Looking for a camcorder with composite input

October 24, 2009 10:18 PM

Do you know of any camcorders or portable video recorders with composite (analog) input?

I recently received an old helmet camera from a family member, and it needs a separate recording device. So I'm looking for something portable to record from composite input. These inputs are usually TRRS connectors (like a headphone jack, but with four conductors: Wikipedia: TRRS), or the classic yellow-red-white RCA connectors. I'm looking in the $400 range, but I'm flexible.

posted by jstech to Technology (2 answers total)

It's not a terribly uncommon feature on some medium to high-end/prosumer MiniDV camcorders. You won't find it in the cheapest models (and it may be harder to find now than a few years ago, just because the number of MiniDV cameras in production has dropped as solid state recorders have become more popular), but it's certainly not unheard of.

The Sony DCRHC30 reportedly had analog ins, and was pretty cheap. It's not in current production but you can get a used one for under $200. That's probably your lowest-cost option.

I can't find a good way to search for only models with analog in, using either Amazon's or B&H's site, so you'll probably just have to comb through the listings if you want a current-production model that you can buy new. You probably won't have any luck on the entry-level models that are under $250, though. If a product description doesn't explicitly mention that the camera will record from the composite-video connection, it probably doesn't do it.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:29 PM on October 24, 2009

Just for a few more specific models: the Sony DCR-H32, also out of production but available used, does A-to-D conversion. But beware—the next revision, the DCR-HC52, dropped it.

Because it was a feature mostly intended to be used by people transferring old VHS movies over onto MiniDV (which I don't think many people did, preferring to go to DVD instead), it seems to be getting more and more rare on new models, at least at the low end. Most prosumer models seem to still have it, but they're out of your stated price range, and they're pretty bulky if all you want is a recorder.

I also looked at a few solid-state camcorders but couldn't find any that list analog video in. It's entirely possible that they exist and I'm just missing them, but if so they're not advertising it like the MiniDV ones used to.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:50 PM on October 24, 2009