HD Camcorders under $1,000

Anybody have any recent experience with new HD cameras? I've been out of the market for a while and my DV handycam is pretty much ancient at this point. I might be looking to make a purchase winthin the next few months so if there's any new tech coming out between then and now, I don't mind waiting. (Selling a bunch of old stuff and am planning to spend the cash on this new gear).

What I'm looking for in a camera is: HD quality video, under $1,000, HDD storage preferable (to preserve video quality when transferring to the computer and to not have to deal with tapes), audio-in options (I'm assuming most cameras still have this for external mics but like I said, I've been out of it for a while), and reasonable portability (I'd like to take on trips with me and don't want to lug around a separate bag if I don't have to).

I say $1,000 but lower cost is better of course. in any case, I don't want to sacrifice quality for a cheaper camera since I want this one to last me a long time.

I just bought a Cannon Hfs100. I got it for 1200.00with a lot of extras, wide angle,telephoto 2 tripods,cleaning stuff, case, 8gb card, screen protector, long life batt and ac/dc fast charger even for the car. You can get just the camera for 899 on Amazon.

I'm also looking for something in that range.... I am looking at the HDR-XR500V or HDR-XR520V

I'm just not sure if I should go this route with a hard drive on it.... or go the other route and just use memory cards...... Anyone have any idea which is better?

I have the Canon HF-10 and love it, has built in 16gig of flash memory and a SD card slot. I could never understand why you would want something with a hard drive in it that can go bad when you can have the best of both worlds.

The only difference between the HF-S10 and HF-S100 is that the 100 does not have the built in 32G memory in addition to the slot. $100 difference, should be easy math.

(Message edited by alans on November 11, 2009)

after looking into it.... the sony cameras have a SD card slot also...

After looking around, It's best to go with a solid state drive (or memory cards). I'm planning to use this to shoot not just vacations but probably skating, snowboarding, etc. A hard-drive (or anything mechanical really) can break or record wrong with a lot of vibration. Solid state disks and cards don't have to worry about that.

ahhh... i see the light now. I agree. That's what I will be looking for too!

Consider your editing platform too. My vixia hf100 has caused me to make a substantial computer upgrade to be able to edit avchd video.

I just got a Sony HDR-CX500V that sells for 1100 at Best Buy for 600.00 delivered.... Slightly used.

What upgrades did you have to do Shawn? I have a Sony VAIO about 3 years old....

quad core, 8gb ram. My old dual core cpu just couldn't keep up. Vista and XP both have a lot of trouble actually playing avchd files natively too. Windows 7 is allegedly a little better. For workflow I've ended up converting the avchd files to xvid and then editing. Which kinda sucks to have to water down the files to edit them, but it does work a lot better. I also ended up buying a ps3 because it WILL natively play avchd files. So all-in-all I spent about $1300 ($1000 for new computer, $300 for ps3) in order to watch the videos from my $600 camera!

lol... isnt that crazy you have to do so much just because of a camera.... I don't have a HDTV or anything. I'm still sportin a 6 year old classy 32" haha. I'm mainly using this or internet videos that a company I do videos for can have it crystal clear.... All of the old videos are done on Dig. 8mm tapes. I also will use this for snowboard videos... and whatnot....

If you need HD, you need HD.

For purely personal use, though, I think if I had it to do over again I'd get a gopro hero HD, a Canon SD780 (shoots in 780p and is a fantastic point and shoot camera) and a Kodax zi8, all for about the same price as my vixia HF100.

I've got the "old" gopro hero wide 5mp camera and I use it a lot more than my hd cam because it's really easy to edit the video AND because it's super super durable.

samples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7__lhQ41rg8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxjtUFq_FHE

i'm not sure if it's actually needs.... it's wants.... I just want goooood video.