is this video camera good?

Consumer level HD camcorders have 4 problems. 1) Blurry, fuzzy, out of focus areas closely around people in videos taken by consumer level HD camcorders. 2) Any movement, even a wave or lifting an arm, while in front of a recording consumer level HD camcorder, results in screen ghosts and artifacts being left on the video track, following the movement. Makes for bad video, sports videos are unwatchable. 3) These Consumer level HD camcorders all have a habit of the transferred to computer files are something you need to convert, thus losing your HD quality, to work with your editing software. 4) Mandatory maximum record times - 1 hour, 30 minutes, 8 minutes, 3 minutes – four different times advertised as maximum record time for some consumer level HD camcorders. No event I have ever been to is that short. Either take multiple camcorders or pack up with out getting the end of the event on video.

With a MiniDV tape camcorder, record 60 or 90 minutes ( camcorder settings), 90 seconds or less to change a tape and record for 60 or 90 more and repeat till you run out of tapes.

You can get a Canon ZR960 for $250. It is a MiniDV tape camcorder, has a Mic jack. You need a firewire (IEEE1394) card ($25 to 30) for the computer and a firewire cable (less than 10) to be able to transfer video to your computer. To say this is not HD, think about this. It would cost in excess of $3500 to get a HD camcorder that could equal the video Quality of a $250 Canon MiniDV tape camcorder.

Pros

lightweight (9)takes good quality videos (9)waterproof (8)handy (7)small in size (7)attractive colors (4)Cons

battery life (5)none (1)wrist strap doesn't adjust (1)not totally waterproof (1)

Kodak - PLAYSPORT High Definition Camcorder — I did tons of research before buying this little camcorder comparing it to the Flip. I'm really happy I chose to go with the Kodak. What sold me was the fact that it had a removable (and expandable) memory card. This way, I wasn't limited to the size of the hard drive--I could just get a second memory card and never worry about running out of space. It didn't hurt that the Kodak was also a little cheaper and it was (supposedly) waterproof! The video quality is really good--I almost always use the 720 at 60 frames/sec setting which is superb for action shots.

That said, I do have some complaints: 1. The video camera is not capable of doing close ups, You must be at least 3 feet away from your subject in order for it to be able to focus properly. 2. It's not as waterproof as they claim. I took it snorkeling recently and after a few minutes in the water, the camera just died on me. At the time I thought it might have been the battery but when I got home and opened up the door covering the cable ports, water dripped out. The good news is that it dried out overnight and still works but I'm very hesitant to take it in the water again.

So really, it depends on what your using it for.

I bought similar one and it is waterproof camera. I like it a lot. I bought it from here

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030MITDK?ie=UTF...