HD Video Cameras
 

I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?

HD Video Cameras
 

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?


I don't have a hd. I use a Flip vid camera... cheap and seems to work great.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

HD Video Cameras
 

On Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:50:09 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
.. .
I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?


I don't have a hd. I use a Flip vid camera... cheap and seems to work great.

I'm not familiar with that camera.

Can you post a link to one?

HD Video Cameras
 

Wayne.B wrote in
:

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?



Canon replaced the CCD imager, cleaned and aligned my A-70 camera I paid
$10 for from a thrift shop and even paid the shipping....FREE.

I told them where I got it. They said it didn't matter as there was a
recall on the CCD imager. I couldn't buy a camera from anyone else, now.

HD Video Cameras
 

In article ,
Wayne.B wrote:

I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Canon's HF100 with a watertight case?
Small, good optics, very good pictures, optical image stabilization and
good to handle, records to flash memory.

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...order-Review-3
5094.htm
"Who It's For
Point-and-Shooters
Canon jumped on the bandwagon and threw its own incarnation of Easy mode
on the HF100. Look out Sony! Beginners unite.
Budget Consumers
For killer Canon HD video, great Manual controls, and all the
connectivity an intermediate shooter should need, the HF100 is a bargain
for $900. It's the cheapest actually good HD camcorder on the market.
Still Photo / Video Camera Hybrid
Histograms, numerous shooting modes, all Manual Controls--the HF100's
still features blow past JVC's and Panasonic's. They're on par with
Sony's still photo excellence. ..."

Check with your computer and software whether it can handle AVCHD, the
format newer HD recorders record in - I know that it works fine on the
latest Mac OS X and iMovie or Final Cut.

HTH

Marc

--
remove bye and from mercial to get valid e-mail
http://www.heusser.com

HD Video Cameras
 

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?



I recently bought a Samsung SC-HMX20C. There are many types being marketed
and here's what I learned during the research process:

"HD" doesn't mean High Definition. "HD" means hybrid drive or something
like that, meaning it has both disk drive and a memory card type memory.
Look closely at the specs and make sure the camera is a "full high
definition with 1028i or p resolution.

I was told to avoid the disk drive models because camcorder cameras tend to
get banged around a bit and their primary failure mode is the disk drive.
One of the reasons I went with the Samsung was because it has a built in 8GB
memory card (not removable) and an additional slot for another 8GB removable
SD type memory card.

The biggest issue I had to deal with was the native recording format, and it
was a bit of a surprise.
The Samsung records in MP4 video which not all editing or display programs
will work with. (Windows Media Player can't play it)

It came with a program from CyberLink which was horrible to work with. I
even emailed CyberLink with some simple questions, but it was like talking
to a cable TV tech center who read from a script. Worthless.

I ended up buying a program from Roxio Creator which is much, much better.
It will convert the MP4 video into .avi, .wmv and other formats and is more
flexible for editing and creating movies. I also found a decent video
conversion program on the 'net that was freeware and works well, but has no
editing capabilities.

As far as the camera is concerned, the high definition format is impressive,
especially when displayed on a large screen, HD TV monitor. On small
screens, I am not sure the extra size of the HD format is worth it.

Eisboch

HD Video Cameras
 

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?



I recently bought a Samsung SC-HMX20C. There are many types being
marketed and here's what I learned during the research process:

"HD" doesn't mean High Definition. "HD" means hybrid drive or something
like that, meaning it has both disk drive and a memory card type memory.
Look closely at the specs and make sure the camera is a "full high
definition with 1028i or p resolution.

I was told to avoid the disk drive models because camcorder cameras tend
to get banged around a bit and their primary failure mode is the disk
drive. One of the reasons I went with the Samsung was because it has a
built in 8GB memory card (not removable) and an additional slot for
another 8GB removable SD type memory card.

The biggest issue I had to deal with was the native recording format, and
it was a bit of a surprise.
The Samsung records in MP4 video which not all editing or display programs
will work with. (Windows Media Player can't play it)

It came with a program from CyberLink which was horrible to work with. I
even emailed CyberLink with some simple questions, but it was like talking
to a cable TV tech center who read from a script. Worthless.

I ended up buying a program from Roxio Creator which is much, much better.
It will convert the MP4 video into .avi, .wmv and other formats and is
more flexible for editing and creating movies. I also found a decent
video conversion program on the 'net that was freeware and works well, but
has no editing capabilities.

As far as the camera is concerned, the high definition format is
impressive, especially when displayed on a large screen, HD TV monitor.
On small screens, I am not sure the extra size of the HD format is worth
it.

Eisboch




Forgot to mention. Look for an HDMI output directly from the camera. Mine
is built into a docking/recharging station that you place the camera onto.
The HDMI can then be outputted to any HD monitoring screen or monitor.

Eisboch

HD Video Cameras
 

Another "forgot"...

The storage capacity obviously depends on the disk drive or in my case the
size of the memory cards used.
The Samsung can record in either 1080p (HD) or 480p (SD) modes.

In HD mode, you can select "normal, fine, or superfine". 8GB storage media
capacity is approximately 112 min., 96 min. and 71 min. respectively for
these modes. You can use up to a 32GB removeable card in addition to the
built-in 8GB card.

In SD mode, (480p) it's 239 min, 139 and 112 min. respectively.

There's also a slow motion mode.

You can also take high resolution photos ranging from 640x480 to 3664x2448
resolution.

Eisboch

HD Video Cameras
 

In article ,
"Eisboch" wrote:

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?



I recently bought a Samsung SC-HMX20C. There are many types being marketed
and here's what I learned during the research process:

"HD" doesn't mean High Definition. "HD" means hybrid drive or something
like that, meaning it has both disk drive and a memory card type memory.
Look closely at the specs and make sure the camera is a "full high
definition with 1028i or p resolution.$

HD *does* mean High Definition. It just seems some manufacturers cheat
on this.
If you want a good picture, you need
1080/30P (1920 x 1080 at 30 progressive frames per second) (or 24)
progressive means pictures at full resolution, i means interlaced ie
only half a picture.
What also matters is how much the picture is compressed, this can be
seen at the frame rate: FXP is 17 mbit/s and the highest quality you'll
get in a consumer recorder (ie at an affordable price). Way better than
any TV.
Optical stabilization is important as it is better for the picture than
any purely electronic one unless you have a tripod on a stable ground,
ie always.
Low light performance is very different among models, check the review
site I had indicated (http://www.camcorderinfo.com)

I was told to avoid the disk drive models because camcorder cameras tend to
get banged around a bit and their primary failure mode is the disk drive.
One of the reasons I went with the Samsung was because it has a built in 8GB
memory card (not removable) and an additional slot for another 8GB removable
SD type memory card.

Yes, flash memory is much more robust.

If you want flash memory and HD, you will have to deal with AHVCD, ie an
advanced compression scheme for the movies to fit in a smaller space.

The Canon camera I recommended, the HF100, comes with software to load
the movies on a Windows computers. Working on Mac OS X, I have not
tested the software. (I am not connected to Cannon except having used a
few of their recorders over the past few years as a happy user.)
If buying a new recorder I'd recommend to look at the HF100, and start
from there. Feel free to compare, the site I had given has much
information. It is the cheapest actually good HD recorder.
I had a friend buy one at a good price, and do very good recordings in a
difficult setting (low light and against bright window, fast moving
children) without reading the manual, just pointing the camera.
What more can you ask for, especially knowing that all the manual
control and connections you would possibly need are there if necessary.

Such a recorder is easily good enough for any news gathering of a
commercial TV station - or a good low budget film.


HTH

Marc

--
remove bye and from mercial to get valid e-mail
http://www.heusser.com

HD Video Cameras
 

On Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:34:17 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?

Don't drop it in the water!

HD Video Cameras
 

"Marc Heusser" d wrote in
message ...

In article ,
"Eisboch" wrote:


"HD" doesn't mean High Definition. "HD" means hybrid drive or something
like that, meaning it has both disk drive and a memory card type
memory.
Look closely at the specs and make sure the camera is a "full high
definition with 1028i or p resolution.$

HD *does* mean High Definition. It just seems some manufacturers cheat
on this.

If you want a good picture, you need
1080/30P (1920 x 1080 at 30 progressive frames per second) (or 24)


I screwed up with the 1028. Meant to say 1080. The Samsung is 1080/30p.
I am still messing around and learning how to use it.

Eisboch

HD Video Cameras
 

On Mar 13, 1:34*am, Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:50:09 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
.. .
I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?

I don't have a hd. I use a Flip vid camera... cheap and seems to work great.

I'm not familiar with that camera.

Can you post a link to one?

Wayne,

http://www.theflip.com

HD Video Cameras
 

wrote in message
...
On Mar 13, 1:34 am, Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:50:09 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
.. .
I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?

I don't have a hd. I use a Flip vid camera... cheap and seems to work
great.

I'm not familiar with that camera.

Can you post a link to one?

Wayne,

http://www.theflip.com

That's the one. I got the low-end version without the tripod port. If I had
it to do over, I'd get the one with the port. Other than that, I have no
complaints. It's a great camera.



--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

HD Video Cameras
 

"Calif Bill" wrote in message
...

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:50:09 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?


I don't have a hd. I use a Flip vid camera... cheap and seems to work
great.

I'm not familiar with that camera.

Can you post a link to one?


About the size of a thin cigarette pack. Takes good pictures, but is a
fixed focus point and shoot. Gave one to the daughter for the first
grandbaby. Does a good job. Just plug in Flip Video to Amazon.com

Yeah, I figured it's "expendable" if it gets spashed, but I found it to be
quite durable. Got caught in two rain showers in Alaska last year with no
problem. I didn't try to protect it. Just dried it off after each and it was
fine. It zooms, but that can make things jittery. It's pretty good close and
medium distance from the subject. I think it cost me $70 used on ebay.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

HD Video Cameras
 

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:50:09 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
. ..
I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?


I don't have a hd. I use a Flip vid camera... cheap and seems to work
great.

I'm not familiar with that camera.

Can you post a link to one?


About the size of a thin cigarette pack. Takes good pictures, but is a
fixed focus point and shoot. Gave one to the daughter for the first
grandbaby. Does a good job. Just plug in Flip Video to Amazon.com

HD Video Cameras
 

On Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:34:17 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?


Lot's of good advice, thanks everyone.

HD Video Cameras
 

"Capt. JG" wrote in message
easolutions...
"Calif Bill" wrote in message
...

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:50:09 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
m...
I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?


I don't have a hd. I use a Flip vid camera... cheap and seems to work
great.

I'm not familiar with that camera.

Can you post a link to one?


About the size of a thin cigarette pack. Takes good pictures, but is a
fixed focus point and shoot. Gave one to the daughter for the first
grandbaby. Does a good job. Just plug in Flip Video to Amazon.com

Yeah, I figured it's "expendable" if it gets spashed, but I found it to be
quite durable. Got caught in two rain showers in Alaska last year with no
problem. I didn't try to protect it. Just dried it off after each and it
was fine. It zooms, but that can make things jittery. It's pretty good
close and medium distance from the subject. I think it cost me $70 used on
ebay.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com




I think the one I bought for daughter was $139. List was about $199.

HD Video Cameras
 

Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:34:17 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?


Lot's of good advice, thanks everyone.


I just saw the thread, and I bought a Vado HD a couple of weeks ago via
eBay,

http://tinyurl.com/be3m8u

2 hours of HD+ or 4 hours of HD or 8 hours of VHS quality. Smaller than
a pack of cigs, 2x digital zoom, it's point and shoot.

HD Video Cameras
 

Wayne.B wrote in
:

I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?

Before you jump into the HD realm of video, please look at the demands that
it places on the system that you're going to use to edit it. HD requires a
huge amount of processing power (and memory) to do it well. The vast
majority of Windows based applications/systems can't do real-time editing
of HD video. You almost always have to generate a "proxy" version (low
res) version of the video to do the editing and then generate the HD output
based upon edits to the proxy version.

Then, if you're going to view the HD output on anything other than your
computer, you'll have to get a BluRay burner, which is expensive and the
media is very expensive relative to DVDs.

All in all, if you've never edited HD video before, I'd be very careful in
wishing for a HD video camera and associated systems to process it. The
camera will just be a small portion of what you'll have to spend to process
and view the output in HD.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

HD Video Cameras
 

"Geoff Schultz" wrote in message
.. .
Wayne.B wrote in
:

I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?

Before you jump into the HD realm of video, please look at the demands
that
it places on the system that you're going to use to edit it. HD requires
a
huge amount of processing power (and memory) to do it well. The vast
majority of Windows based applications/systems can't do real-time editing
of HD video. You almost always have to generate a "proxy" version (low
res) version of the video to do the editing and then generate the HD
output
based upon edits to the proxy version.

Then, if you're going to view the HD output on anything other than your
computer, you'll have to get a BluRay burner, which is expensive and the
media is very expensive relative to DVDs.

All in all, if you've never edited HD video before, I'd be very careful in
wishing for a HD video camera and associated systems to process it. The
camera will just be a small portion of what you'll have to spend to
process
and view the output in HD.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org


Actually, the part about requiring a BluRay isn't quite accurate. I
regularly transfer HD files from my computer to my PS3 via the internal
network. Works great!


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

HD Video Cameras
 

"Geoff Schultz" wrote in message
.. .
Wayne.B wrote in
:

I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?

Before you jump into the HD realm of video, please look at the demands
that
it places on the system that you're going to use to edit it. HD requires
a
huge amount of processing power (and memory) to do it well. The vast
majority of Windows based applications/systems can't do real-time editing
of HD video. You almost always have to generate a "proxy" version (low
res) version of the video to do the editing and then generate the HD
output
based upon edits to the proxy version.

Then, if you're going to view the HD output on anything other than your
computer, you'll have to get a BluRay burner, which is expensive and the
media is very expensive relative to DVDs.

All in all, if you've never edited HD video before, I'd be very careful in
wishing for a HD video camera and associated systems to process it. The
camera will just be a small portion of what you'll have to spend to
process
and view the output in HD.



I'll have to go look it up but somewhere I read that a regular DVD burner
like that installed in my laptop can burn high def onto a regular DVD-R and
it will play in a Playstation 3 as a Blu-Ray. Don't jump on me yet .... I
have to go find where I read that and how you do it. I specifically recall
the instructions said that Blu-Ray media is not required however the DVD-R
media will not store as much video.

BTW ... I have no problems editing the HD format (1080/30P) on my laptop
using Roxio. It takes a while to process, but works fine. My laptop is
an HP Pavilion, Vista 64-bit, 4Gb Ram. I haven't done a really long video
yet, but what I've done work fine.

Eisboch

Eisboch

HD Video Cameras
 

"Eisboch" wrote in
:


"Geoff Schultz" wrote in message
.. .
Wayne.B wrote in
:

I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?

Before you jump into the HD realm of video, please look at the
demands that
it places on the system that you're going to use to edit it. HD
requires a
huge amount of processing power (and memory) to do it well. The vast
majority of Windows based applications/systems can't do real-time
editing of HD video. You almost always have to generate a "proxy"
version (low res) version of the video to do the editing and then
generate the HD output
based upon edits to the proxy version.

Then, if you're going to view the HD output on anything other than
your computer, you'll have to get a BluRay burner, which is expensive
and the media is very expensive relative to DVDs.

All in all, if you've never edited HD video before, I'd be very
careful in wishing for a HD video camera and associated systems to
process it. The camera will just be a small portion of what you'll
have to spend to process
and view the output in HD.



I'll have to go look it up but somewhere I read that a regular DVD
burner like that installed in my laptop can burn high def onto a
regular DVD-R and it will play in a Playstation 3 as a Blu-Ray.
Don't jump on me yet .... I have to go find where I read that and how
you do it. I specifically recall the instructions said that Blu-Ray
media is not required however the DVD-R media will not store as much
video.

BTW ... I have no problems editing the HD format (1080/30P) on my
laptop using Roxio. It takes a while to process, but works fine.
My laptop is an HP Pavilion, Vista 64-bit, 4Gb Ram. I haven't done a
really long video yet, but what I've done work fine.

Eisboch

Eisboch

OK, if you call a laptop with 4 GB of RAM running 64 bit Vista a normal
system, then we're in complete agreement. I've edited many hours of HD
material, and can assure you that it takes a LOT of processing power to
crunch all of the data. I've been actively specing out building a quad
core, hyper threaded (call this an 8 processor system) Core i7 system to
do HD video editing.

I personally haven't seen any systems which allow you to write BluRay
format disks on DVDs, but if you say that you can do it, I'll believe it.
Just note that a BluRay disk is 35 GB where as a DVD is 5 GB, so you can
compute how many minutes of video you'll fit on a DVD.

Also, a PS3 is a BluRay player with a hard disk, so you can spend $350 or
whatever the cost is to get both a game console and a BluRay player.
Just note that you'll need some form of BluRay player to view it. If
you're going to just publish DVDs or on YouTube, just use standard def.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

HD Video Cameras
 

On Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:56:42 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

Wayne.B wrote in
:

I'm thinking about buying a HiDef video camera, primarily for use on
the boat.

Does anyone have any recommendations or cautionary advice?

Before you jump into the HD realm of video, please look at the demands that
it places on the system that you're going to use to edit it. HD requires a
huge amount of processing power (and memory) to do it well. The vast
majority of Windows based applications/systems can't do real-time editing
of HD video. You almost always have to generate a "proxy" version (low
res) version of the video to do the editing and then generate the HD output
based upon edits to the proxy version.

Then, if you're going to view the HD output on anything other than your
computer, you'll have to get a BluRay burner, which is expensive and the
media is very expensive relative to DVDs.

All in all, if you've never edited HD video before, I'd be very careful in
wishing for a HD video camera and associated systems to process it. The
camera will just be a small portion of what you'll have to spend to process
and view the output in HD.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

Good points Geoff. I have no experience editing video at all so I'm
sure there will be some climbing of the learning curve and surprises
along the way. I recently acquired a quad core desktop with a BluRay
DVD burner, 4 GB of memory and 64 bit Vista. Hopefully that will
give me enough power to get started. Most of my viewing will be on a
HD television or large monitor.