As we were getting ready to go to Peru next week, I realized that our camcorder had died.
I’ve got one closet shelf full of Hi-8 tapes, and another shelf full of MiniDV tapes. The only way I can view either of them is to play them through their respective camcorders, each of which is broken.
So I just bought a MiniDVD camcorder. It records on 3″ DVD disks. After recording you can play then in a regular DVD player, or in a computer DVD ROM. Random access, on-screen menu; all the advantages of DVD over tape.
It’s the Sony DCR-DVD403. It is last year’s model that I got for an excellent price on clearance. They say that the changes in this year’s model are mostly cosmetic.
It just seems like I’ll use it more when it is so convenient, and hopefully I’ll still be able to play DVDs long after this camera has bitten the dust and joined it’s older brothers in the dustbin.
Nice! I thought you already had a digital video recorder, but I didn’t realize the media was tape. Those mini-DVDs are pretty cool.
Comment by Donna — June 30, 2006 @ 5:49 pm
I’ve had a couple of days to play with this, and love it! Mini-DVD is the way to go, as far as I’m concerned, and this model is a great one.
3 Megapixels, wide screen (16/9) video, 5.1 surround sound, 2-hour battery, and especially the random access to recorded clips. No more rewinding, and searching for the right spot. I think I will use and enjoy this a lot more than I ever did our tape-based camcorders.
Comment by Daryl — July 1, 2006 @ 1:52 pm