Buying a new Camcorder. Which one ?? Need Help

Hey guys, love the site and the advice. I am really learning a lot.
I have recently sold my Sony DCR DVD403 b/c it does not have a firewire and I cannot go though all of those steps on a weekly basis to convert videos to my mac.
Now, this is my first mac..woohoo!
In Decemeber I got a imac g5, 2.1 ghz, 1.5 gb, final cut express.
I am now in the market for a good camcorder to have fun with. I am in the range of prosumer. Maybe from 1000-1500$ unless you guys can convince me otherwise.
I have been looking at the Panasonic gs400 but gotten mixed reviews. I also looked at the sony hdr hci, but i understand you cannot burn your HD footage to DVD's???
The new panasonic gs500 is coming out in a couple weeks, but have no idea of quality!
I am looking for experience here. What do you guys suggest as far as a camcorder that I can use weekly with family, friends, weddings, etc and edit as gifts and hopefully learn enough to open my side business.
thanks.
G5

Hello Jack,
It is always a big deal to figure out what camera to buy. So many pro's and con's and the best bang for the buck. We're all in the same boat. In the Digital World, there is one point that can make the descicion on Acquisition and Editing very simple. What will your output be? You admit that you are just beginning and that your goal is to share video experiences with friends and relatives. Today, that means via DVD or Internet. Since you have a Mac and have FCX-HD, you have an excellent base to learn from. Good start.
Now you want an Aquisition Tool (Camcorder) and you would like to go in the right direction. It is a popular opinion, at this time, to think "Evergreen". That is, buy something now that will serve you well in the future; grow with the changes in technology. A good thought, but not always practical. You have the right computer that will be good in the future. You have a good editing platform that will serve you well to produce the video's you are dreaming of. FCX-HD will teach you an editing system that will allow you to grow with a more complex system (FCP) if the future deems you need it. The most important thing for you to consider right now is getting the most editing experience you can. This is truly the most honest advice anyone can give you. To get the most editing experience you will need a video source that can be easily captured into FCX-HD. That will be DV SD, not HD. The FCX and FCP editing platform is based on the marvelous QuickTime file system. Video signals captured by a camcorder have the video and audio signals for each frame locked together. DV SD video when captured to a QuickTime based editing system is seperated into video and audio and Timecode added. HD video remains as a "stream" output and will only conveniently work in systems like iMovie and iDVD. To make HD work in FCP or FCX all the captured video needs to go through a very long process of Rendering. This is an important point. Many people pass over that fact like it isn't there; they are enamored by the sales pitch of HD. This is confusing enough and professional experience is speaking here. Also, the issue of 1080i, 720p or card versus tape hasn't even been discussed, yet. Confusing! HD is in the future, yes. For archival reasons many pro's have begun to shoot HD with the intention of using the HD media in future HD releases. This is also the course that the camera manufacturers want everyone to take.
The summation of this long explanation comes to this. Choose a good DV camera, like a used VX-2000, as someone else suggested. Start shooting, capturing and learning to edit. Don't go into business right away. Take some time to learn how to polish your "look". It will be less stressful and more rewarding. You will then impress your friends and that will start your customer base. If you want to be good at what you do, you will start and restart several times before things are on a roll. That's evolution. If you don't master the editing - all will be frustration. Choosing HD at this time will most likely cause you nothing but that. Shooting DV SD will get you into editing quicker and believe me, even FCX-HD has a steep learning curve,; but it is really powerful. Convenient capture and editng will teach you the most about video, and today, that means shooting DV SD. Buying a good camera like a used VX-2000, will also mean that in the future when you want to change to a new camera, yours will sell easily, because you made a wise choice. That DV-SD video that you previously captured will probably be already disseminated as SD DVD's and you won't care about it much anymore. Actually DV-SD will be able to be converted to HD, if you need to. Another cumbersome point, is that to watch an HD stream from your HD camcorder to an SD-NTSC set recquires conversion (like an AJA converter) which adds more expense.
Hopefully this argument for editing experience will get you on the right path. After all that, Welcome to the World of Final Cut; a place of wonderful creativity. And Welcome to the World of Mac!
Tim
G4 DP 1.42 GHz, 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.5)

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Searching for advice on buying a new camcorder! PLEASE HELP!

I currently have a JVC Everio and it just is way too difficult to get to work with my new iMac. I would like to buy a new, somewhat affordable, camcorder that takes great video of my nine month son AND is easy to download with the basic Apple video processing system. PLEASE HELP!!

hey there BuckeyeHoov,
i hesitate to make any sort of recommendation on a specific cam as specs change, models are discontinued & replaced. i have always liked & used Sony, but i've had my cams for several years & the features that made them quite workable are no longer offered in most consumer cams by any maker. sorry, but beyond the previous suggestion to look @ Canon, Panasonic, Sony to see what they offer, i can't be more specific. i have noticed that BestBuy doesn't seem to carry as many as they used to & many of them are only available on-line, very similar @ Circuit City. take a look @ their websites, checkout the user reviews & see if they have anything in their brick & mortar stores you can go touch. again, get a MiniDV tape-based cam w/ FireWire=i.Link=IEEE 1394. someone else may have a cam pref to post.
good luck.

Buying a new Camcorder. Which one ?? Need Help

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