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Film-maker! If you've got a camcorder, then you know how to make film. Review your accomplice of choice.

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661 days ago

Review Icon lachie122 reviewed Sony DCR Series in Camcorders:
This camcorder real is the real deal. This was the first camcorder I bought and i have to say it has never failed me with anything i have asked of it. As a begginner it was easy to use, the interface is very nicely done and the quality of the videos are always excellent. As you gain more experience, as I did, this Sony is still very accomodating. It has all the features an experienced filmaker needs with the one exception of night vision. So whether this is your first camcorder of you are looking at putting together a feature length picture this is the camcorder for you

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850 days ago

Review Icon tune-tech reviewed Canon LEGRIA HF M300 in Camcorders:
Hi everyone we like the most this cam...it's really awesome.....

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934 days ago

Review Icon Cory123 reviewed Panasonic VDR-D210 DVD in Digital DVD Camcorders:
I'm very pleased with the service I received and happy with my purchase. My items were well packed and delivered very promptly. I'll definitely buy from this seller again and strongly recommend it to my family and friends. Thanks again!

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Votes on this review: 3 Helpful / 0 Funny / 1 Agree / 0 Disagree

1097 days ago

Review Icon Dirk-jan Boon reviewed Panasonic VDR-D230 Camcorder in Camcorders:
i adore it , it is a good camcorder and indeed reading the manual is obligatory , for the price i paid (130 euro second hand) it is extremly good, not too light and also not too heavy to handle. it is yet antoher good product form panasonic and i did not read the manual first but i got started right away.

some may say that this is a low end quality of video well i happen to like it even in bad light it performs well.

the only thing that i dislike is the low reolution of the still images (photos) but that is not what i bought this product for. so this costed a star and now it is four stars.

i like that the screen can be tilted in 180 degrees and several angles.
the setup is traight forward and extremely easy , the jogdial responds very well and other controls are in a hand reach .

i also like the Mega o.i.s stableliser witch functions great .
my hardware is ntsc and pal compatible , i only have it one day but this is yet another digital friend of mine..

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1279 days ago

Review Icon kateross reviewed Canon FS100 Flash Memory Camcorder in Camcorders:
Good Budget Camcorder with 2000x digital zoom.
_________________________
forged wheels

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1304 days ago

Review Icon Beauty4u reviewed Flip Video MinoHD Camcorder in Camcorders:
Just got mine last week and I'm already having a blast with it! It's small enough to take with you almost anywhere and super easy to upload videos to your computer, Youtube, or social networking sites. My favorite feature so far is the built in editing capabilities that allow you to make a picture out of any frame from the video! How many times have you taken a regular picture and had to dump it because somebody had a dumb look or was looking in the wrong direction. This gives you hundreds of frames to choose from so you always get the shot you were looking for. The battery life has been great, a fully charged battery seems to last at least 2 hours. The Flip Mino HD is much more convenient than a regular video camera and the quality is fantastic for something that small. Great device! Highly recommended if you are in the market for a camcorder.

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Votes on this review: 5 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

1373 days ago

Review Icon jedi58 reviewed Sony Handycam HDR-TG7VE in Hard Disk Drive Camcorders:
When it comes to cameras I've always preferred to go with Canon, though that being said I bought a Sony camcorder when I first got one about 7 years ago. It was a fairly bulky digital camcorder that used mini DV tapes to record on and it did make it to several different countries - but due to it's size and poor video quality I didn't use it as much as I liked. SO instead I decided it was time to get rid of it and to try another, smaller, higher quality Sony camera in the form of the HDR-TG7VE.

This new camcorder came out in 2009 and has had some really good reviews from a lot of techie sites so I thought it would be a good choice. In the UK it is priced at around £550 - 600 depending on which online retailer you go to, in the high street it will probably cost slightly more. I've not been using it long but I already see why it's worth it's price tag.

To state the features on the box it records in full HD quality (1080i) and has 16Gb of internal storage which will last for about 2 hours on the maximum quality, or more if you're okay to reduce the quality a little. If you find that isn't enough then you can also use a 16Gb Memory Stick as well; which of course are silly prices at around £50, (inclusive of a USB adapter) compared to the cheaper SD and CF formats. One thing that is worth noting is that if you intend on recording long sessions of video on it that it will split the video into 2Gb files automatically so that it can be imported okay - it may also be a limitation of the file system used by the camera (similar to FAT32).

The build quality is excellent, and is made of a tough titanium casing with special protective coating. The lens, as with most Sony camcorders, is a Carl Zeiss lens which are fairly well known for their quality. My only concerns is the durability of the two spring-loaded flaps and the video screen as if anything breaks it will be one of those parts. It's not that they're poorly made though, it's because they have the weakest joints and a bit of force on them would likely cause them to break (I won't try it though!).

If you're someone who travels a lot then sometimes it can be helpful to know where you were when you took a particular photograph or recorded some video - which makes the GPS feature it has built in quite useful as it will automatically geo-tag the content with your current co-ordinates. Of course leaving GPS on all the time will drain the power quite quickly so it's best to turn it off when you're not using it. The GPS can also be used in conjunction with built in mapping software powered by Navteq - unfortunately I've not yet used this feature properly so can't really report on how well it works. It should however automatically adjust date/time for recordings as well based upon your GPS location and what was recorded as being the "home" location.

With the default settings you can apparently get 100 minutes out of the included battery, though this will of course vary depending on your settings and how you use the camcorder. If you're out and about and unsure of how much video you may need to take during the day I recommend equipping yourself with a second battery (NP-FH50) in case of emergency.

The camera itself includes a A/V R connector which is used for connecting remote controls (of which some of their tripods have one built in), and the connectivity of the docking station it comes with isn't bad either as it includes HDMI out, a mini USB 2.0 connector and an A/V out socket. For the A/V out socket the camera includes cables for component (RGB) and S-Video. Also included is a normal mini-A to B USB cable and a special cable which can connect the camera's "edge connector" to your PC or Mac using USB without the need for the dock. I was quite surprised that there was no way of using Firewire to transfer the video.

What I was totally shocked about was the size of the camera, it actually fits in my pocket no problem, even in loose fitting jeans it still fits in the pocket. The quality of the video is great, even in low light conditions. Sometime in the next few weeks I'll try and get some video uploaded to Vimeo / YouTube to demonstrate the quality.

An example photograph I took using it was sized at 1728x1249 and used the built in Flash. Zooming right in to the photo you can see some of the artefacts caused by the JPEG compression, but it isn't as bad as it could be considering it was taken with a camcorder.


(click to view full size)

The software included with the camera isn't something I've really used yet, but I hear if you're a Mac user that it's a little trickier to get working. I imagine though it will work fine with iMovie or Final Cut anyway. For Windows users it works okay with 32-bit operating systems, inclusive of XP SP3, Vista SP1 and Windows 7.

The playback of the video on the camera itself is done using the touchscreen which seems a bit "iffy" at first, but once you remember to press firmly it almost becomes second nature; although it still isn't as good as the touch interface on the iPhone. There are plenty of other features too, but they're all mentioned in the item description so you don't really need me to repeat them.

I've never been a big fan of Sony and have always considered them to be overpriced - you pay more for the name than the quality which is why for most things I try to avoid them. In this case though I'm glad I went with this camcorder and have so far been very pleased.

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Votes on this review: 8 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

1396 days ago

Review Icon review72 reviewed Sony DCR-HC62 1MP MiniDV Handycam in Digital MiniDV Camcorders:
It is fine for vacation videos, and family things. But definately not a good quality for homemade "movies" the movies my kids make with the Kodak Digital camera (Quick time) is a better quality. After upgrading to Windows Vista, I can not use the usb to transfer to the computer. I Bought a firewire and it still won't transfer. So if are using XP this is fine, if you are using Vista or higher DON"t buy this.

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1474 days ago

Review Icon Guy D reviewed JVC Everio GZMG255 Camcorder in Camcorders:
The night time settings are lame. Recording with proper lighting is a must with this model. The 20 gb hd is plenty, but I can’t give this camcorder more than 3 stars.

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1475 days ago

Review Icon Margarite McCain reviewed Creative Labs Vado Pocket Video Camcorder in Camcorders:

PLEASE SEE "Notes and Tips" AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE

Price: cheap, £140 - £150 (US $ even cheaper)

Weight: weightless

Video Format: AVI

Video Sizes: Large. I have some clips that are 500MB

Storage Capacity: about 2 hours of video (1 clip or many mixed length clips)

Battery: lasts about 2 hours. works great for the first 2000 movies, after that you need a new one

Portability: extremely portable, can be placed in your pocket

Usability: a kid can figure it out without instruction

Sound/Audio/Microphone: great clear audio, rough during some loud concerts as it is sensitive and picks up everything

Tripod Use: there is a hole on the bottom that is a universal tripod connection size

Action Clips: This camera does not lose focus during full motion

Focus: you can be within 10 inches of something and keep focus

Zoom: zooming in pixelates the video and is not a good idea if you are interested in true HD

Color: true color and good in low light conditions as well

Comparison: I would give the Flip HD a 3 because of focus and color issues

Web Sharing and Video Conversion: You can connect this to your computer's USB port and if you use Twitc (http://twitc.com) you can upload a video straight from the camera to the Twitc website and it will generate a streaming Flash video clip for you that you can take anywhere and link to from anywhere

==================
Notes and Tips
==================

Four things you need to know:

1. Mac OS X users will need to download Perian software, which is a collection of video codecs that will allow you to view these videos on your Mac. Without it, you cannot view them at all.

Perian URL: http://perian.org/

2. You might want to consider purchasing two or three of these if you have children because they will steal it from you without your knowledge, even if it is hidden away. In addition, if you have a husband or boyfriend, buy one for him because he will also steal it. They will hunt it down and capture it (and not tell you they did).

3. If the camera appears to be stalled out, just pop out the battery on the bottom (take the cover off first). It may be out of juice and if so, charge it up.

4. If you are an iPhone owner and you have the car charger: you can charge the Vado HD in your car using the same cigarette lighter charger that sells to iPhone users. Just unplug the USB cable for the iPhone and plug in the one that comes with your Vado. Works like a charm.

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