I am debating on two different cameras in the market right now for my first and only digital video camera. I am stuck between the Sony HD and the Panasonic AG-DV30 mini DV. Of course the quality of the HD is better, but if I am mostly going to burn DVD's what is the compression factor? I was also drawn to the Panasonic because of the Infrared night shooting option. Does anyone have any suggestions? With the HD, you record onto Mini DV anyways, right? Help!
You already answered your questions yourself. Indeed, HD is better, but you are going to loose a lot of the quality improvement when burning it to DVD (although the final quality will remain better). When buying a camcorder there are many more factors to take into consideration. Reading a couple of camcorder reviews on http://www.camcorderinfo.com is very helpful.
there are a few sony hd, the HC1,3 the FX1, and ZU1 which one are you talking about In a year or so, dvd's will be the past, you will have a blu ray or HD DVD recorder, and the panasonic will be obsolete. plus, the HC1 has Infared shooting, and two Infared emmitters on the front. as long as you are shooting at daytime, especially outside, the HC1, will top the panasonic