Tech Need a camcorder with a $200 budget that can last 8+ hours

[The Witch]

So, I've been meaning to set up a camcorder around my house because we have people sneaking onto our property and since we have no way to defend ourselves I'd like to catch these asses before they get ballsy enough to break in. Someone actually poured gasoline all over our car one night and we don't know why or how. They've even been harming our animals. And since we live in a very small mountain community this is scary. Anyway, it has to have a recording life of around 8 hours (long enough to last while I'm sleeping), I'd wish for one that could record for longer (like 24 hours) but if not that's okay.

The tough part is, I only have $200 to work with. If anyone can help me maximize recording time, while cutting price that would be awesome. And if your suggestion is something else that maximizes the length of record time, then that's cool too.

I just really need this to set up and this means a great deal to our family.

I know shit about electronics, let alone a specific item like camcorders. My uncle sent one by sony up but it only records for 8 minutes and then shuts off so I really have no idea if what I'm asking is possible.

 

[iSmiff]

Not that I can help with model or brand but most camcorders allow you to record when plugged in as far as I know so recording from inside looking outside shouldn't be an issue

 

[.Mosh]

I don't know if what to exactly go for but maybe a cheap set of CCTV cameras. They sell they cheap here in the UK especially under $200 in your money so it makes me believe you could pick up a CCTV set as well. They can come with like one or two cameras that last much longer then 8 hours however I don't know the installation side of things.

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

i think for something like that, you really need to be looking a home security sort of system. i don't think there are many electronic devices in the world that could run constantly for 8 hours, let alone a camcorder bought for $200.
you also obviously need to think of storage. if you plan to get 8 solid hours, then you'll need to be recording straight to a hard drive and 8 hours of footage will take up a lot of storage space (you're looking at 200+ gig) depending on image quality and other factors.

the trouble is paranormal activity has made home cctv systems seem like you can go to a supermarket and have your home safe and secure by tea time without making a serious dent in your bank account. that isn't the case, sadly, or we'd all be doing it.

 

[The Witch]

alright, thanks guys. i thought it'd be complicated. thought it would be worth trying though. i would get home security but that costs a lot of money. and i have a 1000GB hardrive that i was planning on saving this stuff to. once i had watched it, i would delete and start over. could i hook a sony camcorder to my hard drive and save and film that way?

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

i don't know exactly how it works software-wise, but you should be able to

you've also got to think how well your sony camcorder performs in low light. if it has a night vision mode, then great, otherwise you could struggle. you'll need to give it a test run one night to see what you actually get.

 

[The Witch]

thanks so much. it does have a night vision mode, i use it sometimes when im outside looking around at night. my camcorder is a "sony digital 8 handycam dcr-trv350 ntsc camcorder" I tried seeing if i could hook it up to my laptop and live-feed it to my hard drive as apposed to the memory on the camera but i can't find anywhere online that says it can do that.

I saw on amazon people talking about a 'firewire cord' but i don't know what that's used for.

thanks for your time.