Would you recommend your camcorder??

[Appuskidu]

Over the last 10 years, we have had a Sony camcorder which used little hi-8 tapes and was the size of a small car. We had 5 years worth of film which I eventually persuded a friend to put onto DVD for us-these are great, but the camera was a pain.

Then we got a mini DVD thing which I liked the sound of as it would give me discs (is something tangible rather than having films lost in the ether) but we own 4 laptops, 2 DVD players and 3 TV/DVD combi things-NONE of which are tray-loading, so will not take the mini disks!

Then we have a Panasonic mini thing with a memory that you connect to the pc, but I don't really understand how to get the films onto a DVD from this! DH is no more competant than me and I don't want to end up with films on the pc which we will never look at-I want hard copies!!

What do other people do and you recommend anything that is stupid person-friendly!!?

Dd has a small handheld Kodak Playsport. Takes film in Hd and stores to SDbcard, which you can then transfer to DVD via the computer. Playback quality is great.

Brilliant-thank you for your reply! I was looking at the Sony and Kodak pocket sized ones. Can you use Windows Movie Maker with it?

I was looking at the Flip cameras, but it seems they upload as mp4 files which Windows movie Maker doesn't like so you then have to convert the files which seemed far too much of a faff! Also-it liooks like Flip as a brand has beeb sold by Cisco so maybe they won't be around much longer!

Would you say your Kodak takes better quality film than eg the camcorder on a smartphone?

Thank you again :)

Yes, you can use Live Movie Maker. I do when I borrow DD's camera for school stuff. I will edit, and crop and the like, etc.

I read on another thread that the company that make Flip are stopping them, so bare that in mind if youlook at them.

The quality of the movies we take with DD's Kodak Playsport is far superior to those I take with my iPhone, way way more.

We have a Panasonic Everio HDD recorder and it is pretty easy to use. It is small so can fit in your handbag.

I've long since lost its own disc, so use Windows Movie Maker to download.

Have you got a link to that one, ammerryscot? I had it in my head that Everio was JVC?

You're right - it's JVC. I'm sure you can find it on their website. I have one of the early Everio HDDs and I think it has been superceded many times in the 4+ years since it was introduced.