Until now I have been camcorder-less but I want to change that now. I want to use it mainly for work (videos of industrial processes for documentation purposes) but also for some onboard videos from the race track. The camcorder must have AV-in to attach a bullet cam and it should have Mic-in (which isn't a definitive must). It should be based on MiniDV because I didn't hear the best things about DVD camcorders when it comes to recording in a shaking and rattling Caterham.

I plan to buy the Sony DCR-HC96. Any opinions?

The DVD camcorder is definitely still in need of some r&d. The only thing that I dislike about Sony is their memory cards, they are far more expensive
than SDs. The Canon MVX450 might do a better job it is MiniDV, but it doesn't have the AV-in. There is the Panasonic NV-GS280EG-S it looks pretty good.
The AV-in is pretty obscure so there shouldn't be too many cameras with that.

No - it's not a Sony, but:
http://forums.dieselstation.com/index.php?...mp;hl=camcorder

Charger + extra battery available now, too. PM me if you're interested. I need teh moneyz.

@Pking688
Thx, your opinion confirms that its right not to choose a DVD camcorder. The Panasonic looks pretty good to me but unfortunately it lacks AV-in as well as the Canon. I used your hint and found the MVX460 which has AV-in but unfortunately it seems to be at the end of its production cycle. You can't find a dealer here who is still selling it (same with the Canon MV960 btw). Yes, camcorders with AV-in definitely seem to run out of production.

The expensive memory card of the Sony isn't that much of a problem as I already have a digicam. And 50 EUR for a 500MB card is not a bargain but it isn't to kill me financially either in case I need one. So I guess I will order the Sony.

@infinity935
Sorry mate. Germany has PAL, no NTSC here.

Ah didn't even think about that...sorry. Good luck.

I got a DCR-HC96 of eBay last November and have been very pleased with it. Picture quality is exellent and there are plenty of features to play with. The AV-in is very helpful for converting analog to digital. The only down side is the short battery life, it will last only an hour at most. You'd be lucky to get 45 minutes out of it, but you can get another battery easily.

What a shame. The Sony is here, I can record a video but I can't transmit it to the computer. Maybe someone can tell me if I am missing something important before I give it back to the dealer.

I connect the camcorder via FireWire to my computer, switch the camcorder to play mode according to the manual and I would expect MS Moviemaker to recognize it. But it doesn't and neither does the Sony grabbing software which I installed too. I tested it with my laptop (with PCMCIA FireWire adapter and XP) and with a desktop computer (Win2000). Both not working. I exchanged the cable but unsuccessful either.

USB transmission is working but horrible quality - my computer probably is too slow for this.

Asher?

For capturing via Firewire I use Adobe Premiere Pro (press F5). Pretty much any semi-prefessional video editing software should work.

Why didn't you consider a hard-drive camcorder? We just bought a Sony DCR-SR200, and it's excellent.

Four reasons:

- I didn't find any with AV in.
- I don't know if they are as shock resistant as a Mini DV cam (which I somehow doubt) and I didn't find any reports about that.
- The compression algorithms of HD based camcorders are still considered worse in quality compared to the loss-less recording on Mini DV.
- If the HD becomes full during a travel you need to have a laptop with sufficient HD space with you. With a Mini DV camcorder you just buy a new tape.