# I need help choosing a digital camcorder.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-choosing-a-digital-camcorder/234573>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 16, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-choosing-a-digital-camcorder/234573 "2004-03-16T03:21:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Upside\_Down\_Amber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/c2a13f/32.png) [@Upside\_Down\_Amber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Upside_Down_Amber)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-choosing-a-digital-camcorder/234573/1 "2004-03-16T03:21:05Z")

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Well in a few weeks I plan on jumping into the technological age and am going to buy a digital camcorder. I want to spend about 600 dollars. The problem is I dont know anything about camcorders. I dont want to go in there without a clue what to work for. Can anyone help me?

**U\_D\_A**

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**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-choosing-a-digital-camcorder/234573/2 "2004-03-16T03:40:04Z")

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What kind of videos will you be recording? Are you planning on editing the videos or just using them “as is”? If you are going to edit, what kind of PC are you going to be using at home to store and edit the videos?

I can’t recommend a camera because I don’t know much about them, but I’m pretty sure the experts will need this info to get a better idea of what to suggest.

Good luck!

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**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-choosing-a-digital-camcorder/234573/3 "2004-03-16T07:44:06Z")

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Can a mod please move this to IMHO? I don’t see a button for reporting OPs, just replies.

Thanks in advance, and please help my wifey with her problem (not posting in the wrong forum, the camera thing).

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**Author:** ![Blornx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@Blornx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blornx)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-choosing-a-digital-camcorder/234573/4 "2004-03-16T23:06:16Z")

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Slashdot had just this question a month ago – [Reviews for Digital Camcorders?](http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/10/2120210&mode=thread&tid=126&tid=129&tid=188&tid=97)

These are some tidbits I pulled out of that discussion:  
Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) is preferred over Digital Image Stabilisation (DIS)  
MiniDV = good  
Mini-DVD = bad  
firewire = good  
Look for good editing features and software

Good review sites:  
[http://www.dvspot.com/](http://www.dvspot.com/)  
[http://www.camcorderinfo.com/](http://www.camcorderinfo.com/)  
[http://www.dansdata.com/](http://www.dansdata.com/)

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-help-choosing-a-digital-camcorder/234573/5 "2004-03-17T03:05:35Z")

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This thread is better suited for [**In My Humble Opinion**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=12). I’ll move it for you.

**Cajun Man**  
for the SDMB