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General discussion

Sony dcr dvd405 versus panasonic vdr d300

May 16, 2006 5:44PM PDT

I am considering purchasing a new camcorder and am torn between the sony dcr dvd405 and the panasonic vdr d300. I have also considered the panasonic pv gs300. With the dvd camcorders, I am looking for an opionion on the panasonic 3 ccd camera versus the sony with the one larger chip. Which one provides better quality video. I have also considered the gs300 because of the mini dv format. Are there considerable concerns other than video recording time and possible loss of footage with the cd format? Any responses and experience with these issues would be appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Sony works better for your description
May 17, 2006 12:36AM PDT

3CCD camcorders are not bad and are actually better with color representation, but the quality is a little bit better on the Sony. BTW, are you looking to edit with the DVD or MiniDV formats? That makes a big difference also. Hope this helps.

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Editing
May 17, 2006 5:32AM PDT

I will most likely only be doing basic editing. Are editing CDs that difficult?

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Still difficult.
May 18, 2006 11:40PM PDT

If you pick the Sony, you can use the "editing" on the camera by using the VR mode on a DVD-RW. This lets you cut and remove scenes which may be helpful. But my problem with them is, say you go on a vacation. You're going to record on probably more than one disc. How will you combine the discs to put them into one 4.7GB disc if you cant put them on the computer? So you could reuse your discs but still not have your footage deleted. I didn't think about this when I bought my camcorder.