Home » Computers & Electronics

High Definition Camcorders

0 Comments

0 Like

Like 0

Pin It

Ranked #88,925 in Computers & Electronics, #1,380,271 overall

High Definition Camcorders

Choosing a High Definition Camcorder can be a challenging task for the average consumer. This lens is intended to gather information from various sources around the net and to provide links to valuable information.

HD Camcorders have increased in popularity since many models are now affordable to the average consumer. Less than two years ago, creating high definition video was reserved for professional videographers. Now, many consumer models are available from Canon, Sony, Panasonic and others that are consumer friendly by being both easy to use and affordable.

HD Camcorder Storage

When choosing a hi-def camcorder, one must first consider the storage medium to choose. The video can be saved by the camcorder by one of three ways:

On an internal hard drive. Sizes range from 20GB to 120GB and are increasing every few months.

On removable flash memory. Generally, SD cards are used and can range from 2GB to 64GB. The advantage of using SD cards is that you can swap memory on the fly and the amount of video you can shoot is only limited to how many flash cards you have

Directly to DVD. The advantage here is that you can play these DVDs directly in a compatible home player. Also, as with flash drives, the amount of video you can shoot is only limited by your supply of writeable DVDs

AVCHD Recording Format

Most high definition camcorders record video in the AVCHD format. This format permits the highest quality video in a consumer camera, but is not compatible with most players installed on your pc or attached to your tv. Therefore, special software is required to burn video recorded in AVCHD format to DVDs or convert to video that can be played on your PC (AVI, MPEG or other formats.)

Most cameras will come with basic viewing and editing software, but many reviewers have complained that the included software is lacking in features and stability. In my own tests with my Canon HG10, the included ULead software locked up my pc and had limited options for making any changes to the video.

This lens will gather links to reviews of third-party software that will do a better job of editing your videos. Since the AVCHD format is relatively new, your options are currently limited, but new software and updates to existing editing packages are being released on an ongoing basis. We'll review those too as they come out.