Also needing help for buying a new camcorder

[CityTop]

Hello,

I just joined this forum. Like some other recent posters, I would be grateful for some help buying a new camcorder. I ask for your patience, because I hardly know anything about video.

I am no professional, I basically just want to make the most of my holiday videos and small documentaries / interviews I do, also after I edit them. Some stuff is published on Facebook or YouTube, and that's not too much of a problem. Some I watch on a 32" flatscreen TV. And this is where the challenge is!

Currently, I own a Sony HDR SR-12. I figured a consumer camcorder would be the right thing for me. And from the descriptions I read, I also thought it would give bright, "HD-like", razor sharp video when I bought it in 2008. This is partly true, at least when you just hook it up to a TV using an HDMI cable. Doing this, the video quality seems acceptable, although not when subjects are moving at just moderate pace. Edited output is another story. I have tried different editing software - exporting to mpg, using what I think is the highest possible quality. I find that the results are deeply disappointing. In Windows, Sony Vegas makes the output look like something worse than the crappiest, blurriest, VHS videos I remember from my childhood - worse, because at least the VHS tapes did not give all the pixelation which I see now. In Mac, Premiere Pro does a better job - less blur, better colours, but still too much pixelation, and too poor quality for moving subjects.

I am probably going to spend a lot of money on a trip to Argentina in a few months, and I just think it is a pity to come back with footage that you don't really enjoy watching because the quality is poor.

Could some of you helpful people give some advice? I would be really grateful. I know I will probably have to spend some money on this, but I feel it might be worthwhile. I hope to find a relatively compact and not too heavy solution.

Many thanks in advance!

[CityTop]

I have spent the last 2 days reading about Camcorders, which has raised even more questions, but hopefully I am able to ask them in more precise terms:

1. What is the workflow to get the best possible rendering from the camcorder I already own (a European (PAL) Sony HDR SR-12), for watching on an HDTV, assuming that I want to use Premiere Pro CS5 for editing?

2. If I still want to upgrade to a better camcorder, which are the most important specs to look at? Recording format, sensor size, one sensor or three sensors, number of megapixels, bitrate,...?

For example, I have looked at the soon to be released Canon XA-10 which I find very tempting (also because of the XLR audio input and mic preamp), but as far as I can see, it is only really better than my Sony in terms of bitrate and probably has a much better lens. The sensor of the Canon has fewer megapixels and the recording format is the same. Both have just one sensor. I am surely missing something - and this is why I still hope to get some feedback.

Regards,

[CityTop]

...sorry - just another question:

I keep reading that MPEG-2 is dominating in camcorders these days. Is AVCHD = MPEG-2?

I have also read that AVCHD is a lossy format, more so than for example HDV. Does this mean that I will get better results with a tape-based camcorder like the Canon HV40 than with my current camcorder (Sony HDR-SR12) - or the announced Canon XA-10?