WOW that's super great steven, i spoke too fast in my previous post

actualy the application you showed us do the trick quite easily and fastly

once you "demuxed" the mp4 file with this yamb application, then just put it through MP4CAM2AVI and it would convert it to .avi

(and i tried to import that .avi file into windows movie maker and it worked just fine :) :)

A BIG THANK YOU TO you steve !! you pushed my decision to buy the HD1 a bit more into the YES direction :)

i still have to know if there is a loss in quality though (at first sight i would say NO)

PS: one small drawback i'm just noticing is that the video file obtained after an edition in Windows movie maker is a bit distorsed, but i know it's due to the HD format----> windows movie maker changed the HD definition video into a 640 x 480 movie so i need to work that out...

after some playing around with the yamb application conversion, i notice 2 litlle drawback :

-it seems that the mp4 files can only be imported into the window one by one

if you try to add 2 or more files into the "audio video" section, it will only demux the first one...can be quite long if you have dozens of mp4 files

but maybe there is a way to change that (there is a divide option but it doesn't do the trick when you wannna do 3 separate conversions of 3 different mp4 at the same time)

-the second thing is that it seems that once the .avi file is edited through Windows movie maker it loses a large part of its High Definition feel...i don't know if it's due to the yamb application or due to the Sanyo HD1 not much compatible with windows movie maker but that's pity.

i didn't really notice such a lose in quality with other non HD files...

I'm thinking that good quality hd1 video can make great downsized SD. I was messing around with Vegas today and put together some of the best hd1 clips I have into a 720 x 480 resolution movie. I included one horrible hd1 clip for good measure ;) It is 37MB in size. Please right click and download. Let me know what you think about the quality. Previewing the MP4 files in Vegas on a P4 2.5 was very choppy, but it rendered very quickly. I am impressed in how clear DV can look.

http://www.gamersden.com/hd1test/clips.mpg

Hey guys, you realise you have your own sub-forum now.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=115

Thanks Chris.

GOOD video Joseph, the music is cool

i'm quite impressed by the quality and somehow it sounds strange when you read the very bad review from the forum akihabara quoted in another thread...BUT that's true that the HD1 gives best results in conditions when camera does not move, which is the case for most of your video.

i have to imagine what it would be like without a tripod because you seem to have used that much...

on the akihabara review they say that the Image stabilizer is useless ! because it has no effect, what do u think of that ?

i'm still hesitating between buying a C6 and buying that one...but your video put the HD1 back in the game whereas i was about to give it up !

thanx

Quite a few shots in the video don't use a tripod and don't look bad, but of course you will get the best shots with a tripod. I agree the Image stabilizer does not seem to do much.

You notice that the first footage done here was poor too, but there is a way to shoot clean video with it, that Joseph subsequently used.

Thanks

Wayne.

Lets hope that the next version of this camera has h264 19Mb/s or at least Mpeg4 19Mb/s.

On motion compensation:
Have a look at this comparison between H264 quality and mpeg2, even though it is not a DB measured difference stat I would like to see, but you see with the human viewers, complex motion clips had less difference with human viewers, even on h264, this either proves that humans notice less during motion, and/or that real bandwidth still matters. The good news is that water is clearly perceived as better on h264.

http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/papers/IBC-Paper-AVC%20VerifTestResults.pdf

"the second thing is that it seems that once the .avi file is edited through Windows movie maker it loses a large part of its High Definition feel...i don't know if it's due to the yamb application or due to the Sanyo HD1 not much compatible with windows movie maker but that's pity."

I'm just guessing here, but isn't that because Windows Movie Maker is a really poor quality programme?

^^^^maybe...but i have to admit that the high quality programs which are FREE are very rare nowadays

No, I think that processes the image terribly.

after some playing around with the yamb application conversion, i notice 2 litlle drawback :

-it seems that the mp4 files can only be imported into the window one by one


Yes, this tool was designed with the _creation_ of mp4 files in mind, not for extracting thing from mp4 files. You have to process mp4 files one by one, and track by track.


if you try to add 2 or more files into the "audio video" section, it will only demux the first one...can be quite long if you have dozens of mp4 files
but maybe there is a way to change that (there is a divide option but it doesn't do the trick when you wannna do 3 separate conversions of 3 different mp4 at the same time)

?? This section is for creating mp4 files, i don't see why you want to use it ?
You could use the "Join" tool as a trick to process multiple mp4... Join all the files to one, and then demux this big one at once ;)

For the movie maker issue, the poor quality comes from the exporting stage i think, WMV9 at those bitrates is really bad...

If i've time, i'll wrote a better gui for mp4box, with the conversion of Sanyo HD1 files in mind... what sort of features would you like ?
(and then i'll go see sanyo for a free HD1 because i'm drawing customers to them ;D)

Marc and Stephen, please describe exactly how you use it.

I can't drag and drop mp4 files into MP4CAM2AVI and there doesn't seem to be any other way to get them in.

Thanks.

Graham

MP4Cam2AVI doesn't work with the mp4 files from the Sanyo HD1, so you have to use a more advanced mp4 tool like mp4box for a conversion from mp4 to avi (for video only ! audio need further processing). For an easier use of mp4box, you can use the YAMB Graphical User Interface for mp4box and his "extract" tool (see previous posts for link).

Yeah, I'm talking about files that have already been through mp4box.

Won't accept them for me..

Yeah, I'm talking about files that have already been through mp4box.

Won't accept them for me..

as i stated in a previous post , once you demuxed the mp4 file with yamb, it gives you another mp4 file.


that's this file that you can now convert to .avi through MP4CAM2AVI

is that what you wanted to know ?

Yeah, I'm talking about files that have already been through mp4box.

MP4CAM2AVI won't accept them..

?? This section is for creating mp4 files, i don't see why you want to use it ?
You could use the "Join" tool as a trick to process multiple mp4... Join all the files to one, and then demux this big one at once ;)



actually if i join 15 mp4 files into one, the editing job might be more tricky cause when you shoot 15 files of 15 different scenes it's easier to deal with 15 files in the editing process...that's the reason why i wanted to import multiples files at once into yamb and get mutiple demuxed files....it was to save time but as you told me that yamb only process files one by one si i guess i can do with that


For the movie maker issue, the poor quality comes from the exporting stage i think, WMV9 at those bitrates is really bad...

If i've time, i'll wrote a better gui for mp4box, with the conversion of Sanyo HD1 files in mind... what sort of features would you like ?
(and then i'll go see sanyo for a free HD1 because i'm drawing customers to them ;D)

wow that should be great...so what should i like...euh... i want it to make coffee, wash my clohes etc...


lo just kidding !

actually there is 2 thing that i would like but don't know if it's possible :

***********
1) firstly, i wonder if it's possible at one time of the process (mp4file>yamb>MP4CAM2AVI>avi file) to change the format of the High definition picture to 640 x 480 but with the same quality (you might wanna get a higher quality movie without having this movie in 1280 X 720)

this is because i have a personnal video player by Archos (kinda ipod video in better if you will) and whenever I import newly converted .avi file into it , it says that the picture is too large to be read...and it does that only with the HD pixtures

**********
2) Secondly, this is a sample of a High Definition .mp4 file (by Joseph i think) that i demuxed with yamb then convert wih MP4CAM2AVI...as you can notice the image is not sharp (at least with windows media player)....with VLC player it's ok...is there a codec to import into WMP to get it work nicely (without having the "jumping cars effect" ?)

http://s28.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0DIP0D68EZY391GEFDQAQ854Q7


and here i post the original mp4 file to see the difference in quality after demuxing and converting.

http://s28.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=067CM8VZ2H321O907FTY7RRQV

(do you think guys there is much loss of quality ?

***********
3) lastly what would be the cheapest and easy editing program that keep the maximum original quality when finalizing a video project into .avi (cause it seems Windows movie maker is crap) ?


THANK YOU !!! (and i will personnaly get in touch with sanyo for you to get your free HD1 if i eventually buy one :) :)

Yeah, I'm talking about files that have already been through mp4box.

MP4CAM2AVI won't accept them..

yeat it does, i tried multiples times, see my post above

do u have the 2.27 version of MPCAMTOAVI (realease sept 2005) ?

Oh, I've got it.

Like I said, I was dragging and dropping into 'source files'.

You just open in 'source directory' (for anyone else who might be confused).

I've started a new thread about Sanyo HD1 editing by the way - this thread is too long!

:D

Graham, can you condense and summarise everything on this thread there too?


Thanks

Wayne.

Sorry Wayne - do you mean in relation to MP4CAM2AVI?

Now that I've installed Vegas 6 I've abandoned it and MP4BOX which I understood you needed to put the files through first. I was just stuck with MP4CAM2AVI for a while because I couldn't drag and drop MP4 files into it. Infact, you have to open them in 'source directory'.

The people behind MP4CAM2AVI replied to an e-mail and said they are doing an update so that it can convert HD1 files.

I must say, Vegas is great for the Sanyo HD1. You can make HDV Intermediates which circumvent the difficulty of cutting with MP4 or M2T and then revert to the original footage when rendering - and you can do a great job of converting 30p to 25p. They may have updated the frame rate conversion capability. It is impressive.

(I know the Sanyo HD1 is not HDV).

Just the editing/capture related stuff here.

Thanks

Wayne.


Oh, I've got it.

Like I said, I was dragging and dropping into 'source files'.

You just open in 'source directory' (for anyone else who might be confused).

I've started a new thread about Sanyo HD1 editing by the way - this thread is too long!

:D

Vegas 6 is the only other info I have - and I summarized that on the other thread, yes :)

> ...as you can notice the image is not sharp (at least with windows media player)....with VLC player it's ok...is there a codec to import into WMP to get it work nicely (without having the "jumping cars effect" ?)

Yes, there are many H.263 ASP (Advanced Simple Profile) decoders that can decode these files, though your choices with the mp4 container are more limited. I remuxed some of the sample clips to avi and decoded them in Media Player Classic (more features and control than WMP). I used DivX, ffdshow, XVID, Nero -- there are probably nearly a dozen that would work.

For tools, I've also used mkvmerge, AVIMuxGUI, MPEG2 Streamclip, and the others mentioned in these forums, to manipulate the streams.

Google and start reading the forums at www.doom9.org to really learn about this codec stuff ;)

To control your playback (DSFs) in a Windows machine, you'll need Radlight Filter Manager, or one of the players we encoding freaks use like MPC, Zoomplayer, Radlight, BSPlayer, or even MyTHEATRE. WMP just doesn't cut it!

Cal

HD-1 on order!

DivX Forums Moderator - www.divx.com

Wow!

Even on my cruddy 2.0 GHz 1 gig RAM pentium 4, I'm able to edit the mp4 without too much pain...

I can't believe how easily the "format" is supported by Vegas 6.0d - wow - I'm sold.

This is my next cam! Whoa!

Nice work, Sanyo - I can't believe I'm typing this!

Yes, thanks to Vegas 6d posting with the Sanyo HD1 is a dream.

Remember when the JVC HD1 came out?

Mark and Graham: In what format are you rendering your Vegas 6.0d result? WMV9? I don't see another HD option.
How long does the rendering take? I am used to having renders to Architect Widescreen for DVD take about 4X the running time of the video, whereas WMV9 is more like 32X!

My renders to DVD look surprisingly good, but obviously not as good as the original.

This seems to be the central issue in getting the most out of the HD1.

Admittedly, I'm rendering in SD.

When DVDs truly go HD, I'll render in HD.

I imagine Vegas will let me do so as easily as it currently lets me render an SD DVD.

If I was mastering a professional HD job shot on the HD1 (which after a few weeks with the camera I don't reckon I would be) then yes, WMV9 might be the only HD output and is slow..

If I wanted to watch my footage on a HDTV I would use the camera as player - because of the component output, remote control and solid state build meaning I would not be shortening the life of the cam, like I would with the JVC HD1 because I would be using the heads more. I appreciate right now there is a problem, in that the this cam won't neccesarily re-admit footage manipulated on a computer and I hope this can be resolved.

I went to see HD1 in person today at Bic Camera. By coincident, staff from Sanyo was there to promote the product. The product is very appealing, and I’ve been thinking it might be good to serve as sub-camera for Panasonic AG-HVX200.
They let me shoot in different modes there and I wanted to see how well it does in 480/60p and 720/30p. The samples provided on the web is reasonably good, but I wanted to see the real potential. Please remember that I do only bike action shooting, so to be able to shoot in fast panning is very important, so my comments are based on using in only for fast action video shooting.
To make the long story short, it won’t let you shoot like video camera, under fast pans, things get really blocky (mpeg compression), so you have to apply filmcam method for shooting. They had the HD LCD display connected there so I could monitor what I shot there, but the color looked very flat and I was very disappointed with the result.
Although, to me, the quality of the video was disappointing, but the potential of what Sanyo doing is very promising and you can use this cam for variety of purposes.
Also, the person was mentioning that the product is accepted very well in the market and they are planning to improve the quality of the video with faster SD cards and faster processor to do 1080 in the future.
If it was at least as good or close enough to DV anamorphic then I would have bought it, but it wasn’t quite good enough to mix with what I shoot with HVX200.

I played around with the clips provided on Japanese Sanyo site, placing them on 720/60p timeline on FCP5, it works flawlessly (with rendering of course). That was very nice. And using Kona LH and displaying the clips on HD LCD panel and downconverted SD monitor, the video image looked smudged on the HD LCD, and downconverted SD looks very good.
I’m pretty sure that they will improve the image quality on the next generation, so I’m very looking forward to it.

Kaku,

Good to see you here. I could have told you the results ;). If Sanyo could do 19-25Mb/s Mpeg4 that would solve many problems, if they could do that in h264, it would be even better.

We will have to see what the H264 cameras deliver. 15Mb/s+ is what they are talking about, but they also quote figures for 9 or 6Mb/s, I think, I hope not. I think you need at least 9Mb/s-25Mb/s h264.

Kaku,

I know that there are many PVR out there, and I was thinking of making a bullet camera using one of these (even three camera). Are there any mpeg2/4/h264 with decent bandwidth, or multiple channels?

Thanks

Wayne.

Graham,

Regarding your comment on the camera's ability to read manipulated files: I remember seeing a little pgm somewhere that could restore JPEG files to a form that cameras could read. It looks like we could use the same thing for MPEGs

My HD1 should arrive tomorrow according to UPS. A 4GB card should be arriving from zipzoomfly as well ($150 - $30 rebate).

"I remember seeing a little pgm somewhere that could restore JPEG files to a form that cameras could read. It looks like we could use the same thing for MPEGs"

...yes, that's one of the things we need to make the Sanyo HD1 better!

Kaku,

Good to see you here. I could have told you the results ;). If Sanyo could do 19-25Mb/s Mpeg4 that would solve many problems, if they could do that in h264, it would be even better.

We will have to see what the H264 cameras deliver. 15Mb/s+ is what they are talking about, but they also quote figures for 9 or 6Mb/s, I think, I hope not. I think you need at least 9Mb/s-25Mb/s h264.

Kaku,

I know that there are many PVR out there, and I was thinking of making a bullet camera using one of these (even three camera). Are there any mpeg2/4/h264 with decent bandwidth, or multiple channels?

Thanks

Wayne.

I was there anyway for light excersize with my bike (like I did with FX1 at Sony Plaza), so no biggie. Yes, I think H.264 based ones are going to be great. MPEG4 seems like don't work so good for larger transfering rate.

If they have H.264 based PVR and I would be interested. I still use D-VHS time to time to record HD broadcast shows, but it would be nice if I can save it in H.264 file format. If I come across something like that, I will drop in to make a link.

Hi Kaku!
If bypass mpeg4 compression and get component output from cmos sensor,
what is max fps? Only 30fps or possible ingest 720p60 using BM or AJA capture card?

Kaku, don't you use those cigarette packet sized PVR units on your bullet cameras for bike mounting? That is what I meant, I am interested in making a 3chip HD cam out of thee pixel shifted bullet/box cams into 3 PVR to get high data-rate.

This is a consumer version, but the bullet ones are similar:
http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/neuros_mpeg4_recorder_2_for_sony_psp.php


Serge, good point, does it do better uncompressed out?

Ah, didn't think about it, but I remember for sure that the live monitor was very good, if the component outs are uncompressed out then it should be interesting. I'm going to look into this...and the portable PVR. The thing is I didn't buy HD1 yet, but I'm going to ask magazine editor to get one for awhile from Sanyo.

I would get in contact with www.ambarella.com instead, to try to get in contact with the three confirmed h264 camera manufactures (and Samsung have reported they will be doing one) to get a review/feature on the technology.

I would get in contact with www.ambarella.com instead, to try to get in contact with the three confirmed h264 camera manufactures (and Samsung have reported they will be doing one) to get a review/feature on the technology.

Samsung already have a model made for shooting onboard for x-sports, so it would be interesting when they come out with this chip.

We don't know which chip Samsung is using, they could be using a completely different chip, but if you have heard anything, please let us know ;)

They said March for Ambarella, and I have just spent a number of hours googling (again) for new pages, and nothing, so maybe it won't happen. There is a Taiwan office I found mentioned on a page.

Here (http://www.xtream.ne.jp/content/blogsection/6/33/) is my first test.

For some reason, I could not paste the raw MPEG4 file in the linked article, so I will provide that later.

Inspite of what I experienced at Bic Camera, HD1 is exceptible for web H.264 providing and displaying on SD monitor. The compression is obvious so might not be so nice on SD-DVD.

It probably will serve as a cam which can be taken around any time.
The battery does not last that long tho.
Also, the blank after pushing the record button is annoying.

Hi Kaku, thanx for the files but i can't read them through VLC Media player, the video won't play , only the sound

then i tried to convert them in .avi with the new beta version of MP4CAM2AVI but then i can't play the .avi neither : it says codec error code H264

i guess it has to do wih the codec H264 (which i migh not have in my system)

what did you do with your .MP4 original fles, i see that the ones you posted are .mov files

before i never had any problem to read .mp4 files from HD1 and even .mov files converted through HD1 files...but i can't read your files

Sorry, Marc, I was out of this for awhile and forgot to mention this is QuickTime 7. You need QuickTime 7 to playback.
For some reason, I could not post the original mpeg4 in my Joomla! site, but I will ask my admin about it and post it too.

ok thanx i have Quictime 7 and yes the 480 format are played greatly !!

for some reason my quick time 7 wn't read the two 720 files...is it a conversion you did from the original mp4 files or you just change the extension ?

the picture quality of the 480 format video i viewed is really good, was the HD1 was on auto mode or did u play with the set up to have best render ?

H.264 does rely heavily on CPU performance. I maybe able to compress more, this was done simply using QuickTime conversion, so I did not play around with settings too much. I do have good settings in my compressor 2 but I did not have access to the preset with the acount I logged in that time.

The files were converted directly from mpeg4 to H.264, no other processing involved.

The setting on the HD1 was auto everything and stabilizer off. I noticed that HD1 shoots the superwhite too bright, so I will drop brightness a bit next time.

Now original mp4 file is added.

ok great i can watch them now

great footage, i needed to see some more fast action footage so thank you for that !

Anybody can answer to my question (http://dvinfo.net/conf/showpost.php?p=452244&postcount=385)
about max framerate output from component?

"If bypass mpeg4 compression and get component output from cmos sensor,
what is max fps? Only 30fps or possible ingest 720p60 using BM or AJA capture card?"

I don't know, sorry. But you certainly couldn't output from the camera uncompressed if the footage had already been recorded. It must be compressed when it hits the memory card, that's how it fits.

If it is possible to get uncompressed component output of some kind, it would obviously have to happen live!

Ok see thiks /\ thats my 2 fingers and thats how close I am to buying this camera.

I am coming from a pair of Hitachi MPEG-10w's after being sourly dissapointed in MINI DV solutions (download my butt I have yet to see ONE unit that lets you download over firewire or any other way)

anyway I am really interested in this camera. So far every single clip posted here has blown my mind ?? what am I missing here. I must be missing something.

so far every clip I have seen that has had "noise" issues has had NOTHING remotely of the sort to my eyes. in fact the LOW LIGHT footage is what is REALLY impressing me :-) (this might just be because the low light abilities of my mpeg-10w's are for all intents and purposes non existant :-)

I see VERY little noise (I define noise as artifacts or other grain issues that are distracting or annoying to me) none so far has come even CLOSE to being annoying to me.

I AM very concerned about motion issues as I intend to shoot a lot of Rocketry Video (inside and outside the rocket :-) hehe

I want to shove this thing inside a rocket (the not being able to record with the screen closed is a REAL big issue I do have with this unit) and light it up.

720p video from angels 10 sounds REALLY FRAKING cool to me !!!

I had absolutely zero interest in anything high def until I found this camera and this forum !! ($2500 for a tv over my dead body)

the idea that I can create my OWN high def content for under a grand is REALLY intriguing me.

these are the first videos that I have watch full screen on my computer and they looked immaculant !!! (I work in 1880x1400)

I am breathless watching these !!

The only time I saw a problem was with the murky water looked like compression artifacts were appearing and going away but I only saw it because I was looking for it !!

So I have some questions that I am hoping you guys can help me with.

can someone shoot some ACTION footage ! airplanes cars models baseball. Small fast moving objects ??

Can I lock the focus to infinity ? this is critical. 99% of the time what I am shooting is more than 50 feet away so focus is nothing but a hinderance to me. And a rocket against a blue sky is a nightmare for any autofocus :-)

Wrap it in foam and strap it to an RC Car and have at it ? (yeah its risky so if you dont already want to do something like this I dont expect it :-)

IS the 60fps mode for 640x480 truly 60fps ?

One oddity I noticed (in the PAN shot with the NIB building) my eyes had difficulty focusing when you panned ?? any idea what this is ? is it just the scenary or conditions ? (I did not notice this in the other shots I saw including the one with the mountain bikers.)

To see some of the type of video I shoot goto

http://www.nerys.com/video

They are uploading now at 0410 EST give it at least an hour to finish uploading.

This is from a camera about as big as your thumb (hold a little over 5 minutes of video) I would very willingly spend the money on parts and engines to loft a camera that can record this kind of HD video !

Suggestions on the best way to DISPLAY this video from a disc on a Television ?

Right now I will just make a DVD Out of it but I would like to watch it on a HD screen if they ever get affordable enough without having to use the camera to do so ?

Any camera can handle static shots I need motion shots. full zoom travel etc.. anyone willing to make some samples of this kind of video ?

I am really blown away at some of the replies I see here. So it must be me (when this many have an opinion different than mine it usually means I am the one missing something)

So I will ask a specific questions.

How does the video in your opinions compare to that of the normal $500 DV Camcorder you can buy in Best Buy ?

Comparison to $2000-$5000 cameras means nothing to me as I will never own such critters :-) If I ever spend Thousands on a camera it will be a Canon 1DS Mark II or better :-) hehe

I converted these videos to 9mb mpegII 16:9 and tmpgenc converts them just fine with no fuss (a little slow at 6:1 time ratio but tolerable)

The result is stunning. I have to look hard to see the difference on a PC monitor between the DVD conversion and the original mpeg2 (Very Impressive)

I am Simply blown away at the quality.

Here is some stuff I would LOVE to see shot with this camera (at least 30 seconds each if possible)

Inside a restaurant ? Theme Park ? rides ? Parks ? Some airport footage zooming in on airlanes taking off etc..

Some Driving footage in a car ? cars going by a busy intersections ? heck any rocketeers here ? shoot a local launch ! would love to see a rocket launching from this camera ?

I am looking around right now to see what I can sell so I can aquire one of these camera's !

Any assistance answering these questions would be GREATLY appreciated !!

also with some of the oddly "not thrilled" reviews of this camera's output WHAT ARE you guys comparing this too ? clearly not to consumer camcorder output since most of those just plain suck.

Any Sample videos from something you consider superior ?

The output from this thing looks better than many of the professional dvd's I have purchased !!

Also is there a 2x adaptor so I can extend the zoom to 20x ?

Anyway to force the camera to stay on with the LCD closed ? I really dont need to see the LCD most times and would prefer it not be exposed! the way I shoot is I I have a bracket I mount my nikon too and my video camera too and I shoot still and pretend I am shooting video (I pre align the video and the still) so what I see in the still cameras viewfinder should be what I see in the LCD.

also when I strap this thing to "gadgets" I would prefer the LCD not be exposed to damage !

I am really stocked out this camera but I dont want to make a rash decision !

Chris Taylor
http://www.nerys.com/

Hi Chris, I'll help you where I can.

in fact the LOW LIGHT footage is what is REALLY impressing me :-) (this might just be because the low light abilities of my mpeg-10w's are for all intents and purposes non existant :-)

I've seen better low-light performers, in fact my 11 year old Sony Handycam is a better low light performer. It doesn't hold a candle to this when lighting is sufficient however. You'll see the most significant artifacts when recording odd colors in low light... I have a ski jacket that's metallic blue. When recorded in low light, it comes out as blue with purple blotches. Quite ugly really. I don't have problems with natural colors in low light though.


I want to shove this thing inside a rocket (the not being able to record with the screen closed is a REAL big issue I do have with this unit) and light it up.

The can't record with the screen closed is decieving. You can open it, flip it, and fold it back. Your display is out and it records fine. You'll need a way to cover the panel if it could be exposed to elements or projectiles/pressure.


the idea that I can create my OWN high def content for under a grand is REALLY intriguing me.

Ummm... I'd say it's High def in adequate light... certainly isn't high def in low light. High def is all about image quality, and we don't really get that in low light... not when 400 scan lines from a Handycam look better.


The only time I saw a problem was with the murky water looked like compression artifacts were appearing and going away but I only saw it because I was looking for it !!

I see artifacts, especially now that I know what to look for. Sometimes knowledge isn't so great ;) I will say that these are of little significance. When played back at proper speed, only the jaggies show... those are barely apparent on HDTV by the way.

can someone shoot some ACTION footage ! airplanes cars models baseball. Small fast moving objects ??

You'll need to specifiy lighting conditions for this. If you lighting is poor, you'll get immense blurr. Distance from your subject, zoom, ISO settings, and subject speed will also play a part in quality.

Can I lock the focus to infinity ?

Yup.


Wrap it in foam and strap it to an RC Car and have at it ? (yeah its risky so if you dont already want to do something like this I dont expect it :-)

Did this with my old handycam on an Kyosho MP6 (50Mph R/C car) The results were horrific. I won't be doing this again. The stablization on my handycam was better than on this (much lower resolution) but even it bounced too much. Glad I didn't toast it.

Is the 60fps mode for 640x480 truly 60fps ?

Yes, and I use it regularly. Good option to reduce blurr. Very pleased with this. Captured frames make good pics at 3.5X5.0

One oddity I noticed (in the PAN shot with the NIB building) my eyes had difficulty focusing when you panned ?? any idea what this is ? is it just the scenary or conditions ? (I did not notice this in the other shots I saw including the one with the mountain bikers.)

Probably frame rate and blurr. I use 640X 60fps and don't notice it... I do get it on 720p sometimes.

This is from a camera about as big as your thumb (hold a little over 5 minutes of video) I would very willingly spend the money on parts and engines to loft a camera that can record this kind of HD video !

Hope you are into replacing the unit if you have a slip up... don't know that the warrantee covers what you're planning. ;)

Suggestions on the best way to DISPLAY this video from a disc on a Television ?

Transcode to DVD format if it's a standard TV. If HDTV, you'll want to match it to what your hardware. I use a 720p projector ($900) and suggest this over a HDTV unit any day.

How does the video in your opinions compare to that of the normal $500 DV Camcorder you can buy in Best Buy ?

Bought one, $1199 list. Returned it due to image quality. Bought this and love it. I don't record much in the dark.

I converted these videos to 9mb mpegII 16:9 and tmpgenc converts them just fine with no fuss (a little slow at 6:1 time ratio but tolerable)

The output from this thing looks better than many of the professional dvd's I have purchased !!

If the lighting is sufficient, I fully agree. Outdoors on cloudy days produces the best video (regardless of unit). For this cam and your purposes, you should be quite pleased.

Also is there a 2x adaptor so I can extend the zoom to 20x ?

I think it's a 1.5X, but don't waste your time. Use the digital if you really need it. I find the digital zoom only degrades quality to a significant level if I'm zoomed more than 3X digital (30X total). More than this is useless... the stablization just won't handle it.

Anyway to force the camera to stay on with the LCD closed ?

Probably. There is a small plastic nub on the screen that seems to control the auto-suspend mode. shave it off and you should be able to record with the door closed, or simply flip it over and cover the screen.