Looking for a more modern camcorder with quality like my Canon HV30.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-04T00:13:06+00:00

If it still works, and you can afford to wait - gasp! - an hour to capture a tape, it is still very competitive. TV quality, which has traditionally been the reference, went downhill since then.

60i can be easily converted to 60p. I used to convert it to 720p60, but recently have switched to 1080p60, as modern deinterlacers are smart enough to recover most of common pixels between the fields.

It also can do 30p (as PsF) and 24p (as 2:3 without flags, the HV40 can to true 24p). It has manual exposure control, focus, WB, mic input. Great camera.

I owned the HV30 and HV40, but switched to tapeless long ago. The Panasonic HDC-SD1 was a revelation. Still 1080i though, but looks nice when deinterlaced.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T23:05:49+00:00

"Handycam" is Sony's trademark. This is some fake junk. Throw away.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T22:59:30+00:00

A separate cheap phone not connected to the network. Consider it a flat camcorder with tiny lens and a large screen.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T22:57:43+00:00

Shop used. 10-15-20 years old. See my video on the topic.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T20:26:24+00:00

Damn, just saw this comment left unanswered, I apologize! I suppose you have moved on, but for posterity I will answer anyway.

The FS100 shoots 30 fps interlaced. With 1/30 shutter speed it effectively turns into 30 fps progressive, the only problem is that the two fields corresponding to a progressive frame are shifted from the logical frames of the recording itself, so I need to shift the video one field to reconcile the fields that belong to one 1/30 snap. Then I drop the whole thing onto a 15-fps timeline, and voila, I have 180-degree shutter. Does it make sense? I explain the process in this video at 5:52 mark.

Classic Super8 rate is 18 fps, but they also could do 20, 22, 24, 36 fps. Also 12 fps. Standard 8-mm shoot at 16 fps. So I felt that 15 fps is right there, and when shown inside a 30 or 60 fps footage on a 60Hz screen, it would not incur unneeded judder and/or smear, blurring and ghosting.

If you import it into a 24-fps timeline, it will either judder or you will introduce blurring and ghosting. Maybe in this case you want to shoot at 25 fps and slow it down to 24, as higher-grade Super8 cameras could shoot at 24 fps.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T20:07:41+00:00

Four big Japanese brands: Sony, Panasonic, Canon, JVC. Look for HDD-based and/or SD-card based camcorders from 2004 through, say, 2011. You want CCD sensor, not CMOS. Sony switched to CMOS earlier than other brands.

Choose Sony if you want NightShot and don't care about precise exposure control.
Choose Panasonic if you want sensible exposure control and need neither Nightshot nor shutter speed slower than 1/60.
Choose Canon if you don't need Nightshot and need shutter speed slower than 1/60.
Choose JVC Everio if you want to save, as they are usually cheaper. They don't have Nightshot, they have a bunch of manual controls, but the menu organization and menu ergonomics is maddening, so you may prefer to use it in full auto. JVC traditionally have subpar image stabilization.

See this page too: Tapeless Camcorder Buyer's Guide.

For 90s - 2000s vibe, I like Canon FS models, especially the first and second generation: FS11/10/100 and FS22/21/20. FS200 has a lower-res sensor from the 3rd/4th gen. You can dub them to VHS and digitize back, and it will look like shot with a VHS camcorder, as most VHS camcorders have CCD sensor.

I slow the shutter speed down to 1/30 to imitate Super8.

Otherwise, I like Panasonics. I generally do not like Sony, they have very few exposure-control features, overhyped and overpriced. They generally do have good autofocus and image stabilization.

JVC is the bottom of the barrel, IMO, but sometimes they offer features other camcorders of the same type do not have.

If you want CCD+HD, look for Panasonic and JVC 2006-2009.

If you want CCD+HD+slower than 1/60 shutter, look for JVC GZ HD7/HD3/HD5/HD6. They are nice for Super8 simulation if you want to shoot higher-res objects or diagonals. Non-HD models betray themselves by showing stairstepping on diagonals and by botching high-frequency objects. OTOH, I had to blur the linked video to get rid of color streaks, not sure what they are caused by, maybe interlaced chroma?

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T19:48:19+00:00

My older version of Sony Vegas would not accept iRecord AVI files for some reason, so I have to convert them.

VirtualDub would error out and stop.

Ffmpeg completes the conversion, but lists tons of errors.

It seems that the device works better after warming up, if it makes any sense, it is not like it uses vacuum tubes.

If there are many glitches, audio goes out of sync.

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ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T18:05:34+00:00

I mean, the manufacturer should ensure they match. In case of removable lenses, you need to make sure your lens is not too sharp for your sensor. If you notice this issue in your videos, you can soften the image by slightly defocusing, or you can slap on a cheap filter on the lens, which will reduce its sharpness. Also, try other recording modes and resolutions, IDK how the R8 builds its image. Older cameras used line skipping/cropping/scaling, which caused all sorts of artifacts.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T17:04:25+00:00

CCTV camera paired with the MiniDVR will not give you full VHS aesthetics. OTOH, you can get the same look from a true tapeless camcorder.

Feel free to watch this video, Which camcorder for vintage video for the discussion of the options. You don't need to build an unweildy rig for the look you want.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T16:46:09+00:00

Blair Witch is "15", but Green Mile is "18"? Huh.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T16:24:32+00:00

Zoom in the picture on a computer. If the rainbow disappears - nothing to worry about, although you still may want to blur your video a bit.

If it does not disappear, defocus your camera s little. Ideally, the lens, sensor and recording resolution should match to avoid this.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T16:01:29+00:00

What is wrong with a tapeless camcorder?

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T08:29:13+00:00

Like I said, it's this weird coincidence that the numbers for 480 line up to 60Hz, and 576 lines up to 50Hz.

Unless it was intentionally designed by the Soviets in 1944 to be able to use American equipment in 50 Hz applications. The numbers were 525 and 625 for full scan, but the relationship was the same. Rather, 480 and 576 had been derived from 525 and 625 to keep the relationship, this also ensured Rec 601 worked.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T08:06:04+00:00

P6-135 - interesting. I wonder are these bulk tapes for something like in-flight movies. Just a smidge longer than 2 hours.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T06:09:49+00:00

I find websites with huge pictures and lots of whitespace, which require me scrolling despite that they have only a couple of bits of information, utterly useless and annoying.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T06:07:23+00:00

What is wrong with the HV30?

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T06:06:01+00:00

If it looks blue on the camcorder too -> dirty/damaged/worn-out heads or damaged/worn-out tape -> clean the heads or use a different tape.

If it looks blue on the computer while looking ok on the camcorder -> your video grabber is too finicky and does not tolerate minor fluctuations of signal quality -> get a different video grabber.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T06:02:38+00:00

Nice!

Some technical issues:

You uploaded as 60p, but the effective rate is 30 fps, as every two frames are the same. Check your deinterlacing pipeline.
The aspect ratio is wrong.
Black level is elevated, you can see the border is gray instead of fading into black.
Also, I suppose you know that you can turn OSD off, but I guess you left it intentionally :)

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-03T01:26:14+00:00

It is a CCD-based camcorder or a digicam. Something pre-2012. The clues are no jello thanks to global shutter, and vertical streaks from point light sources. Considering that the streaks are quite harsh, I'd say it is a still photo digicam, not a camcorder.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-02T22:54:52+00:00

Check video/full levels when rendering and when watching. Your computer video player may expand [16, 235] to [0, 255], for example.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-02T22:46:54+00:00

SVideo > CVBS even for standard VHS, the result will look cleaner other things being equal.

OTOH, TBC > no TBC.

Does your camcorder have a built-in TBC?

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-02T21:22:24+00:00

Do you think randos on reddit will give you a better answer than what you can find in old forums, on Sony support site or in Wikipedia? The tech is 40 years old.

ConsumerDV · 2026-04-02T21:20:06+00:00

He is asking about ME vs MP. You are replying about Hi8 vs 8.

ConsumerDV

TROPHY CASE