HD Camcorder suggestions

[KingWebb]

I am looking into buying a HD camcorder for live broadcast to HDTV's around the church and am considering the Sony HDR-CX100. What I need for output is component but the camcorder has HDMI. I know I can buy a HDMI to component converter but I am not sure if this is the correct way to go. Another thing is I can't figure out if the CX100 puts out a signal on the HDMI port when in record mode.

Any suggestions on a moderately priced HD camcorder ($500-$700) to do what I need would be much appreciated!

[theatre4jc]

I have that camera's big brother the HDR-CX12. This is for personal use but I used it last weekend to film a wedding, really really pleased with it. It offers a good sized hard drive and has a programable nob on the front that can be a manual control for focus and a few other functions. It's $200 more than your budget but it does have HDMI out and an RCA output. I've never tried to record with while the RCA is plugged in but I do know you can send the image out without a display showing.

If I was doing this I would get a camera with enough HD space to record the entire broadcast to guarantee that the camera would not suddenly go into a power save mode. Some cameras will do this if not recording.

[KingWebb]

The CX100 does not have a hard drive but it has 8gb internal memory. The service is usually 30-45 minutes so I should be ok. Do you know if th CX12 sends video out the HDMI port while recording? The RCA output would be 480 SD so not good for what I want.

[theatre4jc]

I do not have an HDMI cable so I cannot check, but I would assume that if the lesser quality output can than the high quality one can.

[cw4u]

Also, take a look at the Canon HF series. I use a HF20 on FCE at my school, and it works great. Picture quality is good, and after transcoding the AVCHD to AIC, everything edits fine.

Whatever you get, make sure you don't use the built in mic. They're terrible. I've ordered two VHF wireless mics to compliment the camera.

[bpalermini]

Canon HV30 puts out very nice video and is recognized as a much better camera than the <$600 price implies. I have not used it as a live cam.