good features on digital video cameras

[ansberry]

I have been using my old analog video camera up to today to make our home movies. I use an analog/digital converter to link it to my Mac with firewire. Today my video camera died, and tomorrow I have an important event to tape. I have looked through this forum. I thought for sure there would be some how to guide about camera features, but I haven' t found one. I also searched the forums for information, but found none about cameras. I will probably be using Premier or Final Cut Express to work with the video that I record.
What features are important to have on a video camera to get good results?

Thanks
Mike

[Jayhawk]

Have wondered myself although I assume a lot of it is just like still digital cameras (number of pixels in the ccd chip, optics, reliability). Here's a good site for looking at reviews, forums, buying guides.

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/

[ansberry]

Wow! What a great resource. Thanks for the info.

Mike

[Dr. DOS]

Also check out CNet.

http://www.cnet.com

Digital requires a ton of light.. look for the lowest lux or you will be very dissapointed in your indoor shots.

[babyboo]

Agreed on the low light. I purchased a minidv camcorder at the end of last year to replace the aging analog one that I have. I had done quite a bit of reasearch and bought what appeared to be one of the best that operate in low light levels. I was very disappointed. While I had absolutely no problem taking indoor birhtday footage with my old analog, the minidv couldn't hold a candle (no pun intended) to the analog. It choked on the low light reducing the frame rate down to that of a video cam on dial-up. Back to the store it went and I am still using my old analog one. Perhaps when 3 chip cam prices become more reasonable I will try again. However, for the time being, if you are looking to shoot in doors a lot, you will need TONS of light or you will be disappointed...but this is just my opinion

[ansberry]

That is interesting information. I've been looking at a Sony with a single CCD that is in the $600 range. It is supposed to be good in low light. I've also been looking at a Panasonic that has 3 CCDs and is in the $500 range. It is supposed to be good in low light. Maybe none of the digitals is good in low light? I don't want to spend $600 and get a camera I can't use. I will use it almost exclusively for home video, which means indoors and low light.

[alegator]

I have a Sony TRV950. It's 3CCD, so quality is awesome, but unfortunately 3CCD cameras require a high lux. I've been looking for a camcorder with the video quality of 3CCD and with sensitivity high enough to shoot with low light conditions, but was unsuccessful.
Going into higher quality, I read about the JVC high definition camcorder, and the lux requirement is even higher.
It seems there is a trade off between video quality and lux sensitivity.