HD video camera'ing advice please!?

[Tina Turkey]

Hi folks, its time to upgrade from our little point and shoot digital camera to ... another point and shoot digital camera! But this time one thats not crap!

Looking around I see these days there seems to be a big blurry area of whether to get a camcorder that takes stills or a still camera that takes vidoes too.

I guess I am leaning towards the still camera that takes videos too as I am more likely to pont and snap a picture rather than a vid.

Looking at Panasonic in particular (because Jessops in Jersey have one on special!) .. the Panasonic Lumix FS14 is a 14.1 megapixel camera that takes HD vidoes at 720p 30 frames/second.

The Panasonic HX-DCI is a camcorder that takes 1920x1080 vids and 16 megapixel stills - its also twice the price of the camera.

Now - big question for me is .... how do you get to watch the vids you take? Do you download onto a DVD and watch ont telly like that? As you can see, I am neanderthal when it comes to the digital world! We have an old telly and an old dvd player, plus an old computer!

Any advice on which way to go would be good !

Thanks folks
TT

[Colly]

Hi,

I would check with Jessops about what cables come with it in the box, I have a Lumix TZ5 and although I can't find them now I am sure that I had a cable that plugged from the camera straight into the telly, Of course copying onto a DVD will work just as well.

[flowergrader]

Some video cameras use SD type memory cards for storing both pictures and video clips.

They also use USB leads to view the pictues or video on a computer, or via a lead that plugs into a TV.

You could then use the computer to produce your own movies with the appropriate software.

I hope this is not too complicated!!

[Ali]

Difficult choice isn't it! Whether to go for an actual vid cam or still cam with vid function..........

Usually the cameras plug into the PC with a USB cable or u can use the SD card directly to turn into a DVD or send to YouTube etc. Some have audio/vid leads that go directly into older TVs that don't have usb or sd card ports.

Maybe your first decisions could be cost, and how much you might use either type, and which type of camera first and then narrow it down.

I have a couple of vid cameras and to be honest they don't get used these days because I either have a compact camera in my bag which takes little space, or am specifically going out with the DSLR (big still camera) and I found the vid cams a bit cumbersome. However, you can take 'still' photos off the video stream from the video camera which gives you a huge choice of frames.

I've always spent more than planned and as much as I can on items like this, in the few times I've gone the cheaper direction I've been v dissappointed.

Look out for battery life too!

[Tina Turkey]

Thanks folks. Me thinks I need to up the anti on my knowledge of digital doo-daas. I am so behind the times. I need to get a new PC soon and I am going to take that as a turning point to check out just what I am missing around the home.

In the meantime, MOH who is one of those impulsive peeps, just went out and bought a camera without telling me - so weve got a Panasonic Lumix - there you go - decision made.