Anthony's News, Reviews & Perspective on the Video Industry.
As computing becomes ever more powerful, and “Netbooks” offer mobile computing power on the road with low-power chips, diminutive boxes with powerhouse capabilities are not only inevitable- they’re already here. While home theatre machines may be a “hobby” to some electronics companies, others are taking it seriously and offering some horsepower under the hood… Continue reading “Smaller, More Powerful Computers.”
Just in for review and testing are the brand-spankin’ new Canon SX1 IS and the SX200 IS digital still cameras.
Both of these “super zoom” cameras also shoot HD video… BUT the 10 MP SX1 shoots 1080 with a CMOS sensor, the 12 MP SX200 shoots 720p with a CCD. I’ve spoken about “sensor issues” with the imagers in these cameras before. For comparison, I also have a Canon S2 IS that seems to be about a stop to two stops faster with its larger, 5 MP, SD video, CCD chip.
Which camera shoots better video… this is what I intend to find out in the coming days.
Well, the 2009 Photo Marketing Association’s annual conference is March 3-5 and it’s expected that most everyone who hasn’t already announced a still camera capable of HD video recording— will at the event. This is not to say that video camcorders are not needed any more. I have already shot video with these new “HD-capable” still cameras… and let me tell all the video camcorders out there: your jobs are secure.
The other shoe to drop recently is the first cell phone to tout HD video recording capability. Personally, I am hoping for about 5 MP of quality pictures, but HD video? I doubt it. The proof will be in the pudding when these things actually ship and the video makes its way onto the web for everyone to critically assess.
Either way, the main problem these devices have, aside from the complete lack of control of “camera” functions while shooting, is video that is plagued with problems… Continue reading “HD Everywhere?”
While HDV and the move to HD have produced some truly amazing cameras— even in the consumer arena— compared to what was available for many tens of thousands of dollars just 10 years ago, those of us who regularly produce live shows are facing a new hurdle: expensive HD switchers. Continue reading “The Next HD Hurdle: Live Video Mixers”
I have pointed out how outdated Focus Enhancements FireStore line of recorders had become over the years. Initially, revolutionary, they had become quite dated and wickedly expensive for the technology you received.
Now, six months after I compared the FS-4 to a glorious Archos portable video recorder, Focus Enhancements showed off their forthcoming FS-5 which addresses many of the issues I brought up. Continue reading “Focus’ FS-5 looks good!”
You may just want to learn French to really understand (correctly) all the information on this site. I’ve included a little bit of it here, and did my best to straighten out the rough automated translation– but all of this is just one section, of FOUR.
So without further hesitation, here’s the Sony HVR-Z7 as you’ve not yet seen it (in English): Continue reading “Incredible Sony Z7 information!”
Marshall Levy, who wrote our compact flash test results, is finding issues with the lenses that adorn the latest HDV camcorders from Sony- the HVR-Z7U and the HVR-S270. He’s found focusing issues, lens wobble and says the issue was confirmed by Sony.
Do you have one of the new camcorders?
Try out the tests he suggests to help determine if this is an isolated incident or a more widespread issue.
For reasons that really are difficult to fathom, Japanese Broadcaster NHK has announced breakthroughs in what used to be called Ultra High Definition Video. Now Super Hi-Vision is expected to be the “broadcast” standard in Japan by 2015.
Never mind that the human eye actually has a hard time seeing the difference between 1080p and 720p at the normal home viewing distances from today’s screens. Never mind that 4k from camera to screen isn’t yet a reality, even in theatres. Somehow, they see the need to replace our 2 megapixel images with 33 megapixel images.
Actually, this is not news. Numerous digital still cameras can record video, and the latest advancement is that they can shoot HD- usually 720p30 video. I haven’t seen any that shoot 1080p30 or 1080p24 yet, but I suppose it’s only a matter of time. Apparently, according to the review on FreshDV, the Kodak V1233 won’t replace our video camera- not by a long shot. But I look forward to more reviews of HD-capable still cameras.
We’ve worked with an early adopter of the Sony HVR-Z7U to test 10 different compact flash cards currently available. The test results of Marshall Levy, of Maverick Productions, will answer the following questions: Do you need to spend the extra money to get the absolutely fastest media available? What does the extra money actually buy? What kind of errors will we have by starting and stopping recording to compact flash over 100 times?
These are the questions we answer right now.
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