this little bad boy last night. It fits easily in the palm of your hands and would be great for filming deer while bowhunting. It has 32x zoom and from one end to the other of a super walmart, which is alot farther than I could tape while bowhunting usually it would work great. Not sure how much video you can get on an SD card though, minute wise.
 
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I tell yah what I actually fell in love with this little bad boy last night. It fits easily in the palm of your hands and would be great for filming deer while bowhunting. It has 32x zoom and from one end to the other of a super walmart, which is alot farther than I could tape while bowhunting usually it would work great. Not sure how much video you can get on an SD card though, minute wise.

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Which are you talking about? The one they posted about only has a 4x zoom?
 
You can get a very good mini-DV digital camcorder for 200 bucks or so anymore. JVC, Canon, Sony all have one and they record very good except when it comes to low light conditoins (but unless you have a professional camera good luck with that). I would check those out also. they are compact enough that I can fit mine in my coat pocket and they are approaching somewhere on the range of 35-40x optical zoom.

Kratz
 
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I tell yah what I actually fell in love with this little bad boy last night. It fits easily in the palm of your hands and would be great for filming deer while bowhunting. It has 32x zoom and from one end to the other of a super walmart, which is alot farther than I could tape while bowhunting usually it would work great. Not sure how much video you can get on an SD card though, minute wise.


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Liv...fill me in here...which camera were you looking at?? The one I posted only has 4x unless I'm missing something??
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You can get a very good mini-DV digital camcorder for 200 bucks or so anymore. JVC, Canon, Sony all have one and they record very good except when it comes to low light conditoins (but unless you have a professional camera good luck with that). I would check those out also. they are compact enough that I can fit mine in my coat pocket and they are approaching somewhere on the range of 35-40x optical zoom.

Kratz

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Yeah...thats the thing...should I spend and extra 100 bucks for a real camcorder?

I think I want to have one with USB interface...although the SD card would work in the same fashion.

Something like this JVC GR-D770 Mini DV Digital Camcorder

Some of the mini's don't have media storage (SD card) or USB cable...I guess I don't exactly understand how one downloads video or records to a DVD in those situations??
 
Whelp in response to first post, I have in fact dropped one of those little 500 dollar cameras when getting out of my truck. Apparently the LCD screens cost 300 dollars....weird. Felt like I was gonna puke! Get the insurance if purchased!
 
I was looking at this one, and another one that was by sony that had 32x optical zoom and a 30 gb hard drive. I am sorry, I didn't even look at your link, I just figured this was it.
camcorder

It is a pretty awesome cam though
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I tell yah what I actually fell in love with this little bad boy last night. It fits easily in the palm of your hands and would be great for filming deer while bowhunting. It has 32x zoom and from one end to the other of a super walmart, which is alot farther than I could tape while bowhunting usually it would work great. Not sure how much video you can get on an SD card though, minute wise.


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Liv...fill me in here...which camera were you looking at?? The one I posted only has 4x unless I'm missing something??
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You can get a very good mini-DV digital camcorder for 200 bucks or so anymore. JVC, Canon, Sony all have one and they record very good except when it comes to low light conditoins (but unless you have a professional camera good luck with that). I would check those out also. they are compact enough that I can fit mine in my coat pocket and they are approaching somewhere on the range of 35-40x optical zoom.

Kratz

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Yeah...thats the thing...should I spend and extra 100 bucks for a real camcorder?

I think I want to have one with USB interface...although the SD card would work in the same fashion.

Something like this JVC GR-D770 Mini DV Digital Camcorder

Some of the mini's don't have media storage (SD card) or USB cable...I guess I don't exactly understand how one downloads video or records to a DVD in those situations??

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I think it is worth the extra 100 bucks for the real digital camcorder. I am not gonna lie you are gonna put a bit more into it as most of those camcorders cannot download data through a USB (it would take 10 years) so they require a firewire port, if your computer has a firewire port no big deal as you can probably pick up the firewire cable for under 5 bucks (if you have never seen one it looks like a USB just a bit different shape and downloads much faster).

Anyhow, I am not sure about the other cameras but I believe all the JVCs have a built in SD slot, this is for taking still images only (don't be fooled as I was). So you basically get a cheap digital camera as an add on to a nice digital camcorder. The SD card simply stores any still images you snap. If I can help more let me know, I spent weeks looking at different cameras and most of the everyday camcorders are pretty similar (sony has an advantage with night shooting) JVC and Canon are probably a bit more user friendly and I believe have the higer optical zooms. You won't regret one if you make the purchase, just take the time to learn the modes and they are fun.

KRatz
 
Thats a handy looking little camera, but I doubt it would work well for hunting because of the zoom. Its 4x digital zoom, and digital zoom always sucks, especially when you are recording in VGA quality to begin with.
I use a Sony handycam (HC20 I think) which uses Mini DV tapes. Its only 10x optical zoom, but that actually seems like enough most of the time in a timber situation and works fairly well out to 75-100 yards or so. I think the model that replaced it is 20x. Size wise, its plently small enough to carry. I dont really like the mini-DV tapes, since some day they will be obsolete like everything else, and I would prefer some type of digital storage but that seems expensive. You can download video to a computer with it, but I havent tried that. Cost should run around $200-$300. Its not profesional quality by any means, but it does a pretty decent job and will give you nice slow-mo and stills on the TV screen. The LCD screen is actually usable in the sunlight, which is a nice feature of the Sony's.

I'm like you, I'd hate to drag a high dollar camera around in the woods, then hang it on a branch 20' up.
 
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It is a pretty awesome cam though
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That is a nice cam Liv!

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I am not gonna lie you are gonna put a bit more into it as most of those camcorders cannot download data through a USB (it would take 10 years) so they require a firewire port, if your computer has a firewire port no big deal as you can probably pick up the firewire cable for under 5 bucks (if you have never seen one it looks like a USB just a bit different shape and downloads much faster).

Anyhow, I am not sure about the other cameras but I believe all the JVCs have a built in SD slot, this is for taking still images only (don't be fooled as I was). So you basically get a cheap digital camera as an add on to a nice digital camcorder. The SD card simply stores any still images you snap. If I can help more let me know, I spent weeks looking at different cameras and most of the everyday camcorders are pretty similar (sony has an advantage with night shooting) JVC and Canon are probably a bit more user friendly and I believe have the higer optical zooms. You won't regret one if you make the purchase, just take the time to learn the modes and they are fun.


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Thanks for the info... that's what I get for not being a "hi-tech redneck"
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Had no clue that the SD cards were for stills only...sheesh!

I think I have a firewire laying around somewhere...again...I've been barkin' up the wrong tree looking for USB connections
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What does this mean? 1 x i.Link Input/Output

or this

1 x IEEE 1394 Input/Output

This link answered the "firewire" question:

How does a FireWire (IEEE-1394) connection work?

The nuts n bolts of it:

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Like USB, IEEE-1394 is a serial bus that uses twisted-pair wiring to move data around.
However, while USB is limited to 12 megabits per second, IEEE-1394 currently handles up to 400 megabits per second.
USB can handle 127 devices per bus, while IEEE-1394 handles 63.
Both USB and IEEE-1394 support the concept of a isochronous device -- a device that needs a certain amount of bandwidth for streaming data. This mode is perfect for streaming audio and video data.
Both USB and IEEE-1394 allow you to plug and unplug devices at any time.


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You can download video to a computer with it, but I havent tried that

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Does yours have a firewire connection TP or how could you download it?

Right now I have bunchs of VHS tapes...which rapidly are on the way out.

Whatever I get I want to be able to download and hopefully edit then record to DVD via my puter.

Right now I have an old Sony that has no connectors to allow me to download.

I also paid $1200 for that thing years ago!!!
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(now they are 200 bucks!!
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Does yours have a firewire connection TP or how could you download it?


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Heck, I dont know, I'm a low tech redneck! It has a USB cable similar to the one that comes with a P41, and since it doesnt take stills, I assume thats for downloading video. It would probably be slow though. There is another port next to that one that is kind of square and says iDV, whatever that means???
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I have dial-up and I dont have a DVD burner, so I havent bothered trying to download any video.
 
This is a very similar camcorder to what we have. (just a new model I think) MiniDVD
The good thing is that you can easily transfer video from the miniDVD to your computer by simply putting the disk in the drive, no cables needed. Then you can put a couple of miniDVDs onto a larger DVD. And if you get re-recordable minis, you can use them again.
The downfall of these, as I said earlier, is that the disks only record about 30 min of video.
 
I bought a Canon mini DV and love it! I also invested in a DVD recorder that has a VHS player and DVD in it. This way I can Put all my old VHS videos onto DVD's. I can also hook up the camcorder directly to the DVD recorder and put all my footage on DVD's. Also allows you to do some editing and add titles and what not. I am computer illiterate but I can run the DVD recorder.
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I would look into one of the newer hard drive camcorders. The internal drive will hold anywhere from 30-60 GB and to put on the computer, all you need to do is hook up with a USB cable. The mini dv or dvd recorders are ok (mini DV tapes are pricey) With the hard drive recorder...you should not have much trouble with digital glitches, cleaning the heads on the recorder, or purchasing tapes/dvd's. You just want to make sure you have enough stoarge space on the cam before you venture out. Just my $.02
 
Re: Sony DCR-DVD108

Well I went from looking at a $80 camcorder to a $400 one
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Decided to buy the DCR-DVD108 DVD Handycam® Camcorder

I bought the DVD+RW discs which allow me to record without "finalizing" and just pop it out and into a DVD player or puter.

I can reformat it and tape over it or save it. Avg quality recording is 30 minutes...which I've found is quite a long time.

When full you just pop a new one in. For commercial taping one would want the hard drive models I'm sure.

This thing is tiny...fit's in a coat pocket and hopefully will work well in the field. My old Sony was bigger and hard to carry.
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I recorded some and played it just to test it...piece a cake.

Bought a Memory Stick Duo and took a few pics to test that...not awesome of course but the 40X will zoom a heckuva long ways!
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Couple test pics:

DVD108Pic.jpg


40X zoom:

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Hoping to get some turkey footage soon!
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