Canon MV960 Camcorder

[Evil Ally]

Anyone on here know about camcorders? I'll be buying my first soon to use for track days and my parents will take it on holidays with them. I like the look of the MV960, seems good value and gets not bad reviews. It also has AV in so my dad can use it to convert his VHS tapes to DVD. Good buy?

 

[MRBILLYUK]

I can't comment on the MV960 , but i have an MV750 and its a piece of piss to use , top quality footage , AV in like ya say for connecting up to a vcr . Can't fault it mate and would definitely have a canon again

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[Evil Ally]

Cheers m8, I will definitely be buying some aftermarket batteries.

I'm a big newbie, how does the transfer to the PC work? Can I just drag and drop the files I want off it or do I need special software? What format are the files?

 

[MRBILLYUK]

Just use firewire and windows movie maker . As soon as you connect up the camcorder movie maker will fire up . You'll need to buy a firewire cable , only a couple of quid off ebay and a firewire card off ebay also if your pc doesn't have one .

Theres probably alot better software out there for editing movies , but you can delete the bits your don't want , and keep the bits you do , so its good enough for me .

Where ya getttin the camcorder from and how much if ya don't mind me askin ?

 

[Evil Ally]

Best price I've found is amazon at £248 with free delivery.

How long does it take to transfer files off the camera? I've used windows movie maker in the past and it's good. I've also used adobe premier which is very capable but expensive (although easily "acquirable" from certain places ).

 

[MRBILLYUK]

When you download the video its done in real time so 60 mins is 60 mins , time to put the kettle on or crack a cold one

 

[Norris_309]

might take alook at this canon mv960 then seeing as i'm in the market for one too.. (and don't know 'jack' about them!)
Think i need to see them in person though to see what size they are. want somthing pretty small to take on hols etc.. (that canon looks pretty small from the pics- off down currys i go)

 

[Norris_309]

i take it some of the camcorders allow you to transfer with usb2 aswell/instead of firewire??

 

[Norris_309]

just looking up some, the canon mvx460 seems to be a good 'un, although it's a bit more cash (£323)

 

[Guy]

me and my mate both bought mv960's and theyre AWESOME!!
seriously.. get one

as you say the AV in is great as it uses a anologue to digital converter.. or more importantly.. supports usage of a bullet cam

 

[Evil Ally]

Well my dad wasn't too keen on the sound of the real time transfer of footage to the PC. He's going to buy a capture card instead to do what he wants to do. So I'm now looking at the MV890 which is the same camera but doesn't have AV/DV in and can't take still pictures (not needed anyway). It will skin me £180 so seems like a lot of camera for the money. It means I can't use a bullet cam but I'm going to mount it between the front seats anyway. Maybe I'll have some test footage up soon

 

[Evil Ally]

me and my mate both bought mv960's and theyre AWESOME!!
seriously.. get one

as you say the AV in is great as it uses a anologue to digital converter.. or more importantly.. supports usage of a bullet cam

Glad to hear some first hand experience. As I say the MV890 is the same camera so it should also take good footage.

 

[MRBILLYUK]

You've lost me a bit there mate . Whats the difference in using a capture card and firewire ?

 

[Evil Ally]

What I mean is my dad will fit a capture card to the PC. Then he can plug his video directly into that without using the camcorder. Saves time as then he can go video->PC, not video->camcorder->PC.

 

[Guy]

Well my dad wasn't too keen on the sound of the real time transfer of footage to the PC. He's going to buy a capture card instead to do what he wants to do. So I'm now looking at the MV890 which is the same camera but doesn't have AV/DV in and can't take still pictures (not needed anyway). It will skin me £180 so seems like a lot of camera for the money. It means I can't use a bullet cam but I'm going to mount it between the front seats anyway. Maybe I'll have some test footage up soon

i had a non av in camera and headrest mount..

theres not much flexibility in camera angles at all and gets boring!!

i soon moved to bullet cam and new camcorder!

the bullet cam really is amazing.. u can just stick it anyway (oo-er!) and get some awesome angles!



i'll be putting my headrest mount up for sale shortly no doubt.

 

[Evil Ally]

Hmmmm how much are bullet cams? Do they use AV or DV in? This is all turning out to be somewhat more expensive than originally anticipated!

 

[MRBILLYUK]

Don't forget Ally . You get what you pay for , spend a few more pounds now and it'll last you years and be more future proof feature wise .Personally i'd rather spend a little bit more and get all the whistles and bells .

 

[Guy]

said above.. lol

decent bullet cam, extra lense, suction mount with extra knuckle for some cool angles, extra lense, and a brand new canon mv960 (AV in) came to approx 500 quid..

it is expensive i do agree. but it depends how you look at it.. theres nothign better than doing a trackday and having a load of professional photos to show for it and some awesome footage!

 

[MRBILLYUK]

i had a non av in camera and headrest mount..

theres not much flexibility in camera angles at all and gets boring!!

i soon moved to bullet cam and new camcorder!

the bullet cam really is amazing.. u can just stick it anyway (oo-er!) and get some awesome angles!



i'll be putting my headrest mount up for sale shortly no doubt.

Have you got a link to the bullet cam you have Guy ?

 

[Guy]

www.fastfilms.co.uk - fishy dave off here - great bloke

its the one with 480 lines of resolution, i got it in wide angle version and also bought spare narrow lense.

 

[Evil Ally]

I would love one of those, but 500 notes is a fair stack of cash just for filming the odd track day. Do you have any nice vids to help me decide guy?

 

[Guy]

nah, if i manage to sell my car today.. i'll get some up within the next few weeks of new car

 

[Evil Ally]

Hi guys, thought I'd report back

I bought an MV960 as recommended, I very pleased with it. I've made a home brew car mount and I've been taking some test footage. The only problem I can see is that the tape mechanism is so loud the microphone picks it up. It's very obvious when you play it back. I was thinking an external mic of some kind and mount it away from the camera? Is there any that you would recommend, not too pricey?

But overall it takes very nice footage so can't complain.

 

[Evil Ally]

What's your new car m8?