I've Found My Next Camcorder...

So, I've got this tiny video/still digicam that I call my minicam. It takes decent photos in good light and shoots crappy, but watchable video, also in decent light, but when converting it to DV or even DVD quality, it's painful to watch footage shot on this thing. I got it for the convenience--it's tiny and fits easily in my sling bag so I can keep it with me always. It also records directly to flash memory (in my case I have a 1 gig compact flash card in its expansion slot which records 4 hours of video). This is great because I can just dump the videos onto my hard drive for editing. With MiniDV you have to capture the video in real time--pain-in-the-ass. However, despite these conveniences, it's slow to turn on and, like I said, has trouble shooting in the dark, so both of these detriments limit it's usefulness.

I've also been thinking about shooting a discussion-style show but with only one MiniDV camera in the family that's hard to do. So, I've been thinking about picking up a cheap, small camera that can both replace the minicam and be that extra camera for shooting stuff that will end up on DVD.

Yesterday, I wandered into my local Best Buy in search of the new Nintendo DS kiosks that let you DL demos to your DS. No luck, but I figured I'd browse the camcorder section just to see what kind of prices they had. I found one MiniDV camera for $129 which impressed me, but then I saw a JVC Everio GZ-MG20 Hard Drive-based camera. It shoots in MPEG-2 format (DVD) and records directly to a 20 gig hard drive. This means, like my minicam, I can just transfer files onto my HD for editing--no time-consuming capture process.

Now, the quality isn't quite MiniDV, but for making podcasts, it's perfect. Plus it's good enough to shoot stuff that will end up on DVD in case any of my podcasts take off ;) Another nice thing is it's size. Unfortunately, it's easily twice the size of my minicam, but for what it does, it's still quite small--small enough to allow me to bring it almost everywhere I'd bring my minicam. In other words, I have a new obsession. First it was the 5g iPod, now it's this JVC HD camcorder (HD as in Hard Drive, not High Definition, sadly).

In case you're curious, 4.5 hours of top-quality MPEG-2 fits on that 20 gig HD but at the lowest quality (which I'm guessing is still better than my minicam) I can record 24 hours. Imagine being able to set the camera up to record something for 24 hours--hell, the battery probably won't last that long but the camera can still be recording.

It's also got a lowlight feature. All in all, it's pretty damn sweet! OH YEAH and I forgot to mention how much Best Buy is selling it for: $300. :D

That's cheaper than my iPod was. :)

Check out it's specs [http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL027543&pathId=119&page=1|here] if you are interested in salivating as much as me.

Of course, it's not a pefect camcorder, but it's clearly capable of serving my needs. Now I just need to figure out how to pay last year's taxes, this year's taxes, my tax man, keep the bills paid AND save up for this thing... maybe it's time to post some more "donate" links. :)