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Question

Please help to choose the right camcorder for Soccer

Jun 5, 2011 6:38AM PDT

I need to purchase a new camcorder to shoot my son's Soccer games. I'm not the most tech savvy person...and really need something that works well with outdoor light AND is easy to transfer to my computer so that I can edit it into highlight reels for college coaches. Would LOVE any suggestions and advice!.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
You have not provided us
Jun 5, 2011 1:44PM PDT

much to work with.

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under $800
Jun 6, 2011 2:12AM PDT

first of all I want to thank you for any and all help! Happy

Budget? - I wish to keep it under $800 with all acssesories needed...
I need to edit video and send output to TV so that the team can watch it and learn from it.Also I'm planning to send it to college coaches in the future...
Guess I would need a HD camcorder with highest optical zoom,slow motion feature,low light shooting capabilities,image stabilization,at least 32GB of memory,AV input to hook up to a TV,Wide Angle Lens and /or teleconverter(size of a soccer field is 120yards X 80yards),tripod ...frame by frame pause???
I believe all of this is needed to shoot quality SOCCER video,but I'm not sure,may be something missing or something i really do not need from this list?I have no expirience with digital camcorders,I own an old Panasonic VHSC camcorder(very reliable) and it is very easy to work with but it is outdated..

I have no knowledge about editing...I guess some sort of editing program would be included with the purchase..isn't it???

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More clarifications
Jun 6, 2011 6:19AM PDT

needed to get us on the same page.

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budget?
Jun 6, 2011 9:01AM PDT

Wow, I'm being a little bit naive... Confused
I was cruising through various web sites last night trying to pick up whatever is relevant for videotaping Sports events (Soccer) and now I see that all these nice specs do not come together on any camcorder.

My PC operating system is WindowsXP.I didn't mention it earlier because I may end up buying a new one, since my daughter needs one my option would be to give her mine and to buy a new one for myself. ?

I specified "HD" as High Definition and I never was doing any editing with my old Camcorder.
At this point it would be nice to get an idea of what budget's size is needed to address my willingness to be able to shoot a pretty descent video?.I want to reach any part of a soccer field zooming in certain parts of it. Also, I'm living in Seattle and it rains 8 month a year, so "LOW LIGHT "capabilities is a MUST.I think quality sound is something I can trade off. Thank you much for clarifying some of details for me! Your advice is very helpful and I appreciate it a lot!

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Fast action
Jun 6, 2011 5:42PM PDT

still keeps us in the low compression video area. That still means DV/HDV - and that still means miniDV tape. Connecting a miniDV tape based camcorder to a computer means: With the camcorder off, connect the camcorder's DV port (not USB) to the computer's firewire port (not USB) with a firewire cable (not USB). Put the camcorder in Play mode, launch the video editor, import or capture the video.

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sistem&hardware
Jun 8, 2011 8:03AM PDT

.sorry for a delay(couldn't get to my PC for a day)

I got HP Pavilion dv8000
System:
Microsoft WindowsXP
Media Center Edition
version 2002
service pack 3

Computer:
AMD Turion (tm)64mobile
Technology ML-37
1.93 Ghz, 1.00GB of RAM

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Well alrighty...
Jun 8, 2011 10:23AM PDT
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very helpfull advise
Jun 8, 2011 1:48PM PDT

Thanks a lot for a such a comprehensive recomendation and advise.
Now I got a plenty of data to acctually start picking the right camcorder.
God bless!