Camcorder Recommendation for Badminton

ctjcad said:
..i don't have the detailed answers to your queries, but hopefully this link will give a better explanation. Please let us know if you're still unclear after you read the link:
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/d/Reviews&level_b=Camcorder&level_c=HD.htm

Btw, yes, HD camcorder is (currently) the best for recording anything; not just baddy.:cool:
Click to expand...

as u would know
i do read tru this whole thread
and i do found taht link that un post before
i already try to get info from there
but as a beginner like me
i dont think i understand:(
ok,the only question remain is
do mega pixels of camcorder need to be consider?
 
megapixels is a digital still camera concept. for a fixed sensor size you can have a different pixel density = different megapixel count.

video resolutions are fixed. 1920x1080 "full hd" is always 2073600 pixels. there's no such thing as 4 megapixel full hd. common resolutions are 1920x1080 (full hd), 1280x720 (hd), 720x576/480 (pal/ntsc dvd), 320x288/240 (pal/ntsc vcd).

for video you also have to worry about progressive/interlaced recording. interlacing effectively means you only get half the vertical resolution compared to progressive scan.

hd and hdd are not related. hd (high definition) = any video with higher vertical resolution than dvd. hdd (hard disk drive) = a storage medium.
 
Mini Me said:
megapixels is a digital still camera concept. for a fixed sensor size you can have a different pixel density = different megapixel count.

video resolutions are fixed. 1920x1080 "full hd" is always 2073600 pixels. there's no such thing as 4 megapixel full hd. common resolutions are 1920x1080 (full hd), 1280x720 (hd), 720x576/480 (pal/ntsc dvd), 320x288/240 (pal/ntsc vcd).

for video you also have to worry about progressive/interlaced recording. interlacing effectively means you only get half the vertical resolution compared to progressive scan.

hd and hdd are not related. hd (high definition) = any video with higher vertical resolution than dvd. hdd (hard disk drive) = a storage medium.
Click to expand...

oh
thanks alot^^
i get it now:)
 
As a viewer, 720p seems to work better for action than 1080p probably due to the refresh rate. Not sure about exact specs but just my own observation as a viewer.
 
Dear limsy..

limsy said:
as u would know
i do read tru this whole thread
and i do found taht link that un post before
i already try to get info from there
but as a beginner like me
i dont think i understand:(
ok,the only question remain is
do mega pixels of camcorder need to be consider?
Click to expand...
..well, Mini Me is just too nice to give all the explanation...;)
- Which part are you still confused about after reading that link? Hopefully you understand what are HD and HDD..
- I was going to ask if you see any mention of megapixels count or not (on the specs) when you're shopping for a camcorder?
If you don't see, then that's your answer.

In technical term, yes, there are pixels/megapixels involved when using a camcorder (although they don't generally mention it). Do you know a camcorder can take still pictures? And yes, when you take still pictures (or even recording), you'll be taking them in certain (mega)pixels:
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-Vixia-HF-S10-Camcorder-Review-37333/Product-Tour.htm
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Panasonic-HDC-TM300-Camcorder-Review-37105/Product-Tour.htm
weeyeh said:
As a viewer, 720p seems to work better for action than 1080p probably due to the refresh rate. Not sure about exact specs but just my own observation as a viewer.
Click to expand...
..720p sends full images 2x faster than 1080
720p=60 full frames/images per second
1080=half of that
but
for non-action images, picture quality is much better with 1080..
 
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ctjcad said:
..well, Mini Me is just too nice to give all the explanation...;)
- Which part are you still confused about after reading that link? Hopefully you understand what are HD and HDD..
- I was going to ask if you see any mention of megapixels count or not (on the specs) when you're shopping for a camcorder?
If you don't see, then that's your answer.

In technical term, yes, there are pixels/megapixels involved when using a camcorder (although they don't generally mention it). Do you know a camcorder can take still pictures? And yes, when you take still pictures (or even recording), you'll be taking them in certain (mega)pixels:
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-Vixia-HF-S10-Camcorder-Review-37333/Product-Tour.htm
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Panasonic-HDC-TM300-Camcorder-Review-37105/Product-Tour.htm

..720p sends full images 2x faster than 1080
720p=60 full frames/images per second
1080=half of that
but
for non-action images, picture quality is much better with 1080..
Click to expand...

thanks for every kind soul:D
 
ctjcad said:
720p sends full images 2x faster than 1080
720p=60 full frames/images per second
1080=half of that
but
for non-action images, picture quality is much better with 1080..
Click to expand...

it depends what format your broadcaster is using. 720 lines is always progressive - there's no 720 interlaced format. 720p can be 24/25/30/50/60 frames per second. the smoother appearance is due to 50/60fps (pal/ntsc). you can see the same effect with 576i x 50 fields per second tv material compared to 576p x 25 frames per second.

1080 lines can be interlaced or progressive. 50/60fps must be interlaced - 50/60 progressive is not within hdtv specs. 1080p allows 24/25/30fps.
 
^^Well..^^

..let's hope our limsy is not confused by your explanation...;)...limsy??..;)
limsy said:
thanks for every kind soul:D
Click to expand...
limsy, i've another idea. perhaps this is a "slightly cheaper" route.:)
How about, instead of getting a brand spanking new HD camcorder, how about if you get a P&S digital camera which comes with HD recording option.
Let's take this camera, for example, the Sony SX20 IS. Last checked, cost is around $360 (RM 1,203). Plus you add (2) 32 GB SD card which cost around $160 (RM 535).
You add them up, and you'll only spend abt $520 (RM1835) + you get 4 extra GB of storage.
Now, compare w/a brand new decent HD camcorder, with a 60 GB HDD, which will probably cost, at least, $600 (RM 2005).
Another advantage of owning a P&S camera is you'll get to shoot pictures with it (at least better than a camcorder). Also, you''ll get better zoom with that P&S camera. A camcorder, esp. an HD one, doesn't have enough zoom power.

Here, several video samples from youtube of the Canon SX20 IS HD recording (check out the clarity):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guGjuUeBTMY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfu_pfj3zUU&NR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2gcqstyQLI (night/low light recording)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdaKwHrhfMo (night/low light recording)
 
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i already have a semi pro camera
and i already go and see the price
it is affordable if i want to buy
but surely not now:p;)
 
taneepak said:
I think SDHC cards are very cheap in Hong Kong. You can get a class 6, 32 GB SDHC card for about US$40. They will become even cheaper in a few months' time.
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I could find a 16Gb for just above that price today. This was in Mongkok.
 
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Couldn't find a Pana TM350. They also told me the TM300 is out because a new model will come out in a few months. The lifecycle for camcorders is very fast.

Since I do need a camcorder now more than later, I bought the HS300. I like that fact it can also record on to SD if the HDD fails(!)
 
^^Congrats..^^

..on your new camcorder. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Besides the SD card option, it can also shoot @ 10+ MP for still images, not too shabby.:cool:

I guess you'll be watching the videos either on your camcorder or tv? And in case you want to convert the .mts files to avi format, you can try using this software (yes, i've used it also):
ApecSoft M2TS to AVI MP4 DVD Converter 1.7.0
http://apecsoft.com/
 
ctjcad said:
- Stefan, i think you meant to ask which file format is better to convert the DV tapes into, VOB or AVI? IMO, all has their good and not so good.
- As for saving or converting them to AVI files, imo, they're only useful if you want to watch the video w/out a DVD or if you want to upload your video to a broadcast website (like youtube).
Overall, i'd say the AVI file is more flexible in terms of how one wants to watch it.
- VOB and AVI files can be edited with some softwares.
- As for the file size between an AVI or VOB file, well, it depends. If i recall, if the VOB is uncompressed, then the file will be the same if not much larger as an AVI file. However, there are new options which will compress a VOB format file. Quality-wise, both should be roughly the same.

Cheung, not only that, the High Def. video (esp. a Blu-ray version) has a .m2ts file format as its default recording format. Thus, if you want to watch the video, you may have to convert them, first, to an AVI or VOB format.
From there, you can do your editing before deciding your final video format.

Personally, i'd convert any kind of digital video file to an .avi format, first. From there, i can decide whether to do any additional editing or leave them as they are in my HD or save/convert them to a DVD/.vob format.
Click to expand...

Mini Me said:
being a .AVI file has nothing to do with quality or file size. AVI is just a container. the quality and file size depends on the codec and bitrate of the video.

the best quality you can get will be to copy the compress DV files directly from your tapes. if you can't do that then you'll have to play the DV files and recapture the video stream on your computer using a lossless codec, e.g. huffyuv, before recompressing it into a smaller lossy format, e.g. h264. you're unlikely to be able to capture directly into a lossy format with excellent quality unless you have a super fast cpu.

the lossy format you should choose depends on what you intend to do with the files, e.g. MPEG2 if you want to make video dvds, h264 if you want to make bluray discs or play back on computer, leave it in lossless format if you want to do more editing.

virtualdub only works with VfW (video for windows) codecs, e.g. xvid, so you can't use it to encode AVC files.
Click to expand...

Very useful advice
 
ctjcad said:
I guess you'll be watching the videos either on your camcorder or tv? And in case you want to convert the .mts files to avi format, you can try using this software (yes, i've used it also):
ApecSoft M2TS to AVI MP4 DVD Converter 1.7.0
http://apecsoft.com/
Click to expand...

if you are thinking of converting to AVI then your target is probably to replay the files on computer. H264 (AVC) provides better quality (at the same bitrate, or same quality at lower bitrate) than any VfW codec that works with AVI containers so you wouldn't want to convert your videos to AVI format anymore. you can use MeGUI + AviSynth + x264 to compress your panasonic hs300 files to lower bitrate AVC files.
 
^^About those..^^

- Yes, the intent is to play them on my PC/laptop and also to upload to youtube.
- H264 or MPEG4, as in the the compression codec? If so, that program has that capability (has a codec option for mpeg4 avi). I've used it before to convert the m2ts files to mpeg4 avi files. AVI is just for the container/file format.
- Need more than 1 program to compress??:confused:
 
Do you edit the video file as m2ts first or after?

What program are you using? Friends tell me iMovie is easy but I don't have a Mac. What alternative is there but is also fairly intuitive?
 
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