On Mon, 25 Nov 2002 00:28:40 +0100, Ally wrote:

>I need some help deciding which minidv camera is the best for me.
>
>My dad just got diagnosed with Alzheimers, and to keep his memory
>alive, I've decided to buy a minidv camera. I've had a D8 camera
>before, but the resolution (especially in 16:9 mode) was awful, so I
>sold it.

I would not use 16:9 with any small Mini-DV or D8 camera,
since you are throwing out resolution with this silly "Band-Aid" view - the format is 4:3... As others have
pointed out, Mini-DV and D8 are basically the same format,
once you get past the physical tape sizes involved...

>That's why resolution is important to me. 3-ccd models are out of my
>league... high-end 1-ccd cameras should be the way to go. I have two
>Sony models in sight, both of which are 1,5 megapixels (530 lines)
>cameras:
>
>DCR-TRV50 (horizontal)
>DCR-PC120 (vertical)

These are the same for picture (see
www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/camcorder--comparison.htm
for comparison of these with other Sony imaging types).
The high resolution is had at a price, though, in
picture artifacting with contrasty edges. If you
keep the lighting sufficiently bright, and sufficiently
flat, the image from these can look very good (assuming
you do not use 16:9...;-).

>What are the advantages in horizontal versus vertical cameras? The
>vertical cameras are very compact. It would be nice to have the camera
>in a pocket. But are they too compact?

I prefer the vertical type for hand-holding
(ALWAYS with two hands!). Some prefer the other
orientation...

>The PC120 has the microphones
>on top of the unit, which to me seems odd. The channel seperation must
>suffer, or?

No problem, unless you are a "heavy breather"...;-)
The top mics of the Sony and Panasonic cameras
that use them provide excellent stereo ambience
recordings...

>What about the 16:9 widescreen setting? My old D8 camera went from bad
>resolution to awful resolution going from the 4:3 setting to 16:9. Can
>I expect the same thing with the new cameras? It would be nice if they
>made some native 16:9 models to us, only filming in widescreen.

Most people really have no use for this - and to do it
right requires a very different CCD layout...

>Hope somebody will help, because this time around I want the right
>camera for me. I don't want the last video of my dad to be screwed up
>by low resolution or the like.

For a one-chipper, the TRV30/50-PC115/120 is an excellent
choice, if light levels and contrast are optimum for it.
Otherwise, look for a good used TRV900 3-chipper...