On Sat, 19 May 2001 04:49:26 GMT, Sum wrote:

>I have been looking to buy a digital camcorder for mostly taping family
>functions and my baby's activities. I started off thinking of getting
>the Canon Optura Pi, then when I handled it my wife felt it is a little
>too heavy and bulky. I then looked at the ZR25, not really too
>impressive, but small enough. However when I sweep across a room slowly
>it seems to have this bright white blur formation on the LCD display
>that other camcorders in the same showroom have. The pictures seems
>kind of grainy but I presume at that price range ($500-$1500) you are
>getting the same resolution video. The pricier ones in that range
>perhaps have more bells and whistles and smaller.
>
>I am now leaning to getting the Sony DCR-PC5. It is on sale at a local
>store for 988. It is not the latest model but substantially smaller
>than the PC110. It does not have the mega pixel the PC110 has but I
>think that only improve the still photo mode is that right?
>
>If size is important, is DCR-PC5 a good choice for that price? I do
>want to make sure it will tape fine indoor with marginal light. I will
>not tape in the dark or candle light, but it will not be 300W bright
>either. What other brand/model should I consider for items around $1000
>range?

The one-chip camcorders are relatively poor in low light,
and they often pick up considerable motor "whine" - the
PC-5 (with its stabilizer off when shooting inside) should
work well in bright light, and acceptably in low light,
and my similar PC-1 picks up relatively little motor noise.
I suspect the Optura Pi picture may look smoother in low
light, but at the expense of sharpness - and in good light,
I suspect the PC-5 would also be preferable from what I have
seen in frame-grabs - and at $1000, it is a bargain. (Email
me with the store name - I may want to buy one, too...! ;-)
BTW, I also suspect the non-megapixel PC-5 video image will
look better overall, with fewer "jaggies" than the tiny-area
PC-110 (the PC-5 uses the same CCD arangement as the TRV-11,
AFAIK, and the image quality from that camera is excellent
(for a one-cheaper). Also BTW, "newer" does not mean
"better"...